What sports will be cut from the sports program?
by Alison Brown and Jill Jaracz
According to the LA28 website, the Olympic program includes 51 sports. 51! That is a lot of sports in a lot of venues costing a lot of money. In June, International Olympics Committee President Kirsty Coventry announced Fit for the Future, “a new methodology to determine the Olympic programme, centred on the introduction of a discipline-based evaluation.” Fit for the Future is a more complex plan than just sports, but we are going to focus on that aspect. President Coventry let it be known that Brisbane 2032 Olympics will have a significantly reduced number of sports and events from LA28. She wants to lessen the complexity and cost of the Games, allowing more cities to bid to host.
What is on the chopping block? Let the wild speculation begin!
Alison’s Picks
I tried not to make this personal, as in what I would like to see cut. I tried to focus on what I actually predict will be cut. Neither approach is an easy task!
5. Equestrian (Jumping, Dressage, Eventing)
I love dressage, the ice dance of the Summer Games, but I don’t think these events will survive a tough review. Horses have already been cut from modern pentathlon (see below) so it is not a big stretch to think that all equestrian events could be cut. Equestrian requires expensive single use venues in addition to the high cost of transporting horses, logistical complexity, and quarantine requirements. These events are not terribly popular among television or streaming audiences.
4. Modern Pentathlon
A new format replacing show jumping with an obstacle course will debut in LA28, but the changes may be too little, too late. This isn’t the first time modern pentathlon has been on the short list; it is long considered vulnerable because it is a niche sport with low global television ratings. Modern pentathlon does have deep Olympic historic roots, having been created by Pierre de Coubertin. Despite that legacy, things don’t look good for modern pentathlon’s Olympic future.
3. Mountain Biking
How much cycling do we need in the Olympics? While road and track cycling are likely safe, off-road disciplines like mountain biking are vulnerable for cost reduction. Mountain biking, among cycling events, is the most difficult and expensive to televise.
2. Canoe Slalom and Canoe Sprint
How do you justify building a new, very expensive whitewater venues? LA28 solved the problem by locating canoe slalom events in an existing whitewater center, over 1300 miles from Los Angeles in Oklahoma City. The federation is trying to be proactive, announcing that it will focus its Olympic program on shorter distances which will allow for more existing venues to be utilized. Still, canoe may be on the bubble.
1. Surfing
How can surfing possibly survive? It is expensive to stage and expensive to produce for broadcast. It is almost impossible to watch live so selling tickets is a challenge. So far, we have had 0 fans see Olympic surfing in person. It does not have a long Olympic history behind it and despite watching several rounds, I have no idea how surfers are judged or compared to one another.
Jill’s Picks
When I worked in a corporate library, every few years or so we’d weed the collection. I love weeding! Give me a dumpster cart and shelves full of outdated business books and I will go to town!
So of course, when Alison threw down the gauntlet of predicting what would be out of the Brisbane 2032 sports program, I was all in.
Brisbane has a lot of decisions to make to keep the costs more reasonable and trim the Games enough to prove that more cities can host. LA28 has such an unbelievably big sports program that it’s hard to think many cities would have enough venues to put on a program of that size, let alone have the money for it.
Thanks to changes in the Olympic Charter, it’s easier to remove sports, disciplines and events from the Olympic program. Does this mean the Olympics will eventually have a very fluid program like the World Games? Only time will tell!
That said, let’s get to it. Here are five disciplines and events I’d recommend taking off the Brisbane 2032 Olympic program:
5. Skateboarding – Street or Park
Paris 2024 was the first time I saw competitive skateboarding in person. I went to a women’s park event and was underwhelmed by what I saw (it did not help being in Paris’ roasting urban sports park). In fact, it made me question: what is sport? And that’s not great when you’re thinking about an Olympic program. I get that skateboarding attracts a younger crowd, which the Olympics wants, but how popular is it really?
Both street and park have sizable, complicated fields of play. Take one out and make the other a marquee event.
4. Road Cycling Time Trial
Yes, the time trial is a test of pure speed without drafting or teammates helping you. The two things this event has going for it are the slight possibilities that a rider will overtake another and the futuristic helmets. Otherwise, watching one rider race down a long open road is almost like watching paint dry — but if paint drying came with a timer, it might be more exciting. Even speed skating, another race-against-the-clock sport, puts athletes in pairs to build some sort of excitement.
The field of play is also pretty massive for this event. Time trial requires organizers to block off a lot of roads. At Paris 2024, that was 32.4 kilometers of closures and detours and general frustration for the city’s residents who were just trying to live their lives. Stick with just the road race.
3. Trampoline Gymnastics
You thought I was going to say rhythmic gymnastics, didn’t you? It’s true that I’m not a real fan of rhythmic, but what it has going for it is a cheap field of play: Throw a mat on a platform in any generic arena/convention center, and you can have a rhythmic competition.
Trampoline has a few things going against it: Specialized equipment, a blink-and-you-miss-it competition, and a low athlete quota.
Yes, trampoline can be in the same venue as artistic gymnastics, but organizers have to source multiple trampolines. How much do those cost? Well, you can get on American-Gymnast.com for the low price of $17,600 (during this research I learned that in-ground trampolines are a thing. What?! Excuse me while I go measure my yard).
At Paris 2024, what had been a two-day competition was trimmed to one day, and it’s for just 32 men and women. While that’s not the smallest discipline at the Games, it’s small enough to get lost in the shuffle.
2. Mountain Bike
Mountain biking has a big, complicated venue that likely has to be on the outskirts of a city. I didn’t get out to mountain biking at Paris, but maybe I should have because when I watch video of it, the crowds are huge. Maybe that’s because France won medals. Australia had exactly one racer across both the men’s and women’s races. Will it be as exciting if the host country isn’t as strong? Let Australia opt out!
1. Open Water Swimming
Marathon swimming is a 10K race that takes around two hours to complete. That’s two hours of watching hard-to-identify swimmers in open water. And the surprising thing is that it’s barely a blip on our radar when we think of events in the Games. Courses may vary: Paris 2024 put the event in the Seine, which did allow spectators to easily watch. Previous editions have been in much more open waters that don’t allow for easy viewing. Still, you’re blocking off a large body of water, and that can’t be easy, particularly if you’re deterring marine traffic that uses that body as a shipping channel.