In my opinion, the Summer Olympics are the better Olympics of the two. First of all, summer is a beautiful time of year and watching the Games every four years becomes a tradition. I have watched the Olympics with my family for as long as I can remember. Second of all, the sports included are some of my favorites. Well, what if the Summer Olympics could get even more exciting? I found out a few days ago that this is a possibility.
The Tokyo Organizing Committee proposed 18 sports. This is the first committee that has been given the opportunity to be given the chance to propose ideas for additional activities and sports that may appear in the Olympics. This will give more athletes the possibility to perform in the Olympics. How many more athletes? A hundred? Nope. Two hundred? Even more. These 18 events can result in an additional 474 athletes to the sports program. This will also make the Games more diverse and increase the number of viewers because of the broader audience. Now, this is just a proposal and it is far off into the future. Some of the sports that were part of the proposal are: Baseball, softball, karate, skateboarding, sports climbing, and surfing.
Some of these new sports being introduced are not highly recognized amongst people in the sports world. Skateboarding can often be thought of as a hobby and you would never think of this as a sport that would appear in the Olympic games. The International Organizing Committee leadership wanted to add more sports even though the sports that are currently in the Olympics are highly popular. The 2012 Olympic games had an extraordinary amount of viewers. The NBC primetime broadcast of the Olympics averaged 31.1 million viewers. Gymnastics is my favorite sport to watch in the Summer Olympics. It is one of the most popular sports to watch during the Summer Olympics. However, what is interesting is that other gymnastics competitions are not viewed much. The reason this sport is so popular to watch at the Olympics is because it is entertaining to watch. Who does not want to see people flip around on a four-inch piece of wood? So, who wouldn’t want to see someone catch a sick wave? Who wouldn’t want to see someone riding the half pipe? I want to learn more about these sports and so does the rest of the world. I want to see these sports televised. We have become a diverse world; so let’s spread that diversity into the world of sports.
Sports are a huge part of our culture in the United States. We all like to sit around a television screen to watch a New York Giants football game, or go to Yankee Stadium to watch a nice game of baseball. Even people who aren’t involved in sports love sports. Maybe not everyone loves sports or even watching them, but I know most people love watching the Olympics. It is a nationwide event that exemplifies patriotism and athleticism. To make the Olympic team is a huge accomplishment for athletes around the world. We all dream of going to the Olympics as a child. However, not everyone wants that and the dream may be unattainable for some. But, by making the Olympics more available to many different athletes at least gives more athletes and players the opportunity to even try to achieve this goal.
Adding more sports to the 2020 Summer Olympic Games could not possibly be the wrong decision. Granted, all these sports may not be accepted or ever seen in the Olympics. Just the fact that they have been introduced and recognized as a possibility to enter the Games is an amazing thing. I am looking forward to hearing about the decision at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, where the decision relating to the proposal will be announced.
