I love the Olympics both Summer and Winter. When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that five new sports were to be added in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo I was ecstatic. According to CNN, baseball, softball, karate, surfing and skateboarding are going to be featured during the Summer Olympics in four years. I'm excited to see these sports featured on a global scale. However, I could only think one thing: WHY didn't this happen a long time ago?!
Baseball and Softball were both in the Olympics up until 2008. They were removed and replaced with Rugby and Golf at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In 2013, the IOC almost got rid of wrestling as well! But, at least common sense prevailed and they backed out of that horrible decision. Now, not only do we have baseball and softball back, but two other sports I feel are essential because they are globally relevant: skateboarding and surfing.
Karate, of course, is an exciting addition to the Olympic Games. Official karate tournaments being televised?! That's just awesome. (I fantasize about Mr. Miyagi being a coach and getting Ralph Macchio out of retirement....CRANE KICK!) But skateboarding and surfing should have been added a decade ago! Back when Tony Hawk was doing impossible things on the slab like the unthinkable 900 degree spin in the vert competition at the X-Games. Surfing is the same way. Kelly Slater was chasing waves back in the late '90s and early 2000s. If you had both snowboarding and skiing in the Winter Olympics for so long, then why hasn't skateboarding and surfing been considered for the Summer Olympics until now?
Either way, I guess complaining is irrelevant as these sports are now officially in the Olympics. Not this year in Rio, but still, it's coming. As I said, I love the Olympics, but now I am almost waiting for the 2016 games to be over with and get to the 2020 games in Tokyo. With the Zika virus, the Russian teams doping and just the general unhappiness of most of the athletes representing their countries, "The Land of the Rising Sun" looks so much more promising in four years than Rio does in 2016. And with these new additions to the 2020 Summer Olympics, I say: "Domo Arigato, Tokyo!"
For full details, click the link below for CNN's article:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/04/sport/olympics-new-sports-ioc-skateboarding-surfing-karate-baseball-softball-climbing/
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