- World Athletics has revealed it is disappointed by the omission of cross country at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
- Break-dancing (‘breaking’), skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were added to the Olympic program for the first time.
The World Athletics proposal to include cross country in the Olympics for the first time since Paris 1924 has been rejected. Cross country was one of 41 events rejected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who release of the approved events program yesterday. Meanwhile, break-dancing (‘breaking’), skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were added to the Olympic program for the first time.
Only 10,500 athletes are to compete in Paris - down from 11,092 enrolled in this year's delayed Tokyo games. The number of events has also been cut from 339 to 329.
In a statement, Thomas Bach the President of the IOC said: ‘With this programme, we are making the Olympic Games Paris 2024 fit for the post-corona world. We are further reducing the cost and complexity of hosting the Games.’
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In response to its rejected application, World Athletics said: 'Cross-country is an exciting and fast growing sport around the world so we are clearly disappointed it will not feature at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, even more so given the heritage of cross country in France at the Paris 1924 Olympic Games.'
World Athletics went on to add that they 'have been encouraged by the commitment from the IOC that they will continue to work with us to realise our vision of seeing cross-country in a future Olympic Games.'
Athletics will go undisturbed by the cuts, with track events set to remain the same across the 2020 and 2024 games. Excitingly, the programme also includes 100% gender equality in athlete quotas.
Runners have been reacting to the news on social media:
