Five events, including baseball, softball and karate, entered the Tokyo Olympic Games.
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Beijing time yesterday morning, at the 129th session of the International Olympic Committee held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a resolution was formally passed to add five new events, including baseball and softball, karate, skateboarding, competitive rock climbing and surfing, to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. This includes baseball and softball, which has attracted much attention, because men’s baseball and women’s softball returned to the Olympic family after 12 years after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. It can be said that among the five new sports, except karate, there will be more intense physical contact, and the other sports, including baseball and softball, do not or rarely involve confrontation such as collision, which is very suitable for Asians to carry out sports. The return of baseball and softball is entirely due to the fact that the next Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo, and Japan is one of the most popular and high-level countries in the world.
Baseball and softball is the most popular sport in the host country of the next Olympic Games.
According to the International Olympic Committee, these five sports are all sports that young people are keen on, representing the popularity and importance of emerging sports in urban life, which is in line with the core goal to be reflected in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, that is, human beings never stop on the road of constantly challenging themselves and pursuing higher, faster and stronger.
Baseball and softball were previously two independent sports, which were managed by two independent sports organizations, the International Baseball Federation and the International Baseball Federation. In order to return to the Olympic family, the International Baseball Federation and the International Softball Federation formally merged into the World Baseball and Softball Federation in Tokyo, Japan in April 2013. Baseball and softball were all Olympic events from 1992 to 2008. In 2005, the International Olympic Committee voted to remove baseball and softball from the Olympic Games and replace them with golf and rugby sevens at the Rio Olympic Games. Baseball and softball are the most popular sports in Japan. Kurt, vice chairman of the IOC Executive Committee, once said: "These sports are both popular in Japan and popular with young people." In addition, baseball is quite popular in Japan, so it is not necessary to go to great lengths to build new venues, which is also the reason why IOC prefers it.
China baseball and softball will also have an opportunity.
Although the return of baseball and softball to the Olympic family is due to the fact that the next Olympic Games will be hosted by Japan, it is definitely very beneficial for the development of baseball and softball in China and winning medals in the Olympic Games. Baseball and softball is not widely developed in the world, mainly in a few countries in North America, Cuba and South America, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, China in Asia, and Europe is completely a desert of baseball and softball, so it was forced to be separated from the events of the 2012 London Olympic Games.
China women’s softball team was one of the top teams in the world before the Beijing Olympic Games. It also won the runner-up at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, and the ranking in the next three Olympic Games was also two fourth and one sixth. However, the Chinese baseball team once defeated its arch-rival Chinese Taipei Team 8-7 at the Beijing Olympic Games. At that time, Shen Wei, the secretary-general of the Chinese Baseball Association, wept with joy, which was the first victory of the Chinese baseball team in the Olympic Games and wrote a new chapter in baseball in China.
In the past eight years, due to the non-Olympic events, the once-well-developed Chinese baseball league has fallen into a trough, often ending in one and a half months, and only six teams including Beijing, Tianjin and Guangzhou participated in the competition, and the number of games was pitiful. However, this year, because of the early insight that baseball and softball may return to the Olympic family, the Chinese Baseball League has expanded to 10 teams and the league period has been extended to three and a half months, and the baseball and softball sport in China has regained its dawn. If it can develop steadily in the next four years, China may win medals in this event, especially the women’s softball event.
The other four items are also suitable for Asians.
Among the other four new events that entered the Tokyo Olympic Games, karate originated from China’s "Tangshou", then spread to Japan via Okinawa, and developed in Japan, becoming an important part of Japanese culture. In 2005, the Boxing and Taekwondo Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China also began to introduce the sport in China, and established the national team in 2006. Karate does not need to build a special competition venue, and the event can be completed in three days, which is also a favorable condition for the project to successfully occupy the "Olympic seat". Karate once tried to become an event in the London Olympic Games in 2012 and the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, but both failed. This is the third time that karate has launched an impact on the Olympic Games and finally succeeded.
Surfing, skateboarding and competitive rock climbing are popular sports in Europe and America, but they are also suitable for Asians because of their high skill and no physical confrontation, and they are very popular among young people. In fact, many young people are playing these sports in China. Even in the world competition of competitive rock climbing, China players have achieved good results, including champions. At least for now, it seems that if the General Administration of Sport plans to develop and popularize these sports and improve the competitive level, the chances of achieving good results in the Olympic Games are much higher than those of the new rugby sevens event in Rio Olympic Games.
Text/reporter Liu Ailin