The
Olympic sports comprise all the
sports contested in the
Summer and
Winter Olympic Games. As of 2008, the Summer Olympics include 26 sports with 36 disciplines and about 300 events, and the Winter Olympics include 7 sports with 15 disciplines and about 80 events.
The number and kinds of events may change slightly from one Olympiad to another.
Sports, disciplines, events
For purposes of Olympic competition, the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) makes a distinction between sports and disciplines. A sport, in Olympic terms, is a single or group of disciplines as represented by an
international governing body, namely an
International Federation.
For example,
aquatics, represented at the Olympic level by the
International Swimming Federation, is a sport at the
Summer Olympics that includes the
swimming,
diving,
synchronized swimming and
water polo disciplines.
, represented by the
International Skating Union, is a sport at the
Winter Olympics that includes three disciplines—
figure skating,
speed skating on the traditional long track, and
short track speed skating.
Medals are awarded on a per-event basis; there can be one or more events per sport or discipline.
In fact, with the removal of
baseball and
softball from the Summer Olympics after the 2008 Games, every current Olympic discipline has at least two events.
For most of the 20th century,
demonstration sports have been included in many Olympic Games, usually to promote a non-Olympic sport popular in the host country, or to gauge interest and support for the sport.
Some such sports, like
curling, were subsequently added to the official Olympic program. This changed when the
International Olympic Committee decided in 1989 to eliminate demonstration sports from Olympics Games after 1992.
Although no demonstration sports have been included since then, as an alternative, the
Beijing Organizing Committee received permission to organize a
wushu tournament for the
2008 Summer Olympics.
Changes
A sport or discipline is included in the Olympic program if the IOC determines that it is widely practiced around the world, that is, the number of countries that compete in a given sport is the indicator of the sport's prevalence. The IOC's requirements reflect participation in the Olympic Games as well — more stringent toward men (as they are represented in higher numbers) and Summer sports (as more nations compete in the Summer Olympics). Sports may not depend primarily on mechanical propulsion, though there were power-boating events in the early days of the Olympics.
Previous Olympic Games included sports which are no longer present on the current program, like
polo and
tug of war.
These sports, known as discontinued sports, were later removed either because of lack of interest or absence of an appropriate governing body.
and
tennis are examples of sports that were competed at the early Games and were later dropped by the IOC, but managed to return to the Olympic program (in
1972 and
1988, respectively). On July 11, 2005, when the IOC voted to drop
baseball and
softball from the Olympic program for
2012,
a decision that was reaffirmed on February 9, 2006.
On August 13, 2009, the IOC Executive Board proposed that
golf and
rugby sevens to be added to the Olympic program for the 2016 Games. On 09 October 2009, during the
121st IOC Session in
Copenhagen, the IOC voted to elevate both sports as official Olympic sports and to include them in the Olympic program, beginning with the
Rio de Janeiro Games. The IOC voted 81-8 in favor of including
rugby sevens and 63-27 in favor of reinstating
golf.
Recognized sports
Many sports are not included in the Olympic program but are recognized by the IOC.
At any time, a recognized sport may be added to the Olympic program in future Games through a recommendation by the IOC Olympic Programme Commission followed by a voting of the IOC membership. When Olympic
demonstration sports were allowed, a sport typically first appeared as such before being officially promoted.
An
International Federation (IF) is responsible for ensuring that the sport's activities follow the
Olympic Charter; from the moment their sport is recognized they become official Olympic federations and can assemble with the IOC and remaining Olympic IFs. Recognized sports that are not part of the competition schedule for an Olympic Games usually become part of the schedule of the
World Games.
The following sports, though not contested in the Olympic Games, are recognized by the IOC:
Summer Olympics
At the
first Olympic Games, nine sports were contested.
Since then, the number of sports contested at the
Summer Olympic Games has gradually risen to twenty-eight on the program from 2000–2008. At the
2012 Summer Olympics, however, the number of sports will fall back to twenty-six following an IOC vote in early 2006 deciding the removal of
baseball and
softball from the Olympic program. These remain recognized sports nonetheless, with the possibility of a return to the Olympic program in future games.
At the
121st IOC Session in
Copenhagen on 09 October 2009, the IOC voted to simultaneously reinstate both
golf and
rugby to the Olympic program, meaning that for the
2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, the number of official Olympic sports that will be contested will be back up to 28 again, two more than the 26 sports that constitute
London's program.
In order for a sport or discipline to be in included in the Summer Olympics program (but not necessarily be contested at the Olympics), it must be widely practiced by men and women, in at least 75 and 50 countries, respectively, spread over four continents.
Current summer program
The following sports (or disciplines of a sport) make up the current Summer Olympic Games official program and are listed alphabetically according to the name used by the IOC. The figures in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport contested at the respective Games; a
bullet () denotes that the sport was contested as a demonstration sport.
Seven of the 26 sports consist of multiple disciplines. Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same color:
Aquatics –
Canoeing/
Kayak –
Cycling –
Gymnastics –
Volleyball –
Equestrian –
WrestlingFor equestrian and wrestling, the figures in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport, and not for each discipline separately.
Discontinued summer sports
The following sports were previously part of the Summer Olympic Games program as official sports, but are no longer on the current program. The numbers in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport that were contested at the respective Games; a bullet denotes that the sport was contested as a demonstration sport.
Demonstration summer sports
The following sports or disciplines have been demonstrated at the Summer Olympic Games for the years shown, but have never been included on the official Olympic program:
- Swedish (Ling) gymnastics (1948)
Gliding was promoted from demonstration sport to an official Olympic sport in 1936 in time for the
1940 Summer Olympics, but the Games were cancelled due to the outbreak of
World War II.
Winter Olympics
Before 1924, when the
first Winter Olympic Games were celebrated, sports held on ice, like
figure skating and
ice hockey, were contested at the Summer Olympics.
These two sports made their debuts at the
1908 and the
1920 Summer Olympics, respectively, but were permanently integrated in the Winter Olympics program as of the first edition.
The
International Winter Sports Week, later dubbed the I Olympic Winter Games and retroactively recognized as such by the IOC, consisted of nine sports. The number of sports contested at the Winter Olympics has since been decreased to seven, comprising a total of fifteen disciplines.
A sport or discipline must be widely practiced in at least 25 countries on three continents in order to be included on the Winter Olympics program.
Current winter program
The following sports (or disciplines of a sport) make up the current Winter Olympic Games official program and are listed alphabetically, according to the name used by the IOC. The figures in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport that were contested at the respective Games (the blue cells indicate that those sports were held at the Summer Games); a bullet denotes that the sport was contested as a demonstration sport. On some occasions, both official medal events and demonstration events were contested in the same sport at the same Games.
Three out of the seven sports consist of multiple disciplines. Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same color:
Skating –
Skiing –
BobsleighDemonstration winter sports
The following sports have been demonstrated at the Winter Olympic Games for the years shown, but have never been included on the official Olympic program:
Military patrol was an official skiing event in
1924 but the IOC currently considers it an event of
biathlon in those games, and not as a separate sport. Ski ballet, similarly, was simply a demonstration event falling under the scope of
freestyle skiing.
