IOC President Candidate Oswald Wants to ‘streamline’ Sports to Expand Programme for Olympics

IOC presidential candidate Denis Oswald, has suggested new sports could be added to the Summer Olympics by cutting less competitive events within existing sports.

Oswald said a ‘more creative approach’ is needed to establish the sports program in the wake of the IOC’s handling of wrestling’s Olympic status.

“If you streamline some sports and keep only their events which are really universal, you could go further,’ Oswald said at a news conference to detail his campaign platform in the six-man race to succeed Jacques Rogge.

“This space can go to different sports so that we can really create fresh blood within the program.”

Wrestling to Return

Oswald said he is ‘pretty convinced’ that wrestling will return to the Olympics after being eliminated in February from the core list for the 2020 Games in a process that was designed to bring in a new sport to fulfill the 28-sport limit.

Wrestling, squash and a joint baseball-softball bid made the IOC shortlist last week for inclusion as an additional sport in 2020. A final decision will be made at the IOC session in Buenos Aires, Argentina, two days before the Sept. 10 presidential election.

If wrestling wins the vote, no new sport will be brought in.

“I was very surprised that was wrestling was eliminated,” Oswald said. “I think there were other ways to warn them. At the end, the wish was to have a new sport.”

Oswald is competing against IOC vice presidents Thomas Bach of Germany and Ng Ser Miang of Singapore, Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico, C.K. Wu of Taiwan and Sergei Bubka of Ukraine to replace Rogge, who steps down after completing a full 12-year mandate.

Oswald picked up on widespread dissatisfaction with the sports program review, which left youth-oriented sports such as wakeboarding and roller sports shut out.

The IOC has imposed a cap of 28 sports and 10,500 athletes to help host cities control costs and prepare for staging the 16-day event.

“It’s not necessary to stick to 28 sports,” Oswald told reporters. “Every sport can make a certain effort, then you could have more than 28. There are some events which are pretty similar in which the athletes can win.”

Even in established sports, only ‘four or five nations’ were likely to win medals in some events, the longtime rowing federation president said.

United World Championship Not a Possibility

Oswald also spoke against a proposed ‘United World Championship’ to be held every four years for Olympic and non-Olympic sports. The project was put forward by judo federation president Marius Vizer after his election last Friday as head of the umbrella body SportAccord.

“I don’t think there is any city in the world which can accommodate such a games,”said Oswald, who oversaw preparations for the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2012 London Games. “Everyone being a bit realistic realises it is not possible.”

Oswald also proposes simplifying the process of cities bidding to host an Olympics, which currently involves bid officials travelling to make presentations to sports conferences and regional Olympic meetings.