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The Olympic programme has changed considerably since the first Games of the modern era in 1896. The programme for the very first Games of the Olympiad included nine sports and 43 events (an event being a competition in a sport, resulting in a ranking and the awarding of medals and diplomas), while Tokyo 2020 featured no fewer than 339 events across 33 sports. The Winter Games programme has also evolved, with 109 events on the programme of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, in comparison to the 16 events at the first edition in Chamonix in 1924.

Through Olympic Agenda 2020 and Rule 45 of the Olympic Charter, the current process gives flexibility to review the Olympic programme for each edition of the Games in order to introduce innovation and promote sustainability and gender equality. The Olympic Programme Commission is responsible for carrying out this task. Made up of IOC Members and representatives from the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the International Federations (IFs), the Organising Committees for the Games (OCOGs) and the athletes, the Commission analyses the sports and events to be included on the Olympic Games programme. The Commission submits its recommendations to the IOC Executive Board and presents reports to the IOC Session for final decision making.

The current process also helps to enhance the popularity of the Games while ensuring that the numbers of athletes, and the cost and complexity of the event, remain manageable. As part of this process, the OCOGs now have the opportunity to propose (only for their edition of the Games) additional events in new sports not on the Olympic programme but popular in their country. The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee was the first summer OCOG able to propose new sports and included five new sports for its edition: surfing, karate, sport climbing, skateboarding and baseball/softball. Paris 2024 will include in its own programme skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing and breaking (making its Olympic debut), and Milano Cortina 2026 will be the first winter OCOG to propose new sports, with the inclusion of ski mountaineering.

In this ZOOM IN page, we have compiled a selection of the most relevant official and academic publications to help you understand this complex subject and research it further, whether you’re interested in one particular sport or edition of the Games, or in the evolution of the programme.

You will find all the details concerning the current process of establishing the Olympic programme in this factsheet on the Olympic programme. We also encourage you to take a look at Olympic Agenda 2020, and in particular Recommendations 9 and 10, which reflect the current cap on the overall size of the Summer and Winter Games, to help keep cost and complexity under control, and Olympic Agenda 2020+5, with Recommendation 1, which calls for a balanced Olympic programme relevant to young people, ensuring gender equality, innovation, universality and the participation of the best athletes. Also note that, since their creation in 2010, the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) have contributed to the Olympic programme as a testing ground for IFs to propose new events and try out new competition formats. 

Don’t miss the useful links provided, where you will find plenty of information about the forthcoming editions of the Games. The selection of publications below also covers two other components of the Olympic programme: demonstration sports and art competitions. The latter formed part of the Olympic Games from 1912 to 1948, and were part of the original intention of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games.