(ATR) Citing the importance of appealing to youth and boosting female participation, the IOC executive board approved six new events for the PyeongChang 2018 program.
Men's and women's snowboard big air, alpine skiing nations team event, men's and women's speed skating mass start and curling mixed doubles were approved by the IOC on Monday.
While confirming the acceptance of the new events, IOC president Thomas Bach also advised that the implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020 doesn’t necessarily apply to PyeongChang 2018.
"With regard to the program, we are bound by the host city contract. We are bound by the candidature of PyeongChang, and we are bound by previous decisions by the IOC executive board having taken place back in 2011, way before Olympic Agenda 2020.
"It is kind of a transition program in 2018," said the IOC leader.
Nevertheless, the six additions seem to be another positive step forward for the IOC in its quest to stay relevant to youth, promote female participation and interest, and offer more dual-gender events.
Of the new events, snowboard big air will arguably have the greatness youth appeal as snowboarders launch themselves off a massive ramp, performing as many twists and flips as possible in one flight.
Regarding the alpine skiing nations team event, which has been contested numerous times at FIS world championships and World Cup finals, Bach noted: "This was the one that already been promised and approved in 2011, so this is not a decision of this sport today."
In the nations team event, two men and two womens are paired together per nation racing in a side-by-side giant slalom format. Nations are seeded in a bracket format with teams eliminated throughout a series of head-to-head rounds. The event proved to be highly exciting and was well-received at Febuary’s alpine ski world championships in Vail/Beaver Creek, Colorado.
Bach also underlined the IOC’s desire to add more women's events to the program speaking at Monday’s news conference following the second of two days of executive board meetings.
"All these changes lead to a slide in increase in women's participation," Bach said.
"All together we will have 50 events for men and 44 for women and eight mixed events," he said. "All together, women can participate in 52 of the 102 events on the program in PyeongChang."
Despite the inclusion of the six new events, the total numbers of athletes participating at the Games should not increase, as the events will most likely be comprised of competitors already participating in other events.
The approval of Olympic Agenda 2020 included the introduction of a recommended cap of approximately 2,900 athletes and 100 events for the Winter Games.
"We have a little bit more flexibility within the limits having been set by Olympic Agenda 2020," Bach noted.
While providing a sustainable model for the hosting and organization of the Games, the Agenda 2020 framework also limits the ability of the IOC to support all new event proposals put forth
One of those was freestyle skiing big air, which failed to make the cut.
In agreement, with the International Ski Federation (FIS), the IOC opted to drop snowboard parallel slalom to make room for the new big air event. Parallel slalom had only been contested at one previous Games – in Sochi 2014.
Mass start speed skating races were previously contested one time at the Winter Games – in Lake Placid in 1932. Following dominating performances by the United States and Canada, officials from Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Japan protested the format and manner of competition and the mass start races were subsequently eliminated from the Olympic program.
The return of mass start racing should add intrigue, team tactics and a direct confrontation of skating styles in a long-distance event, offering similar thrills and unpredictability as witnessed in short track speed skating.
Under IOC rules, events and disciplines can be added or removed up to three years before the games.
The IOC remains on course in its plight to attract younger audiences, attempting to keep the Games relevant and fresh to the target demographic. The additions of halfpipe and slopestyle events at recent Winter Olympics have contributed to this strategy and the inclusion of snowboard big air for 2018 should help continuing in this direction.
The nations team event and mixed doubles curling are indicative of the IOC’s wish to see more dual gender events on programs, the two being the first in their respective sports.
Written and reported by Brian Pinelli in Lausanne
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