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2020 Bidding Sports
The IOC will vote on whether to include one of the following sports in the 2020 Olympic programme on 8 September 2013 at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires:
- Baseball/Softball
- Karate
- Roller sports
- Sport climbing
- Squash
- Wakeboarding
- Wushu
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Fact of the day
Frank Kugler won four Olympics medals in freestyle wrestling, weightlifting and tug of war at St Louis in 1904, making him the only competitor to win a medal in three different sports at the same Games. He claimed a silver medal in the heavyweight category in wrestling, bronze in the two hand lift and all-around dumbbell events in weightlifting and another bronze in the tug of war competition as a member of Southwest Turnverein of Saint Louis No. 2 team. He is recognised as an American by the International Olympic Committee although he was a German national at the time of the Games.
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Roller sport confident of revamped 2020 Olympic bid ahead of IOC presentation
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
December 18 - International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS) President Sabatino Aracu is confident of his sport's chances of making the 2020 Olympic Games programme with the governing body set to present to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) tomorrow. Roller Sport is one of seven disciplines looking to make the 2020 Games alongside climbing, karate, squash, wakeboard, wushu and a joint baseball and softball bid.
The IOC has now visited a major championships for all of the bidding sports and all seven are now in Lausanne where they will present to the IOC Programme Commission at the Palace Hotel.
Roller sport's IOC Evaluation event was the 2012 World Speed Skating Championships, which was held in Ascoli Piceno, Italy in September and it has made changes to its Olympic bid following feedback.
The marathon road race included in an earlier proposal has been replaced with a 300-metre indoor time trial meaning that there is now no road action in the bid.
The track events included in the bid in addition to the 300m are the 500m, 1 kilometre, 10km and 15km, and Aracu believes the changes make the bid stronger.
The seven disciplines bidding to join the 2020 Olympic Games programme will present to the IOC Programme Commission tomorrow at the Palace Hotel in Lausanne"For many years I've been nurturing the dream of having roller sports at the Olympics," said the FIRS President, who is a high profile Italian politician.
"We have a big opportunity now to show to the IOC the contribution we could bring to the Olympic Movement.
"The decision about our exclusion in 2009 [for inclusion at Rio 2016] left us stunned but we believe now, that such a fresh young sport, with a high athletic value, has all the credentials to be present at the Olympic Games."
The presentations to the IOC in Lausanne will be crucial for all seven bids but the IOC will not decide on which sport or sports to include on the 2020 Olympic programme until its Session in Buenos Aires in September 2013.
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