Snoop Dogg, Imane Khelif, and new sports at the Paris 2024 Olympics

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The Paris 2024 Olympics are over, and what are we left with? Apart from a handful of world records, 329 sets of medals across 32 sports and 48 disciplines, tears of joy and sadness, many highlights to watch, and many talking points.

We have Yusuf Dikeç, the casually cool Turkish pistol-shooting dad. We have Anthony Ammirati, the French pole vaulter who knocked off the bar with his crotch. We have heated gender arguments about Imane Khelif, the Algerian boxer. We have Snoop Dogg, everywhere. We have LeBron James and Steph Curry, the grey-bearded Father Time and the Baby-Face Assassin, gone from rivals to brothers lifting basketball Team USA to where it should be.

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And we also have the new(ish) sports on the menu. Skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing returned having debuted at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, while breaking made its premier Olympic appearance. The reasoning behind this is clear as IOC tries to attract a younger audience, but it is probably good that breaking would not make it to the LA28 programme. "A little goofy," as the Rolling Stone magazine put it, sounds about right.

But the others were just fine. Although I did not watch surfing and would not comment on that, park skateboarding, bouldering, and especially freestyle BMX (making its second Olympic appearance) impressed me. These disciplines are spectacular, they have speed, fierce competition, drama, and tension, and require exquisite skills.

I can understand those saying "How come a 12-year-old girl can win the same Olympic gold as a hundred-meter runner?", and I agree that every change needs a conventionalist standing in its way. But with so much entertainment on so many channels and platforms, the Olympics are losing positions and have to fight for the younger generation. By the way, did you know that Saudi Arabia will host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in 2025?

And did you really watch the Olympic football tournament? With its weird U23 plus three veterans format. And yes, the gold medal meant a world for Novak Djokovic, but why do so many tennis players shun the Games? So do not get too attached to those traditional Olympic sports.

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Modern pentathlon and weightlifting barely escaped exclusion from the 2028 programme, and boxing is still hanging by a thread with the final decision to be made in 2025. Pentathlon will not be the same as equestrian show jumping will be replaced by obstacle course racing.

LA28 Olympics will have more in store as the IOC approved the inclusion of five optional sports in 2023. While baseball/softball was there in 2020, squash and flag football (a softer version of American football) will make their debut in 2028. Cricket and lacrosse will return to the Olympics after more than a century.

Four more sports including breaking and motorsport, initially proposed by the LA28 Organizing Committee, were omitted, thankfully. But with the addition of skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing to core Olympic sports, and the introduction of beach sprint rowing, the IOC made sure we would have a lot to talk about in four years.

And for those still grunting at the fancy new sports that nobody needs, let me remind you that at some point in history, live pigeon shooting and tug-of-war were Olympic sports too. Have you seen them around lately?