This year’s Olympics will have 33 sports and 339 medal events. A few sports will be making their Olympic debut at the Tokyo Olympics 2021
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) considered a variety of factors while approving new sports at Tokyo Olympics 2020, including the impact on gender equality, the youth appeal of the sports, and the legacy value of adding them to the Tokyo Games.
List of Debut Sports at Tokyo Olympics 2020
New Olympic sports. Epic skills. One dream.
— Olympics (@Olympics) May 24, 2021
1. Karate
Karate is a martial art. It originated in Okinawa during the Ryukyu Dynasty. Karate will make its first appearance at Olympics this year at Tokyo Olympics. And by doing so it will join other martial arts such as judo, taekwondo, boxing, and wrestling at the Olympics. The karate competitions at Tokyo Olympics will take place at Nippon Budokan, the spiritual home of Japanese martial arts.
It has two disciplines namely Kata (forms) and Kumite (sparring), with men and women competing in these two disciplines.
There will be a total of eight events at the Tokyo Olympics, two of Kata (one each for men and women) and six of Kumite (three weight-wise categories each for men and women). In Kumite the three weight categories would be; Men’s (-67kg, -75kg, +75kg) and Women’s (-55kg, -61kg, +61kg).
A karate practitioner is called a karateka.
Kata is a solo discipline where the karateka will demonstrate a series of offensive and defensive movements targeting a virtual opponent. They will be evaluated on factors such as the strength, speed, rhythm, balance, and power of strikes and kicks and many other factors. From the 102 kata that is recognized by the World Karate Federation, the competitors will choose the kata they want to demonstrate.
Kumite is where two karatekas will compete against each other in a matted competition area measuring 8m x 8m. The athletes will earn points between one and three if they manage to land strikes, kicks, or punches on the target area of their opponent’s body with good form, power, and control. A karateka wins by amassing eight points first or by gaining more points than their opponent in the allotted time (three minutes).
VIDEO: Karate will make its Olympic debut alongside four other new disciplines: surfing, skateboarding, baseball and sport climbing.
Takumi Kato and Chikashi Hayashida from Tokyo's "Kaishi" dojo explain how karate will work at the Tokyo Games. pic.twitter.com/sAYNYkfnqt— AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 9, 2021
2. Skateboarding
Skateboarding, the popular street sport that originated in the United States, will be making its debut appearance at the Summer Olympics this year in Tokyo. There will be four gold medals to grab as it will consist of 4 events (2 Men’s and 2 Women’s) and about 80 athletes competing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park in Tokyo. The Olympic schedule for skateboarding is that it will be contested from 25 July – 5 August 2021.
At Tokyo Olympics, there will be two disciplines of skateboarding: street and park. Both genders will compete in those disciplines.
Street
Here, the competition will be held on a street-like course and will feature stairs, handrails, curbs, benches, walls, and slopes which the athletes will use to showcase their range of skills and tricks. Skateboarders will be scored based on the degree of difficulty of their tricks, height, speed, originality, and other factors also.
Park
Park competitions will take place on a hollowed-out course that resembles large dishes and dome-shaped bowls which feature a series of complicated curved surfaces that rise steeply. The athletes will use the steep to perform mid-air tricks. And they will be judged based on the difficulty, originality, and execution of their tricks.
The youngest @teamgb summer Olympian of all-time Sky Brown is ready to shine at #Tokyo2020!#StrongerTogether
📽️: @skybrown on Instagram pic.twitter.com/vIzpXElDcX
— Olympics (@Olympics) July 11, 2021
3. Sport Climbing
Sports Climbing will make its Olympic debut at Tokyo Olympics. It will have two events, one each for men and women. A total of 40 Sport Climbing athletes will compete at the Tokyo Olympics – consisting of 20 men and 20 women. It will be held at Tokyo’s Aomi Urban Sports Park from 3 to 6 August 2021.
The climbers will compete in all of the three disciplines. It is a combined event, meaning the result/winner will be determined based on who performs best in all three disciplines. It will take place on artificial climbing walls.
Other than safety ropes required in some disciplines, no other equipment is allowed, and competitors must use only their hands and climbing shoes to climb. This sport requires strength, flexibility, and skill. Sport Climbing is governed by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC).
The three disciplines of Sport Climbing are Speed, Bouldering, and Lead.
Speed
In speed climbing, two athletes secure themselves with help of safety ropes and race against each other to reach the 15-meter wall faster than their competitors on identical routes.
Bouldering
Here, the Climbers tackle the wall without the use of safety ropes; instead, they will be equipped with safety mats. The athletes will try to scale as many fixed routes on a 4.5-meter wall as they can within 4 minutes.
The routes vary in difficulty and are called ‘problems’. As the athletes climb without safety ropes, they can try a route again if they fall during their initial attempt. Athletes must look to overcome most problems in the least number of attempts.
Lead
In lead, the athletes attempt to climb as high as possible on a wall measuring over a 15-meter wall within six minutes. Here the climber uses safety ropes. And if two or more athletes reach the same height, the one who achieves it the fastest wins.
Can't wait for the Olympic debut of sport climbing! 🧗♀️#StrongerTogether
📽️: @shaunacoxsey pic.twitter.com/nuyvFchMCK
— Olympics (@Olympics) July 12, 2021
4. Surfing
Surfing will make its Olympic debut at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. It will be held at the Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, Chiba. The Surfing competition will be of 2 events – Men’s and Women’s with 20 athletes competing from each gender. The dates of the competition are 25 – 28 July 2021.
Surfing at Tokyo Olympics will take place on real waves, which will be difficult as nature will play an important factor. No two waves are alike; the athletes will have to compete against each other while balancing to the changing conditions of nature.
Surfing competitions are divided according to the size and type of the board used. Here at Tokyo Olympics Shortboards will be used and it is approximately six feet (1.8m) in length. Athletes will compete at a time, with each heat lasting about 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the waves. Each wave can have only one rider.
There will be a panel of five judges who will analyse the performances and give scores based on the “Judging Criteria”. There are five criteria; commitment and degree of difficulty, innovative and progressive manoeuvres, variety of manoeuvres, combination of major manoeuvres and speed, power, and flow.
Who's excited for surfing at #Tokyo2020? #StrongerTogether
📽️: @kanoaigarashi on Instagram pic.twitter.com/pytztwkbaP
— Olympics (@Olympics) July 11, 2021
Apart from these four sports, Baseball and Softball will be returning to the Olympics, as they are included in Tokyo Olympics 2020. The two sports were last featured at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
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