Exciting New Sports in the Summer Olympic Games

By Julie Senger

 

After postponing a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the torch is on its way to Tokyo, Japan for the Summer Olympic Games, which will take place July 23-August 8. The vision for the Tokyo Games is based on three core concepts: (1) Achieving Personal Best – “Striving for Your Personal Best,” (2) Unity in Diversity – “Accepting One Another,” and (3) Connecting to Tomorrow – “Passing on Legacy for the Future.”

Spectators from overseas will not be permitted due to coronavirus risks. Extensive measures are being taken to ensure the health and safety of athletes and others who will be present for the events. These measures are compiled in a “Playbook” that is constantly updated based on the most current information. For specific details, the Playbook can be viewed on Olympics.com.

Now, on to the fun stuff! Check out the sports that will be making their Olympic debut:

 

BASEBALL/SOFTBALL

Though not truly new to the Olympics, men’s baseball and women’s softball haven’t been a part of the Games since 2008. Since both sports are extremely popular in Japan, it’s not surprising that they would make a comeback in Tokyo.

 

KARATE

A native Japanese sport, karate will consist of two disciplines: sparring and forms. Sparring will be broken down into three weight classes each for men and women. The forms competition allows athletes to show their expertise in performing the technical movements of karate.

In sparring, kicks and punches earn between one and three points. To win the match, the competitor must be the first to earn eight points more than his/her opponent or have more points than his/her opponent at the end of the three-minute bout. If there is a tie, the first person to score a point is the winner. If the match is scoreless, the judges choose the winner.

In forms, the competitor performs a series of offensive and defensive movements against a virtual/imaginary opponent. Judges award points based on the precision of the technique.

 

SKATEBOARDING

Due to the popularity of this sport in the X Games, it was only a matter of time before skateboarding kickflipped and ollied its way into the Olympics. There will be park and street competitions for both men and women.

The park course resembles an empty swimming pool with lots of wonky curves, hills, and ramps. The preliminaries will have 20 skaters, and each will perform three 45-second runs, which are scored on a scale of 0 to 100 by a panel of five judges. The highest and lowest scores of each run are dropped, and the remaining three scores are averaged. The skater’s final score is the highest of his/her three runs. The top eight skaters will advance to the finals, in which the same process as the preliminary round will be repeated to determine the winner.

The street course is flat with ramps, stairs, and rails. In the preliminaries, 20 riders will perform two 45-second runs, featuring five tricks. Five judges will score each run on a 10-point scale (10 being the highest), of which the highest and lowest judge’s scores will be dropped, and the remaining three scores will be averaged to determine the overall score from the skater’s best run. The final round will feature the top eight skaters from the preliminaries, who will repeat the same competition and scoring process to determine who will win Olympic gold.

 

SPORT CLIMBING

With the increase in rock climbing walls in gyms all over the world, sport climbing has ascended to a well-deserved spot on the Olympic ticket. Sport climbing requires athletes to compete in three events: speed climbing, bouldering, and lead climbing. In speed climbing, two climbers will race each other to the top of a wall that is 15 meters high. Bouldering will test the climber’s technical skills, as he/she attempts to navigate a short course in a set amount of time. In lead climbing, athletes will have six minutes to climb as high as they can on a 15-meter wall.

The winner is determined by using a points system that coincides with the athlete’s place in each of the three events (i.e., first place = 1 point, second place = 2 points, etc.). So, after the points are tallied from speed climbing, bouldering, and lead climbing, the climber with the lowest score will stand atop the podium.

 

SURFING

Make wave for this new event, which will take place on Shidashita Beach. Both men and women will compete using shortboards, and heats will consist of four surfers competing at the same time, with each heat lasting 20-25 minutes. Since surfing conditions can be so unpredictable, this competition will have a 16-day window for completion.

Surfers will be scored on five criteria: commitment and degree of difficulty; innovative and progressive maneuvers (new/creative movements); variety of maneuvers (not doing the same move repetitively); combination of major maneuvers (how well big stunts are connected to one another); and speed, power, and flow. On a scale of 1-10, a panel of five judges will score each wave that a surfer catches. The highest and lowest scores will be dropped. At the end of a heat, the surfer’s two highest scoring waves will be added together, so the highest possible score is 20. The top two surfers from each heat will advance to the next, until one final heat of four surfers remains to battle it out to see whose national anthem will be heard during the medal ceremony.