The International Olympic Committee will vote to add one sport into the Olympics on Sunday, but the two that miss out may not be totally out of hope.
Baseball-softball, squash and wrestling are vying to be added into the 2020 Olympic program. The IOC membership will vote one of them in. The other two could still be part of the Games in 2020, pending a vote two days later on Tuesday.
That’s when the IOC will vote on the president to succeed Jacques Rogge. It’s possible the new president could favor more than the current number of core spots in the Olympics -- 28 -- which could open up space seven years down the road.
Key information for Buenos Aires IOC session
Around The Rings states the potential case for multiple sports to be added here.
“I’ve heard,” Don Porter, co-president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation, said in a phone interview Tuesday morning as he packed to fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the IOC session. “A lot of the (six) presidential candidates at times have said maybe there’s a possibility of extending the program to a certain extent. You know, why is 28 sports the magic number?”
The more important maximum number is 10,500, the limit of number of athletes in the Games (London 2012 exceeded 10,500, according to sports-reference.com/olympics). If there’s a way to add another sport without compromising that, you will certainly hear about it.