Test Your Olympic Knowledge

Overview of Olympic Sports

• Olympic sports are contested in the Summer and Winter Games

• Each sport is represented by an international governing body, the International Federation (IF)

• Each sport is subdivided into multiple disciplines, which are often mistaken as distinct sports

• Disciplines are subdivided into events, for which Olympic medals are awarded

• Previous Olympic Games included sports that are no longer included in the current program, known as "discontinued sports"

• The Olympics have often included one or more demonstration sports, normally to promote a local sport from the host country or to gauge interest in an entirely new sport

• The term "sport" in Olympic terminology refers to all events sanctioned by an international sport federation

• There are indicative thresholds which restrict the addition of new sports, disciplines, and events

• The list of Olympic sports has changed considerably during the course of Olympic history and has gradually increased over time

• Women are still barred from Greco-Roman wrestling and Nordic combined, but there are women-only disciplines

• The relevant strict clause excluding motorsports has been removed from the Olympic Charter

• At the first Olympic Games, nine sports were contested

• In order for a sport or discipline to be considered for inclusion in the list of Summer Olympic sports, it must be widely practiced in at least 75 countries, spread over four continents.Overview of Olympic and Winter Olympic Sports

• Gliding was an official Olympic sport in 1936 but the Games were cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II.

• Tenpin bowling has been a regular medal sport of the World Games since 1981 and the Pan American Games since 1991.

• Summer Olympic sports are divided into categories based on popularity, which determines the share the sport's International Federation receives of Olympic revenue.

• Ice sports like figure skating and ice hockey were held at the Summer Olympic Games before 1924.

• A sport or discipline must be widely practised in at least 25 countries, and on three different continents, to be eligible for inclusion on the Olympic program for the Winter Games.

• The current Winter Olympic Games official program consists of seven sports with multiple disciplines.

• Ice climbing was showcased at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 and aims to become an official competition sport.

• Many sports are not contested at the Olympics although their governing bodies are recognized by the IOC.

• The IOC altered the way it plans the Olympic sports program in 2020 by taking the total number of events into account, opening the schedule up for the inclusion on a per-Games basis of additional sports to the 25 "core" sports.

• Skateboarding, a discipline within roller sports, was included at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

• Baseball and softball share the same governing body.

• Cable waterskiing and cable wakeboarding have been proposed as sports that do not rely on motorboats.