Change or be changed, says IOC on need to introduce new sports like breakdancing in Olympics

New Delhi: The Olympic Games need to add new, urban-oriented sports and stage it in visually-attractive venues to attract young audience for relevance and sustenance, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday.

Keeping that in mind, the IOC has overhauled its system of adding sports into the Olympic charter, ditching a seven-year wait period to include surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding for Tokyo 2020.

Apart from those three, breakdancing has been added for Paris Olympics as the IOC is convinced it needs to woe a younger audience that also provides newer avenues for sponsorships and broadcasters.

“If we don’t get young people playing sport, we won’t be here for very much longer,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said, as quoted by Reuters.

“We have to attract young audiences and go where they are…we have to attract young people to sport or we are dead, basically.”

Target younger audience

Apart from these sports other disciplines are also being held in centrally located, outdoor venues in Paris with an eye on engaging a wider audience, instead of staging them in traditional sporting centres that appeal to only die-hard fans.

Marathon swimming and triathlon is being held at the Seine river, Basketball 3×3, skating and breaking are being staged at La Concorde while the surfing competition is being organised in French Polynesia with stunning visual backdrop of the south Pacific.

“All of those sports, the formats, the way we present sports… we have to continue to change. It is change or be changed. We like to lead change and not be led by it.”

The IOC is also looking at e-sports to gain a chunk of the younger audience and turn them towards Olympics, entering into a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia to host the esports Olympic Games.

“We are getting involved in esports, that’s where younger people are and we need to find out what it is that drives them to that and how we can bring them the benefits of sports and combine the benefits of esports with sport,” Adams said.

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 Breakdancing has been added for Paris Olympics as the IOC is convinced it needs to woe a younger audience that also provides newer avenues for sponsorships and broadcasters.  Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today