ICC mulls cricket for 2024 Olympics
Dave Richardson, chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC) said the body will make a decision on allowing cricket as a sport in the 2024 Olympics. He said they would make the decision by July. He clarified that it also depends on if the International Olympic Committee would accept. Baseball and softball are set to return to the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
From 9 to 28
When the Olympics were first held in 1896 in Athens, there were only nine sports that were played. But, over the years many sports have been included and now there are 28 different sports that will be played at the Rio Olympics.
How are new sports added to Olympics?
The new sports are added simply by voting. The old rule says that you need a 2/3rd majority vote for the sport to be included as a part of the Olympics. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has now adopted new simple and flexible rules. Now only a simple majority of votes from the full IOC committee is required for approval.
Why are sports dropped from Olympics?
Exceptional circumstances like corruption, drop in popularity or drug scandals are main reasons for a sport being dropped from Olympics. During the London Olympics, softball and baseball were dropped.
Cricket played in the 1900 Olympics only
Th 1900 Olympics were the only games which featured cricket. The ICC has a different approach when it comes to adding T20 cricket at the Olympics. ICC members said that it is not easy to add Olympics to the cricket calendar as it may clash with the World T20. If cricket is added to the Olympics, it will be played only in 2024 Olympics.
Will add cricket if Rome hosts Olympics : Italy
Italian cricket board president Simone Gambino says, "If Rome hosts the (2024) Olympics, cricket will be included." He added that their board is committed to adding cricket at Olympics. Rome, Paris, Budapest and Los Angeles are in a bid to host the 2024 Olympics.
Baseball re-added for Tokyo 2020
The International Olympic Committee has approved five games to be added to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. While baseball has been reintroduced, karate, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing are the other sports that have been added by the IOC. The President of International Surfing Association expressed his happiness on the addition of surfing to the Olympics and called this a "game changing moment for surfing."
Rugby seven and Golf added for the Rio Olympics
Rugby and golf have made their return to the Olympics and will be played at the upcoming Rio Olympics. Both the games made their debut at the 1900 Olympics, but were last played only in 1924 Olympics.
