IOC bids to boost visibility of qualifying events

BERLIN: The International Olympic Committee is boosting the visibility of Olympic Games qualifiers, starting with Paris 2024, in order to add value, it said on Tuesday, two days before the start of qualifiers for four sports.

The first event in the inaugural Olympic qualifier series for Paris is in Shanghai from May 16-19, followed by Budapest on June 20-23, with more than 150 Games spots up for grabs in breaking, BMX freestyle, skateboarding and sport climbing.

“This is a hugely exciting project. It brings together a number of key initiatives and innovations... always focused on sport and the athletes,” Kit McConnell, the IOC’s Sports Director, said in an online media call.

The qualifying process for each sport is determined and run by its respective international federation with of more than 3,000 events held over a two-year period prior to each Games. The IOC, however, hopes by bringing four sports together and hundreds of athletes for the series that also includes art, music and fashion events shortly before the July 26 start of the Paris Olympics, it will maximise visibility for the sports, the athletes and the Games.

“These events in Shanghai and Budapest are the culmination of this Olympic qualifying pathway,” McConnell said. “We want to celebrate that pathway, to add value to international federations, to hosts, athletes and teams. A stronger promotion of that qualification pathway.”

In the past few years, the IOC has worked hard to keep the Olympics relevant to audiences between each Games, including setting up an Olympic channel with in-house productions and coverage of Games qualifiers and other sports events.

McConnell said the IOC would expand that promotion to qualifiers for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics though it may be in a different form to fit winter sports, as well as for the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games.

“We see this continuing and expanding in the future,” he said. “(For Milano-Cortina) we are not looking necessarily at Olympic qualifier series, but we are looking to promote the pathway... to celebrate the fact that there are huge numbers of events during next two seasons for winter sports.”