Leagues and governing federations of the five new possible Olympic sports were quick to cheer the Tokyo Olympic committee’s proposal to expand the '20 Olympic program, though final decisions will not be made until next August. Tokyo organizers today proposed 18 new medals in five different sports -- baseball/softball, karate, climbing, skateboarding and surfing. As popular national sports of Japan, the first two had been widely expected to be on the list. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred called the decision an "exciting step forward to hopefully seeing our game return to this great platform” in a statement issued by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Baseball/softball left the Olympic program after the ’08 Beijing Games. Street League Skateboarding President & COO Brian Atlas has been working with the Int'l Skateboarding Federation to standardize and organize that sport’s international community. He said it would help build the profile of the sport and his league’s business prospects. "There’s a halo effect associated with skateboarding, knowing that this potential lies ahead is great,” Atlas said. “There’s nothing like watching your favorite skateboarder compete for his country. It’s just different stakes involved when it’s at the Olympic level, and of course our partners recognize that, and everybody who believes in growing the sport recognizes that." The IOC will vote to ratify Toyko’s choices in a meeting at the Rio Games next August. Under changes made last year to IOC rules, the Olympics are limited to 310 medal events and approximately 10,500 athletes, unless the local organizing committee agrees to a different figure. The new Tokyo proposals would add 474 athletes to the Olympics. If nothing else changes, Tokyo’s proposals would pose challenges for the capacity limits. Rio will have 306 medal events, while the '12 London Games had 10,568 athletes in 302 events. "Tokyo 2020's announcement today is an extraordinary moment for our sport and for the global Surfing Community,” said Int'l Surfing Association President Fernando Aguerre. Int'l Federation of Sport Climbing President Marco Scolaris called it “a great honor” to have been chosen. Bowling, squash and wushu were on a short list but were not selected.
