AIGLE, Switzerland (BRAIN) — The International Olympic Committee has agreed to add the Madison and BMX Freestyle Park to the program of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The decision was made at Friday's meeting of the IOC Executive Board in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Madison is a track event named after legendary races organised at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Madison will be raced by men and women at the Games.
BMX Freestyle Park takes place on ramps with big transitions and large obstacles. Competitors are judged on tricks performed throughout the course, with points awarded based on difficulty, originality, style and execution. Each rider in both the men's and women's events gets two one-minute runs (which both count) to impress the judges.
Besides the new events, the IOC agreed that for mountain bike and BMX racing, several quotas previously allocated to men athletes would be transferred to women, achieving full gender equity in both disciplines.
UCI's president, Brian Cookson, said, "I am thrilled to see four more cycling events joining the Olympic program. With competitions across very different disciplines, cycling already makes a large and diverse contribution to the Olympic Games, and now becomes the third largest sport in terms of gold medals, with 22 on offer. I am also delighted that we have made another big step towards full gender equity across all of our disciplines.
