In December 2014 when the IOC passed their Olympic 2020 agenda I was not aware that the IOC was thinking of cutting any events to cap the summer Olympics participants to 10,500 across 310 events for future Olympics. This story eluded me for two months until I read a tweet from Dwight Stones that the IOC is considering just that, cutting major track and field events in time for the Tokyo 2020 summer games. The events being considered being dropped are: 200M, 10000M, shot put, triple jump and 20K race walking. The IOC wants to cut 231 athletes from the 2,231 track athletes that competed at the 2012 London games, leaving 2000 athletes as a cap for track and field at future summer games. Track and Field has the most athletes competing with over 20% of all athletes participating at the summer games. This is so the IOC can add more sports like surfing and karate that suit younger viewers at future games.
I learned the 10000M event is being cut out from European meets so that may be ok for the IOC to cull along with any race walking events. The 200M is a marquee event and should not be tampered with along with the shot put and triple jump. I'm hoping the IAAF stands up to fight this injustice to the sport of track and field and the history of the Olympic Games.
