Paris Olympics 2024 is scheduled to begin from July 26 to August 11. The event will feature 10,500 athletes from around the world competing across 329 events in what will be the biggest gathering to have been organized in France.
The Olympic Games in Paris will showcase an array of new sports and events, changes in the format of the same while some categories have been dropped.
Here is all you need to know about the new sports, dropped sports and format changes at Paris Olympics 2024:
New Sports
Breaking: Breaking or breaking dance will make its Olympic debut at the Paris Games 2024. 16 men (B-Boys) and 16 women (B-Girls) will compete in round-robin format leading to quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal battles.
Kayak cross: For the first time at an Olympics, canoe slalom will feature an event in which athletes race against each other, not just the clock. Four athletes will compete against each other from a ramp above the water and traverse a course featuring up to six downstream gates and two upstream gates .
Dropped Sports:
Baseball: Baseball is a men’s-only sport at the Olympics, and has been officially featured six times at the Games since 1992. It has been dropped from Paris Olympics 2024 due to MLB (Major League Baseballs) scheduling conflicts and past doping concerns.
Softball: The women version of Baseball, Softball is a women’s-only sport at the Olympics, and has featured five times since 1996. Both Baseball and Softball, will return in 2028 meanwhile, both will return for the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
Karate: Karate made a historic Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but its inclusion was short-lived. The sport has been omitted from the Paris Olympics due to the confusion of some in the martial arts community.
Also Read: 5 Biggest Athletes To Watch Out For At Paris Olympics 2024
Format Changes
Artistic Swimming: Men will make their debut in artistic swimming, with a team acrobatic routine round in Paris Olympics 2024. However, they have been left out from singles and duet events.
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Boxing: A new women’s weight class has been introduced in boxing making it six categories now. Meanwhile, men’s categories have been downsized from eight to seven.
Sailing: Two new kite events have been introduced. Two events with mixed boats and four boats for each gender will produce a total of 10 events.
Shooting: The mixed skeet team event has been introduced for shooting, replacing the mixed team trap event.
Track and Field: The marathon race walk mixed relay has been added to athletics, replacing the men’s 50km race walk. A Repechage round for 200m to 1500m races have been introduced.
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Volleyball: Volleyball men’s and women’s events will have three pools of four teams to accommodate 12 teams. This is in deviation from the format in previous Olympics where 12 teams were divided into two pools of six.
Weightlifting: Weightlifting has cut down its weight categories from 14 to 10.
