IOC OKs Two BMX Cycling Events for 2008 Olympics

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 01, 2003

IOC OKs Two BMX Cycling Events for 2008 Olympics

The International Olympic Committee(IOC) said on Monday that their executive board has approved the men's and women's BMX cycling events to be put in the program of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

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The International Olympic Committee(IOC) said on Monday that their executive board has approved the men's and women's BMX cycling events to be put in the program of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

IOC President Jacques Rogge told reporters that the BMX or bikemoto-cross, will be added to the Beijing Games while the total number of athletes for cycling will remain unchanged.

This requires that two other cycling existing events be droppedto make room for BMX but Rogge said that the International CyclingFederation had yet to decide which would be dropped.

Despite the change in the cycling sport, Rogge said that the total number of events for Beijing Games will remain as usual at 300.

Rogge also said that the IOC is still at the stage of defining the criteria to decide which sports remain inside or outside the Olympic program.

Currently the IOC, whose program commission has had a couple ofmeetings with the international sport federations, has worked out some basic criteria.

Rogge said that these requirements mainly are as follows: a sport needs to be universally practiced all over the world and truly popular; it needs to accept both men and women events, the sport cannot be costly and should not be dangerous for athletes' health.

The Olympic sport is also fighting against doping, and its world ruling body need to be democratic, added Rogge.

Rogge said that the criteria will take a couple of months to befinalized, before being presented to the IOC's executive board in February and the IOC session during the Athens Olympic Games next year.

Immediately after the Athens Games, the IOC will conduct surveys on the existing 28 summer Olympic sports as well as those 15 sports applying for the Olympic membership. The final decision will not be made until the 2005 IOC session in Singapore.

Rogge said that the IOC has tried to be as objective as possible in finalizing the criteria for being Olympic sport.

He cited television ratings for sports as example, saying that they need to determine which method and company to be used to measure the ratings.

"You need to agree with everyone on how you are going to measure them," he said.

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