Muaythai keskustelu

Sport Inclusion at the Olympics

In July 2007, the International Olympic Committee adopted more flexible rules to add new Olympic sports. This has given renewed hope to many sports that have been on the waiting list for many years. Such sports include Rugby, Golf, Karate, Squash and Roller Sports. In 2009, Rugby and Golf were selected to make a comeback to the Olympic program for Rio in 2016.

New System

A new system has been introduced, which consists of 25 core sports with three “floating” sports. This new system will start from the Olympics from 2020. However, it is not all good news, as all sports would be up for review after each Olympics. New sports will be included or others dropped by a simple majority vote (compared to currently requiring a 2/3’s majority).

Dropping Sports

There needs to be exceptional circumstances for a core sport to be dropped from the program, such as a drug scandal, corruption or a massive drop in popularity. There were 28 sports on the program for the Beijing Games, which will drop to 26 for London when Baseball and Softball are dropped from the program.

New Sports

With the new inclusion system, Baseball and Softball were campaigning to get back on the program for the 2016 Olympics along with the other five sports in the running: Karate, Squash, Roller Sports, Rugby 7s and Golf. Rugby and Golf were ultimately selected (see all Olympic Sports). There are also moves to include Skateboarding at the London Olympics, which could occur if they compete as a cycling discipline and not as a new sport.

In April 2012, IFMA marked the official launch of the ‘Muaythai towards IOC’ campaign at a special gala event in which IFMA lodged its Letter of Intent to apply for IOC recognition to IOC Member Dr CK Wu. At the same time, an application to be included in the 2017 World Games was handed to Mr. Ron Froehlich, President of the International World Games Association.

World Games on kansainvälinen neljän vuoden välein järjestettävä urheilutapahtuma, jossa kilpaillaan useissa erilaisissa urheilulajeissa. Kisat järjestää Kansainvälisen olympiakomitean suojeluksessa toimiva IWGA-järjestö (International World Games Association). Ensimmäiset World Games -urheilukilpailut järjestettiin vuonna 1981.

World Games -kilpailuissa järjestetään kilpailutapahtumia urheilulajeissa, jotka eivät ole olympialaisten kisojen ohjelmassa. Ohjelmaan kuuluu lajeja, jotka ovat aikaisemmin olleet olympialaisten ohjelmassa, kuten köydenveto, sekä lajeja, jotka ovat ehdolla olympialajeiksi. Usein KOK vaatii, että olympiakisoihin ehdolla oleva laji on ollut World Gamesien ohjelmassa (esimerkiksi triathlon).