The Olympic Pitch

Surfing The five sports that the Tokyo organisers (TOCOG) selected from the 26 that had presented their applications to feature in the 2020 Olympics back in May were found capable of bringing added value to the Games.

The five sports, which propose a total of 18 different events between them, sold TOCOG on their respective strengths and unique features that should make the 2020 Games more compelling.

An article by BBC summarised some of the selling points:

Baseball/Softball

Governing body: Says it has a total of 65 million people playing in more than 140 countries - the majority of whom are young children and teenagers.

Selling point: "World-class venues throughout Japan. Adding baseball/softball would be a low-risk/high-reward option, for both genders and youth."

Karate

Governing body: Says the sport, whose participants are 35% female, deserves a chance after unsuccessful bids to be a part of London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Selling point: "A sport with Japanese roots. Logistics of karate at an Olympic Games would appeal to the IOC as they would not need a specially-built venue and could take place over just three days."

Sport Climbing

Governing body: Says climbing walls are present in more than 140 countries with 35 million climbers all around the world. Average age is 23 years old; 40% are under 20.

Selling point: "An unforgettable spectacle - fresh, young sport capitalising on the urban/action trend."

Surfing

Governing body: Points to technical advancements which can create artificial waves of up to two metres high at the push of a button, such as at the inland surf lagoon at Snowdonia in Wales.

Selling point: "Surfing has inherently youthful values and a blend of high performance, style and digital connectivity."

WDSF emphasised some of DanceSport's strengths in its Tokyo 2020 bid video: with less than two minutes of stunning imagery and through a simple dialogue between a man and a woman.

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Published on 29 September 2015