In taking the quantum of women participation to 48.8%, a 3.2% increase from the last Olympics in Rio, the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved big changes to the overall Olympic programme for Tokyo 2020.
A number of men’s events have been replaced by women’s events or mixed events, apart from the introduction of 15 new events.
At the same time, the number of athletes competing in the Olympics has been reduced by 285, with athletics losing 105, along with weightlifting (64), wrestling (56), sailing (30), shooting (30), rowing (24), aquatics (22) and water polo (18). With the approval of the 3x3 format, as an additional event, basketball stands to gain 64 players.
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Boxing, canoeing, rowing, sailing and shooting have been able to adjust their events, by transferring men’s events to women’s or mixed events, without resorting to any change in the total number of events.
Whereas, aquatics gains two new events, men’s 800m and women’s 1500m, apart from a 4x100m mixed relay. In fact, the total number of mixed events will double from the nine in Rio, to 18 in Tokyo.
Athletics will also have a mixed 4x400m relay. Archery will have an additional mixed team event, while BMX cycling, track cycling and fencing will see two additional events each.
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Judo, table tennis and triathlon will each have an additional mixed event, while weightlifting will lose one men’s weight category.
In boxing, there will be a transfer of 44 athletes from men’s quota to women. It will be 55 for canoeing, 30 in all in the cycling events and 38 in judo.
The IOC had approved the introduction of five new sports, sport climbing, skateboard, karate, baseball/softball and surfing to the Olympic programme last year. They will have 18 events in all, 50% each for men and women, without any mixed events.
“I am delighted that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will be more youthful, more urban and will include more women,” the IOC President Thomas Bach said in an official statement.
Even though it is driving towards gender equality, it will not be 50% female participation in many disciplines. In fact, some of the disciplines like aquatics and gymnastics, the percentage of women will be considerably higher than men.
It will be 664 men and 746 women in aquatics, mainly owing to 104 women in synchronised swimming.
Athletics will have 988 male and 912 female, boxing (206, 80), cycling (300, 228), football (288, 216), gymnastics (114, 210), wrestling (192, 96). Wrestling has a big difference as the men have the additional Greco-Roman section, apart from freestyle events for both.
In the 28 disciplines, there will be 5440 men and 5176 women. The five additional sports will have 264 men and 210 women, for a total of 474.
With the big changes, the IOC is proud to have the most gender-balanced Games in the history of the Olympics in terms of both athletes and events in Tokyo 2020.