Following the recommendation of the Olympic Program Committee, the EB today proposed seven sports for the initial sports program of the 2030 Winter Olympics: biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing, all under the supervision of the relevant Winter International Sports Federations (IFs) included in the Olympic Charter. The proposal will now be submitted to the 142n.d IOC meeting for decision.
“All seven sports have been part of the original sports program of the Olympic Winter Games since Nagano in 1998 and have made a significant contribution to the success of Beijing 2022, the most digitally engaged edition of the Olympic Winter Games,” said IOC member Karl Stoss, President. of the Olympic Program Committee, reporting to E.T.
The inclusion of a sport leaves full flexibility in reviewing relevant disciplines, events and athlete quotas. There remains the opportunity for an Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (OCOG), if it wishes, to propose additional sports. Milano Cortina 2026 was the first Winter OCOG to propose the inclusion of an additional sport – ski mountaineering – for its edition of the Games, and this was approved by the IOC Session in July 2021.
In a first for an edition of the Winter Olympics, and in a similar process to that approved for LA28, the EB also followed a recommendation by the Olympic Program Committee to approve an interim step to define the disciplines in each sport in 2025, before finalizing the program of the event and the quota of athletes (which will be in 2027 at the latest).
This will provide athletes, their National Olympic Committees and IFs with additional time to prepare for the Games and give OCOG earlier clarity on the final venue masterplan. The assessment criteria for the disciplines will be finalized in Q4 2024, in collaboration with the IFs, OCOG and the IOC.
Kit McConnell, the IOC’s Director of Sport, said: “Efforts must remain focused on maximizing the positive impact of the Games wherever possible and developing a program that remains balanced and relevant to young people, ensuring gender equality, innovation, universality and the participation of the best athletes, while reducing costs”.