Olympic Games future at risk without modernizing Brisbane 2032 program, experts warn

Former gold-medal winning swimmer and Australia’s most senior sport executive, Kieren Perkins, has urged the IOC to update the sporting program for Brisbane 2032, claiming that some current Olympic sports "have no modern relevance whatsoever."

The IOC has signalled its intention to address the long-term increase in the number of sports at the Games. Sydney 2000 had 28 sports, while Los Angeles 2028 is scheduled to have 36, including many with more than one discipline – such as road and track cycling – that need multiple venues.

Perkins, chief executive of government agency the Australian Sports Commission, said he is concerned about the future of the Olympic movement if the Brisbane 2032 program is not revised. "If that program doesn’t look different, then yes, we should start to worry," he said at the SportNXT conference in Melbourne.

"But if the Olympic movement actually does grasp the challenge that they’ve got, and recognise that while there are some traditional sports that we love dearly, they have no modern relevance whatsoever and there’s others that absolutely have earned and need a more prominent position within the Olympic movement.

"If that’s embraced, then I think we’ll be fine, but if we can’t find a way to navigate through that, then there are question marks about that sustainability."

Perkins declined to name individual sports without modern relevance, but his comments will make some sporting officials nervous. Sports such as modern pentathlon and equestrian have dedicated communities of players and supporters and long Olympic histories, but they cannot compete with the profile of core sports such as athletics and swimming.

The recent re-introduction of cricket, baseball and softball to the Games for Los Angeles 2028 also highlights the competition for places in the program. Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird has called for the Olympic final in 2032 to be the last game at the Gabba. A spokesperson for Cricket Australia said it was continuing to work with the ICC to "advance cricket’s cause for inclusion" in the Brisbane program.

"Cricket’s inclusion in Los Angeles 2028 will be a landmark moment for the game and our national teams showcasing the sport to our enormous global audiences as well as new cricket markets," they said.

Lacrosse, a sport invented by North American First Nations people, was also re-introduced into the Olympics for 2028. Chief executive of Lacrosse Australia, Anna Carroll, said the sport has "strong modern relevance" and its inclusion into the LA program "will introduce the sport to new audiences, inspire the next generation of players and strengthen participation pathways across Australia". She added her organisation is working with World Lacrosse "to demonstrate the sport’s value to the Olympic movement."

Netball has also been lobbying for inclusion in the 2032 program, especially given its popularity among women. As part of its lobbying effort, Netball Australia commissioned independent polling earlier this year which found two thirds of Australians want netball played at Brisbane 2032.

The IOC session in June developed a new methodology to determine the Olympic program, including focusing on individual disciplines rather than sports. The local organising committees can propose a maximum of four additional disciplines. Each discipline will be assessed in terms of its global appeal, cost and operational complexity and how well its athletes are represented in the sport’s governance.

This will be applied with flexibility to Brisbane 2032, given preparations are advanced, and the program is expected to be finalised by the IOC within the next year.

"The Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee has had strong interest from a range of sports wanting to be involved in the Games in 2032," a Brisbane 2032 spokesperson said.

"We are focused on designing a sports program that reflects the values of the Olympic and Paralympic movements, is operationally viable, and supports Brisbane 2032’s commercial, sustainable and engagement and experience objectives."

Nicki Nicol, chief executive of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, said the Olympics must "keep evolving and evolve quickly" but it was also up to the sports themselves to adapt.

"We’ve seen the ‘right-sized’ games for Glasgow [Commonwealth Games] just recently, and now as we look forward to Amdavad [the 2030 Commonwealth Games] that will be different again," she said.

"For us, we’ve got a lot of traditional Olympic and Commonwealth sports, understanding what that pathway is going to look like, how we can influence the change, because we’ve got to make sure we’re still relevant to fans."

Modern pentathlon has taken the radical step of dropping equestrian from its sub-disciplines and replacing it with obstacle course as one of its ahead of the 2028 Olympics.

Breaking, the controversial addition to the Paris program, was not retained for Los Angeles.