Some sports and events, and consequently the medal count, will be cut for the 2032 Brisbane Summer Olympics.
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This was discussed this week by International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry.
In a conversation in Switzerland with the heads of summer Olympic sports, she warned that future Games must be more efficient.
Although the exact list of sports in the Brisbane Olympic program should be revealed in the coming months, K. Coventry had previously assured that there will be fewer than 36 sports at the Games in Australia – the same number as at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“I know not everyone will be happy,” K. Coventry told AP, adding that sports will be able to return to the Olympic program in the future. “But our goal is not to destroy any sport.”
“Change or be changed”
The program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games was approved several years ago, when Lithuania also heard both favorable and unfavorable decisions for itself.
Breakdancing, which debuted in the Olympic program in 2024 in Paris, where our Dominika Banevič delighted the country with a silver medal, was dropped from the Olympic mosaic supplemented by American sports.
The hosts have the right to propose several sports, so in Los Angeles there will be sports such as non-contact American football, lacrosse, cricket, squash, baseball, and women’s softball.
The number of events in Olympic swimming increased because 50m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, and 50m backstroke races were added, and coincidentally, one of these events features world record holder Rūta Meilutytė.
With 36 sports, Los Angeles set a record. This caused the number of Olympians to swell from 10,500 to a record 13,000 athletes.
- Number of Olympic sports in recent Summer Games:
- 1984 Los Angeles – 23
- 1988 Seoul – 23
- 1992 Barcelona – 25
- 1996 Atlanta – 26
- 2000 Sydney – 28
- 2004 Athens – 28
- 2008 Beijing – 28
- 2012 London – 26
- 2016 Rio de Janeiro – 28
- 2021 Tokyo – 33
- 2024 Paris – 32
However, economic circumstances force the organizers to look for other solutions.
Brisbane included 28 sports in its bid, although the presentation was made a long time ago – after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
Now, after this week’s talks in Lausanne, AP writes that American-added sports such as non-contact American football or lacrosse will likely not remain in the 2032 program.
Another sport at risk of being dropped is modern pentathlon, whose representatives have won Lithuania five Olympic medals (only Lithuanian track and field athletes have won more – 7).
Andrejus Zadneprovskis, Edvinas Krungolcas, Laura Asadauskaitė won one gold, three silver, and one bronze medals, but modern pentathlon has been forced to change and renew for many years to remain in the Olympic program.
By replacing the equestrian event with an obstacle course, pentathletes managed to stay in the Olympic program, so in Los Angeles we will again have hopes to cheer for representatives of this sport with deep traditions.
But rumors about the Brisbane Games worry the leaders of Lithuanian modern pentathlon.
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“Pentathlon has long been pressed against the wall, so it is trying to change,” –
