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Tokyo 2020 Olympic venues approved for new sports

By Nick ZaccardiDec 7, 2016, 12:53 PM EDT
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Tokyo 2020 venues for the new Olympic sports of baseball, softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were approved by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday.

That brings the total number of Tokyo 2020 venues to 39, with the potential for more.

The venues for new sports:

Baseball/softball — Yokohama Stadium (20 miles south of Tokyo)
Karate — Nippon Budokan
Skateboarding and Sport Climbing — Aomi Urban Sports Venue
Surfing — Tsurigasaki Beach

All of the new sports do not currently have a spot on the Olympic program beyond 2020 (baseball and softball were previously on the Olympic program before being taken off after Beijing 2008).

Agenda 2020 reforms allowed Olympic host cities to propose the addition of sports for their Games only, which is what Tokyo 2020 did to get them on the program.

The Tokyo Olympic venues are split between two zones — the Heritage Zone and the Tokyo Bay Zone — that are separated by the Olympic Village.

Tokyo 2020 and FIFA are still discussing the finalization of soccer venues. There are currently six, including two in Tokyo and one as far away as Sapporo (650 miles north).

Tokyo 2020 and the World Baseball Softball Confederation are still discussing the potential of adding a second baseball-softball venue in Fukushima prefecture, the site of 2011 nuclear plant meltdowns caused by an earthquake and tsunami. Fukushima is about 150 miles north of Tokyo.

The Tokyo Dome, home of the Yomiuri Giants and several MLB and World Baseball Classic games, is not a 2020 Olympic venue.

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Tokyo Olympic venues

IOC adds five sports, including baseball/softball, skateboarding and surfing

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By Raphielle JohnsonAug 3, 2016, 4:39 PM EDT
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Wednesday afternoon the International Olympic Committee announced that it has approved the addition of five sports for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, with skateboarding and surfing due to make their respective Olympic debuts. Also making the cut were baseball/softball, karate and sports climbing. While baseball and softball are obviously two separate sports, their bid was a joint bid hence their approval as a single entity.

However, It “The additional sports in Tokyo will not impact the athlete or event quotas of existing Olympic sports or be binding on future host cities,” per the IOC release. “The current athlete and event quotas are unaffected.”

Baseball and softball were both removed from the Olympics following the 2008 Summer Olympics in Bejing, with baseball having made its debut as an official Olympic sport in 1992. Softball made its debut as an Olympic sport in 1996 in Atlanta. While those two sports have prior history in the Summer Olympics, the other four sports added Wednesday do not. Karate joins tae kwon do and judo as martial arts in the Summer Olympics, with tae kwon do making its official debut in 2000 and judo doing so way back in 1972 (judo was part of the 1964 Summer Olympics program, but not in 1968).

“We want to take sport to the youth. With the many options that young people have, we cannot expect any more that they will come automatically to us,” IOC president Thomas Bach said of the additions. “We have to go to them. Tokyo 2020’s balanced proposal fulfils all of the goals of the Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendation that allowed it. Taken together, the five sports are an innovative combination of established and emerging, youth-focused events that are popular in Japan and will add to the legacy of the Tokyo Games.”

There was no shortage of positive reactions on Twitter to the additions of these sports, as one would expect.

Baseball-softball, four more sports take next step toward Olympics

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Associated PressJun 1, 2016, 12:57 PM EDT
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LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Olympic leaders have recommended the addition of baseball-softball and four other sports to the program of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

IOC executive board member C.K. Wu tells The Associated Press that the board backed the proposed inclusion of the combined baseball-softball bid, as well as surfing, karate, skate boarding and sport climbing.

The decision, which was widely expected, came Wednesday on the opening day of a three-day board meeting in Lausanne.

The five sports were presented as a package.

The recommendation will go to a vote of the full International Olympic Committee at its general assembly in Rio de Janeiro in August on the eve of the Summer Games.

IOC vice president John Coates says the executive board was unanimous in its decision to recommend the addition of five sports to the program of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

He says baseball-softball, surfing, karate, skateboarding and sport climbing were approved as a single package on Wednesday. They will be presented that way when the recommendation is put to a vote at the IOC general assembly in Rio de Janeiro in August on the eve of the Summer Games.

Coates says the five represent a “good balance between sports that are very popular in Japan and those better engaging youth.”

He notes that baseball and softball have a huge following in Japan, and karate has a long tradition in the country.

Coates says sport climbing is an emerging sport in Europe, surfing offers a “whole new culture” to the Olympics and skateboarding is particularly appealing to youth.

Coates said the IOC’s recommendation follows an agreement between the International Roller Skating Federation and the International Skateboarding Federation. He says the ISF will run the sport at the Olympics.

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