The decision on which and how many new sports will be added to the slate for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics will be determined next year, just before the start of the Rio Games, IOC vice president John Coates said on Thursday.
Program changes approved by the IOC late last year allow it to bring in more sports and cut some events as it works to keep the Olympics relevant to spectators and sponsors, with baseball and softball — out of the Games since Beijing in 2008 — believed to be prime contenders.
Coates, in Tokyo for a review of preparations for the 2020 Games, laid out a timetable that included setting assessment criteria for proposed sports by April this year, and then go to an IOC session for determination just before the start of the Rio Olympics in August 2016.