The Winter Games has added 41 medal events in the last 25 years, nearly doubling in size. The new sports are of the so-called extreme variety and include snowboarding, freestyle skiing, short track speed skating and skeleton. But the Olympics is always looking for new sports to attract younger viewers and provide more options for in-person attendance and television audiences. Yet while the Summer Olympics have a plethora of sports sitting on a waitlist (skateboard, squash, netball, surfing and karate will join the program in Tokyo; events such as billiards, bridge, cheerleading, floorball, polo, powerboating and sumo are recognized by the IOC), the Winter Games has pretty much expanded its program as much as possible.
The four "new" events this year are just different takes on preexisting ones: big air snowboarding, freestyle skiing, mass start speed skating and mixed doubles curling. With the possible exception of mountain climbing, there aren't any winter sports on the list of IOC recognized sporting associations, a precursor for inclusion to the Games.
That doesn't mean the Winter Olympics can't expand though. As you can see below, there are plenty of possible options for new sports:
- Ice walking
- Snowman making
- Blizzard shopping
- Snowball fighting
- Ski chalet relaxation
- Driving on ice
- Snow shoveling
- 400m dash in 10 inches of snow
9.Frozen
- Running outside underdressed to do household chores
- Snow football
