Definitions & Distinctions
The question of how many sports are included in the Olympics is a bit tricky, because the International Olympic Committee doesn't define a sport in quite the same way that most people do. The IOC recognizes a hierarchy of sports, disciplines, and events. To the IOC, a sport is represented by a single international governing body.
To look at a concrete example, most people would say that swimming, diving, synchronised swimming, and water polo are four separate sports. However, the international governing body for all three is the Federation Internationale de Natation. In Olympic terms, therefore, the sport is aquatics. Swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo are aquatics disciplines.
An event, in Olympic terms, is any competition for which medals are awarded. So men's platform diving is an event, diving is the discipline, and aquatics is the sport.
It should be noted that, for many sports, the sport is also the discipline. That's true, for example, of badminton, baseball, and basketball. It's not true of archery, though; the sport is archery and the discipline is target archery. Target archery happens to be the only archery discipline included in the Olympics, but the International Archery Federation also governs competition in field archery and ski archery, which are considered separate disciplines.
Officially, there are 27 sports on the Summer Olympic program. They're shown below with their disciplines, where applicable. The year in which the sport was first on the Olympic program is shown in parentheses.
Summer Olympic Sports
and Disciplines
- Aquatics (1896)
- Diving (1896)
- Swimming (1896)
- Synchronized Swimming (1984)
- Water polo (1900)
- Archery (1900-1920, 1972)
- Target Archery
- Athletics (track and field - 1896)
- Badminton (1992)
- Baseball (1992)
- Basketball (1936)
- Boxing (1904)
- Canoe/kayak (1936)
- Cycling (1896)
- Road Cycling (1896)
- Track Cycling (1896)
- Mountain Bike (1996)
- Equestrian (1900)
- Dressage (1912)
- Eventing (1912)
- Jumping (1900)
- Fencing (1896)
- Football (Soccer - 1900)
- Gymnastics (1896)
- Artistic Gymnastics (1896)
- Rhythmic Gymnastics (1984)
- Trampoline (2000)
- Handball (Team Handball - 1936)
- Hockey (Field Hockey - 1908)
- Judo (1964)
- Modern Pentathlon (1912)
- Rowing (1896)
- Sailing (1900)
- Shooting (1896)
- Softball (1996)
- Table Tennis (1988)
- Taekwondo (2000)
- Tennis (1896-1924, 1988)
- Triathlon (2000)
- Volleyball (1964)
- Beach Volleyball (1996)
- Volleyball (1964)
- Weightlifting (1896)
- Wrestling (1896)
- Freestyle (1904)
- Greco-Roman (1896)
Winter Olympic Sports
and Disciplines
- Biathlon (1960)
- Bobsleigh (1924)
- Bobsleigh (1924)
- Skeleton (1928, 1948, 2002)
- Curling (1998)
- Ice Hockey (1920)*
- Luge (1964)
- Skating (1908)
- Figure skating (1908)*
- Short track speed skating (1992)
- Speed skating (1924)
- Skiing (1924)
- Alpine Skiing (1936)
- Cross Country Skiing (1924)
- Freestyle Skiing (1992)
- Nordic Combined (1924)
- Ski Jumping (1924)
- Snowboard (1988)
programs before the Winter Olympics began
Criteria for Inclusion
To be added to the Summer Olympics, a sport or discipline must be widely practised by men in at least 75 countries on four continents and by women in at least 40 countries on three continents. To be added to the Winter Olympics, it must be widely practised in at least 25 countries on three continents.
A sport or discipline is added to the Olympic program at least seven years before the Olympic Games for which it is to be added.
To be included in the Olympics, an event must be practised by men in at least 50 countries on three continents and by women in at least 35 countries on three continents. In addition, it must have been included at least twice in world or continental championships. An event is added to the Olympic program four years in advance of the Olympic games for which it is to be first included.
There's a little-noted rule that sports, disciplines, and events that depend essentially on mechanical propulsion are not acceptable in the Olympics. That excludes aerobatics, air racing, auto racing, powerboat racing, motorcycle racing, and snowmobiling. (Although powerboating was briefly an Olympic sport, before that rule was in place.)
Discontinued Sports
In the early days of the modern Olympics, the host country was pretty much allowed to decide which sports or disciplines were to be on the program. Only in 1924 did the IOC take control of the program.
As a result, a number of sports were on the Olympic program for relatively brief periods before 1924. They were discontinued either because of lack of interest on the part of the other nations or because the sport didn't have a genuine international governing body conforming to Olympic standards.
- Cricket (1900)
- Croquet/Roque (1896, 1900)
- Golf (1900-1904)
- Jeu de paume (court tennis - 1908)
- Lacrosse (1904, 1908)
- Pelote Basque (jai alai - 1900)
- Polo (1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1936)
- Powerboating (1908)
- Racquets (1908)
- Rugby football (1900, 1908, 1920, 1924)
- Tug-of-war (1900-1920)*
Two sports, archery and tennis, were dropped from the Olympic program and later restored to the program. Archery in various forms was an Olympic sport from 1900 through 1920, then was discontinued for lack of a governing body and internationally accept rules.
The international federation governing archery was founded in 1931, but it wasn't until 1972 that archery again became an Olympic sport.
Tennis was on the program from 1896 through 1924. It was dropped because of disputes betweeen the International Tennis Federation and the IOC over the issue of amateurism. In 1988, tennis was restored to the program.
Demonstration Sports
The original idea behind demonstration sports was that host countries could present unique sports to a body of international spectators. Thus, American football was a demonstration sport at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles and the Australians presented their own version of football at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
Later, a demonstration sport was usually included in the Olympics because it was being considered as a possible addition to the program. Such a sport had to have an international governing body meeting the standards of the International Olympic Committee.
A demonstration sport now is often a sport that will be added as a medal sport at the next Olympics. Since a new sport has to be approved seven years in advance, including a sport as a demonstration at the intervening Olympic Games is used as a kind of dry run for the real thing.
There have been no demonstration sports since 1992.
On the list of demonstration sports below, those that have become medal sports are indicated with an asterisk.
- American Football - 1932
- Australian Football - 1956
- Baseball* - 1904, 1912, 1936, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1984 and 1988
- Badminton* - 1972
- Basketball* - 1904
- Basque pelota - 1924, 1968 and 1992
- Bandy -1952 (winter)
- Budo - 1964
- Canoe/kayak* - 1924
- Curling* - 1924, 1932, 1936, 1964, 1988, 1992 (winter)
- Dog Sled Racing - 1932 (winter)
- Field Handball - 1952
- Freestyle Skiing* - 1988 (winter)
- Gliding - 1936
- Korfball - 1920, 1928
- Lacrosse - 1928, 1932, and 1948
- Military Patrol - 1924, 1928, 1936, 1948 (winter)
- Roller Hockey - 1992
- Ski Jöring (Skiing behind a horse) - 1928 (winter)
- Speed Skating* - 1924 (winter)
- Speed Skiing - 1992 (winter)
- Short Track Speed Skating* - 1988 (winter)
- Taekwando* - 1992
- Tennis* - 1968 and 1984
- Water Skiing - 1972
- Winter Pentathlon - 1948 (winter)
- Women's Judo* - 1988