21 New Events Approved for ’92 Olympics : Women’s Sports Receive Boost From IOC Panel’s Action

Women’s sports in the Summer Olympics received a boost today as 21 new events, ranging from baseball to yachting, were officially added to the schedule for the 1992 Games.

The International Olympic Committee’s executive board also agreed to increase the number of players in the women’s singles tennis tournament from 32 to 64, bringing it in line with the men’s field, and to retain the men’s and women’s 50-meter freestyle in swimming.

Events Finalized

New events finalized by the board were men’s and women’s singles and doubles in badminton; an eight-team baseball tournament, which had been granted medal status 2 1/2 years ago; seven weight categories in women’s judo; the women’s 10-kilometer walk in track; women’s sailboard and single-handed dinghy sailing; four white-water canoe races; a 10-meter running target event in shooting, and a women’s individual pursuit cycling race.

In addition, the board decided to replace the quadruple sculls with coxswain with a coxless quadruple sculls event.

It also said it will consider increasing the number of teams in women’s handball and volleyball.

Avoiding Bias

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch today expressed concern about the growth in the size of the Summer Games. He said more than 10,000 athletes are expected at the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona and added: “The day will come when we shall have to take some drastic decisions and eliminate some events in some sports.”

Samaranch said the need to avoid discrimination against women’s events was one of the reasons for the growing size of the Games.

The Olympic authorities and leaders of the 25 sports in the Summer Games program also agreed on new measures to eradicate doping.

The unanimous agreement is aimed at unifying the existing anti-doping measures undertaken by the International Olympic Committee and the governing bodies of each sport.