Olympics: IOC recommends changes to Olympic bidding
Last Updated: 30/01/15 3:55pm
The International Olympic Committee has announced plans to allow host nations to stage events in a different country.
The IOC unveiled the plan as part of moves to make it cheaper and easier for countries to bid for Games and to allow new sports to enter the Games quicker than at present.
The IOC presented 40 recommendations for changes to the way the events are run, which include reducing the cost of bidding for Games, aiming to achieve 50 per cent female athletes and the launching of an Olympic TV channel.
These recommendations... shows the IOC safeguarding the uniqueness of the Olympic Games and strengthening sport in society.
IOC president Thomas Bach
Another significant recommendation is to cap the number of athletes and coaches while allowing more sports on the schedule. The latter would have an impact on the number of events currently staged.
IOC president Thomas Bach said in a statement: "These 40 recommendations are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When you put them together, a picture emerges that shows the IOC safeguarding the uniqueness of the Olympic Games and strengthening sport in society."
Contribution
The recommendation on reducing costs for bidding includes cutting the number of presentations that are allowed by bidding cities and "providing a significant financial contribution from the IOC".
The IOC also wants to have an "invitation phase" for bidding during which cities will be "advised about the opportunities this new procedure offers".
The recommendations were announced to a round table of athletes, and will be voted on at a meeting of its members in Monaco on December 8 and 9.
New sports introduced to the Games will not have to wait seven years from being approved for their first Olympic appearance, but instead could be brought in for just one Olympics to maximise the Games' reach and attraction.
The first Games to benefit from the changes could Tokyo 2020 with the Japanese city pushing for the inclusion of baseball and softball, after both were taken off the programme following Beijing in 2008.
Organising committees can propose the addition of 'one or more additional events' on the Olympic programme after their city is elected for that one edition of the Games, with the programme becoming more events-based rather than sports-based.
