Other sports have been added to the 2024 Olympics instead of baseball
On December 7th, the International Olympic Committee announced the sports that will be taking place for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Among the sports left off the list was baseball.
Baseball hasn’t been a mainstay at the Summer Olympic games. It was added for the now delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics as baseball is a popular sport in Japan. Before the addition to the upcoming delayed Olympic games, baseball was included in the event in the years of 1904, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008.
Instead of baseball, the Paris edition will have breakdancing, skateboarding, surfing and sport (rock) climbing.
While it’s upsetting that baseball won’t be staying at the 2024 Olympics, this was kind of expected as there probably aren’t many major league quality diamonds in Paris due to the lack of interest in the sport in the country of France.
Despite that, it’s quite surprising that some of the four sports mentioned above were added. Breakdancing is more of a recreational activity than a sport in my opinion. If we’re adding breakdancing to the event and want to consider this a sport, then how come a different form of dance in ballet or tap were not included as well?
Like dance, skateboarding is a recreational activity but it was only a matter of time before it was included in the Olympics. Skateboarding is pretty much snowboarding without the snow and that has been at the Winter Olympics for a long time.
Rock climbing, going under the name of sport climbing at the Olympics, is definitely much more of a recreational activity than a sport. While I’m sure there’s a such thing as competitive rock climbing, the best rock climbers can complete a course in very well under a minute making it a boring event to watch.
Surfing is a fun event added to the Olympic games but how exactly are they going to determine medal winners? Who can ride the highest wave? Who can go the longest without falling off their board?
As there is at the delayed 2020 Olympics, 3-on-3 basketball is staying for the 2024 edition. How come there needs to be a 3-on-3 version when there’s the 5-on-5 version that consists of the best players in the world? Very few, if any will be watching 3-on-3 Olympic basketball due to the lack of knowledgeable names partaking in the event.
For baseball in the delayed 2020 Olympic games, the field has yet to be set. It will consist of six countries with only four having booked their spots to the games. Those countries are Japan, Israel, Mexico and South Korea.
The other two spots will be determined through qualifying tournaments that have yet to have their dates announced.
The Tokyo Olympic games are set to have their opening ceremonies on July 23rd and baseball is set to start a few days later on the 27th.