Wednesday, December 9, 2020

IOC confirms 3 triathlon medal events and 110 triathletes for Paris 2024 Olympic Games



The International Olympic Committee Executive Board has today approved the event programme and athlete quotas for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, in which triathlon will again have three medal events - the individual men, individual women and mixed relay - while the athlete quota will also stay the same, with 110 athletes in total.

“World Triathlon had requested that the IOC include two more medal events, as well as increasing the athlete quota, as we strongly believe that triathlon can have an even greater presence in the Olympics but, after many discussions with the IOC Sport department, we understand that this move was just not feasible right now, with most sports reducing the number of athletes that will compete in Paris”, explained World Triathlon President and IOC Member, Marisol Casado.

“We are happy and proud that the Mixed Relay will be staying in the Olympic programme, and we will continue working so that we can have more medal events, and increase the athlete quota, for Los Angeles 2028. We will incorporate across the upcoming seasons the proposed Eliminator format, so that we can gain more momentum and experience and prove to the IOC that this will be a great addition to the schedule, with its modern, fast and furious format that will attract millions of fans, both on-site and watching on TV, to the Olympics. We look forward to working with the IOC to increase the athlete quota, so as to give more National Federations the chance of sending their triathletes to the Olympics,” she added.

The IOC received petitions for 41 additional medal events to be included in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but the Programme Commission decided that no IF will increase their medal events, and to make a reduction in the overall number of events, with a final programme of 329 medal events planned for Paris 2024.

Regarding the athlete quota, the 10,500-athlete quota set for Paris 2024, including new sports, will lead to an overall reduction in the number of athletes – 592 fewer compared to Tokyo 2020 (11,092). It will also lead to a reduction in the number of officials, and therefore in the overall size and complexity of the Games.

Most sports in the Programme have seen a reduction of their quota, with Triathlon being one of the very few sports that maintain their number of athletes competing, currently set on 110 -55 men and 55 women-.

The Paris 2024 Games will have exactly 50 per cent male and female participation, following on from the gender equality already achieved for Tokyo 2020, which will have 48.8 per cent female participation.

The Programme will also have a growth of mixed gender events, from 18 to 22, compared to Tokyo 2020. Skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing and breaking confirmed as additional sports based on a proposal by Paris 2024. Breaking will make its Olympic debut in Paris as well.

“With this programme, we are making the Olympic Games Paris 2024 fit for the post-corona world. We are further reducing the cost and complexity of hosting the Games. While we will achieve gender equality already at the upcoming Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, we will see for the first time in Olympic history the participation of the exact same number of female athletes as male athletes. There is also a strong focus on youth,” said IOC President Thomas Bach.

In addition, the IOC EB strove to provide further reassurance to the athletes during this difficult time, consistent with the “athletes-first” approach of the IOC and the Paris 2024 Organising Committee. It therefore retained the vast majority of the current events, given the short three-year period between the Olympic Games Tokyo and Paris 2024.

 

ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON 

World Triathlon is the international governing body for the Olympic sport of triathlon and all related multisport disciplines around the world, including duathlon, aquathlon, cross triathlon and winter triathlon. Triathlon made its Olympic debut in Sydney 2000, with a third medal event, the Mixed Team Relay, added to the programme at Tokyo 2020, while paratriathlon was first added to the Paralympic programme at Rio 2016. World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development of the sport worldwide, with inclusion, equality, sustainability and transparency at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the sport to be extraordinary.  

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