Amateur Sports

The International Olympic Committee is considering dropping up to seven sports from the Olympic program and replacing them with events such as golf, triathlon or even beach volleyball, a key official has said.

“Six or seven sports which have always been included but no longer comply with modern taste and needs may be scrubbed and replaced by others,” said Jacques Rogge, IOC member and chairman of the Assn. of European National Olympic committees.

He declined to say which sports might be dropped in the shake-up, expected between the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 2000 Games, but a source who asked not to be identified said the sports most likely to be dropped would be synchronized swimming, diving, water polo, modern pentathlon, rowing, canoeing, fencing, sailing and showjumping.