The IOC approved new events Monday in snowboarding, Alpine skiing, speedskating and curling for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Big Air in snowboarding, mass start in speedskating, mixed doubles in curling, and a team skiing event were the additions ratified on Monday by the International Olympic Committee executive board.
Under IOC rules, events and disciplines can be added or removed up until three year before the games. The new events are for men and women.
“The changes reflect the continued evolution of the Winter Olympic program and build on the success of recent editions of the games,” the IOC said in a statement. “They also build on the reforms outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020 which aim to create more flexibility into the Olympic program of the Olympic Games.”
The IOC recommends the participation of about 2,900 athletes competing in 100 events for the Winter Games.
The IOC said decisions on which new events to accept for 2018 were based on a number of factor, including youth appeal, TV and media interest, gender equality and “infrastructure and operational cost and complexity.”
FIFA must go through painful experience to reform: Bach
Saying there is “no comparison” in the scale of the IOC’s Salt lake City scandal and FIFA’s corruption crisis, IOC President Thomas Bach has urged Sepp Blatter to take the “painful” steps needed to clean up soccer’s governing body and restore credibility in the sport.
Speaking at the close of an IOC executive board meeting, Bach said the size and scope of the FIFA scandal was much bigger than the crisis that led to the ouster of 10 IOC members in the late 1990s for accepting improper inducements during Salt lake’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games.
Bach said “it’s not up to the IOC to give advice” to FIFA. But he added: “We also know from our experience that ... putting everything on the desk can be a painful experience, but it is absolutely necessary to do this as we have seen from our own history.”