Olympic program review paves way for easing Winter Games mandate to snow and ice sports only

GENEVA (AP) — According to the Olympic Charter, Olympic winter sports must be played on snow and ice.

But could a muddy playing field stand a chance at future Winter Games, even in the French Alps in 2030 or Salt Lake City in 2034?

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How about parquet in an interior entrance? Snowvolley is ready and waiting.

These and other sports on the fringes of joining the Summer Games, such as flying disc, see a possible path to a less packed Winter Games schedule, even if winter sports federations oppose it.

There are 116 medal events at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics compared to 353 at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games.

The IOC considers crossover between summer and winter sports

The Charter is the code of rules and principles that guide how the IOC and the Olympic Games are run.

Article 6.2 could not be clearer: “Only sports practiced on snow or ice are considered winter sports.”

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This legal clarity is now under review.

Taking office in June as IOC President, Kirsty Coventry listened to her fellow IOC members and initiated “Fit For The Future”, creating four working groups including one focused on the Olympic sports program in the Summer and Winter Games.

He pledged to look at “identifying ways in which sports can be added or removed from the schedule through a clear and transparent process. He will also consider the suggestion that traditional summer or winter sports could crossover.”

Track and cycling want to come in

Cross-country running and cyclocross, two gloriously muddy events, were suggested for the 2030 Winter Games by the influential athletics and cycling federations, led by Sebastian Coe and David Lappartient respectively. Both were candidates for the presidency of the IOC in the election won by Coventry last year.

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Coe’s enthusiasm for cross-country is largely about putting African athletes center stage with a rare chance to win a medal at the Winter Games, which typically lack diversity.

Lappartient was instrumental in putting together the bid for the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps, which now wants to showcase cross-country running and cyclocross in the same venue. One proposed location is La Planche Des Belles Filles, known to cycling enthusiasts as a popular climb in the latest editions of the Tour de France.

Four-time Tour winner Tadej Pogačar and one of his great rivals Matthieu van der Poel, also a seven-time cyclocross world champion, were recruited for the campaign to help persuade the IOC.

Snow volleyball and flying disc

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Snow volleyball was played on an exhibition court in front of IOC voters at the Pyeongchang Winter Games in South Korea in 2018.

“If the Olympic movement believes that snow volleyball can help promote the Winter Games I would say: ‘Why not?’” said International Volleyball Federation president Fabio Acevedo. “He has a special snow globe, it’s amazing.”

Snow volleyball could also give African teams and Acevedo’s native Brazil a chance at a medal in the winter, because the technical skills of beach volleyball transfer easily to playing on snow, he said.

The rich program of the Summer Games has also found space for surfing, sport climbing, breakdancing and lacrosse, but there is still a long queue of sports waiting.

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Leaders from some of these sports recently traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland, the birthplace of the IOC, for an annual conference where they were able to meet and mingle with Olympic officials to learn the scope and details of the program overhaul.

“It’s really adaptable, whether it’s a basketball court or a larger field house,” World Flying Disk Federation president Robert Rauch said when asked if his sport could fill a possible Winter Games need.

Winter sports are back

One problem with expanding the Winter Games is that established snow and ice sports aren’t thrilled.

In November, the Winter Olympic Federations said that “such an approach would dilute the brand, heritage and identity that make the Winter Olympic Games unique.” The group represents sports including skiing, skating, biathlon, curling, luge, bobsleigh and skeleton.

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The push for cross-country running and cyclocross has been questioned by the American general secretary of the International Biathlon Union, Max Cobb.

“If they were super popular sports they would already be in the Summer Games, and they’re not,” Cobb said.

The IOC wants more time to decide

The change to the Olympic Charter can be made at the annual meeting of members known as the IOC Session, although not at the pre-competition gathering in Milan.

In the French Alps in early December, IOC vice-president Pierre-Olivier Beckers signaled a longer timetable for finalizing the sports program for 2030, likely at an executive board meeting in June.

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“We need further studies on proposed new sports,” he said. “We will decide only after Milan Cortina.”

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AP Winter Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics