Wait! What? That Is An Olympic Sport Now?
With the 2020 Olympics now behind us, here were the five new sports that were added to the games.
Surfing
Surfing added a fresh and new touch to the Olympics and gained some much-needed exposure. The participants were judged based on speed, power, flow, and difficulty level.
IOC President, Thomas Bach, wanted to ensure that the Olympics target both older and younger generations. The new sports will hopefully pique the interest of children.
“Taken together, the five sports are an innovative combination of the established and emerging, youth-focused, events that are popular in Japan and will add to the legacy of the Tokyo Games,” Bach said.
Karate
Karate is the only sport in the martial arts category that has not previously been featured in the Olympics. Kumite is a sparring discipline and had three weight classes for both men and women, as opposed to the normal five weight classes. In order to earn points, the participants needed to land kicks and punches with good form, strength, and control. Kata is a movement discipline and only one event took place for both men and women. In order to earn points, the participants needed to demonstrate speed, rhythm, and balance.
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Skateboarding
Skateboarding has always been more popular with the younger crowd and that is why it made an appearance this coming Olympics. The two different disciplines that were featured were Park and Street. The park discipline involved the participants skating on a variety of different ramps and pipes. The participants were critiqued based on their speed, the height of their jumps, and the grabs they performed. The street discipline is when the participant skated through a course which included benches, handrails, and boxes. The participants were judged based on the difficulty of their tricks.
Sports Climbing
Sports climbing is a discipline within rock climbing. It was separated into three sections – bouldering, lead climbing, and speed climbing. Bouldering participants were judged on their ability to complete the challenge in the least amount of attempts without being attached to a rope. Lead climbing is when the participants are attached to ropes and are assigned a specific route. Climbers earned points based on who completed the course first or who reached the highest point before falling. Speed climbing allowed participants to go head-to-head and see who can complete a 15m race to the top first. Each participant had to compete in all three of these sections.
Softball
After being out of the Olympics since 2008, softball made a comeback. Six teams qualified, including the host nation, Japan.
Photo Credit: Google Reuse, Unsplash
