New Sports Are Now Part of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics

By Polly Rosie - 12/20/21

The international sporting event, the Olympics, recognizes many sports. It gives athletes from around the world an opportunity to compete at an international level. However, this year, the event has included five more sports and thousands are to compete. For a sport to be included in the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) must recognize it and the International Sports Federation must approve it. According to the rules, the sport must be practiced in 75 countries and 4 continents.

Sports That Are Part of 2021 Olympic Games

With the Olympics introducing new sports this year, there are now 33 sports and 339 events in total. Four new sports have been recognized and two sports that were discontinued have been included again. Karate, Sport Climbing, Skateboarding, and Surfing are the four new sports. Baseball and softball are the discontinued ones that will make a comeback at the Olympics this year. Baseball was last seen in 2008 Beijing Olympics. Six teams from USA, Japan, Mexico, Israel, South Korea, and the Dominican Republic have qualified for this sport and will compete at the Olympics, this year.

The Reason Behind Including New Sports

The IOC is trying to bring in more youth to participate in this sporting event by introducing sports that are becoming increasingly popular among the new generation of athletes. This perspective is unprecedented. In fact, the new sports introduced this year are also quite popular in the host country. This means Japan will have many viewers as well.

New Athletes to Watch Out for

Many new athletes will be part of the Olympics, this year, through the new sports introduced. For instance, John John Florence is one of them, a professional surfer at the top of his game. He is from Hawaii and will represent USA. Carissa Moore is another name you should know. She is also a surfer and the first American woman to be included in USA’s surfing team for the Olympics. Nyjah Husto, a skateboarder, and Tom Scott, a karate athlete are both top athletes in their respective fields, who compete on behalf of USA.