Selecting the Olympic Sports

During each Summer Olympic Games, 28 different sports are played. The kinds of sports played at the Olympics don't change very often, and the process for changing them is long and difficult. So it came as a big surprise in 2005 when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it wanted to add new sports to the Summer Olympic Games. At that time, the list of sports hadn't changed in 70 years.

At a meeting in Singapore in 2005, the IOC voted on each of the 28 events from the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. They wanted to choose which sports would be played at the 2016 games. There are many reasons why some sports make the list while others don't, but it's important that these sports are popular around the world, and played in many different countries.

The committee decided that baseball and softball would be replaced. Their new options included roller skating, rugby, golf, squash, and karate. To be included in the Olympics, a sport must receive votes from at least two-thirds of the committee. The IOC had to meet more than once to come to a conclusion. Finally, in 2009, the results were announced: rugby and golf were the newest Olympic sports.

Both rugby and golf have been Olympic sports before. Golf was part of the 1904 games over a century ago, and rugby was last played in the 1924 games. Now, both sports will rejoin the Olympics for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Athletes from both sports are excited. New Zealand rugby star Jonah Lomu said, "(It's) just fantastic for the game." Golf superstar Jack Nicklaus feels just as strongly. He says that "now people of all walks of life1 will be inspired to play the game of golf, and play for sports' highest recognition. For all sports, that has always been a gold medal."

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¹ People from all walks of life are people from different backgrounds, cultures, or positions in society.