A meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Programme Commission was held to mark the start of the process to add new sports for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. 

Nothing was officially announced, but all the signals we gleaned afterwards were that the process will be drastically downscaled in comparison with the more lavish contest before Tokyo 2020, when five sports were added.

It seems far more likely that only one or two will be added this time around and those that are will have to fit within the 10,500 total for athlete quota places. 

This already makes it seem very hard for a team sport like baseball or cricket to be successful given the vastly increased numbers required. The process is also likely to be effectively completed next year, meaning the likes of surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing do not even have a chance to first showcase themselves in the Japanese capital. 

Will it be bad news yet again for squash as well?

A lot of the media coverage has been on esports, but I would guess that there is more chance of some sort of parallel demonstration computer games event rather than full incorporation.

"While we cannot comment on any discussions and proposals being put forward to the Executive Board, you are correct in saying that the overall size of the Games and principles of Olympic Agenda 2020 and the 'New Norm' will be an important consideration, along with an efficient process for Paris 2024 to make proposals to the IOC on events in new sports if they wish to use this opportunity," IOC sports director Kit McConnell replied in typically cryptic fashion when I asked him to clarify.

I’m not sure his reference to Agenda 2020 is strictly accurate given how the IOC seem to now be realising that the "good words-little action" approach epitomised there is no longer good enough. The apparent thinking for Paris 2024 is far more in line with the process to add new disciplines within existing sports last year, where new ones only arrived in place of others which were scrapped.

All 28 sports which are appearing at Tokyo 2020 have already been improved in principle for Paris 2024, but both boxing and weightlifting will first need to convince the IOC that they have made the necessary changes following governance and doping problems.

Do all the others deserve their place?

I criticised modern pentathlon in a column a few weeks ago and was impressed to swiftly receive a phone call from the International Federation’s communications director, who was at pains to point out the changes they have made. 

There are plenty of other sports - in both Summer and Winter Olympic sport - who need to up their game too to demonstrate how they are still relevant. 

The International Shooting Sport Federation, currently locked in a legal battle over who is eligible to stand to replace 83-year-old President Olegario Vázquez Raña when he finally retires this year, is one.

Others have not exactly covered themselves in glory in the last week.

Concerns have been raised over the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), for instance, after an "Independent Sanctioning Panel" decided to lift suspensions early against Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey - but not Russia, Kazakhstan, China and others - after they fulfilled criteria which seemed to chiefly include the paying of a $50,000 (£38,000/€43,000) fee as a "contribution to IWF’s enhanced anti-doping activity in the country".

It has since emerged that an Azerbaijan lifter tested positives for anabolic steroids, probably since the suspension first came into force. It also transpires that nobody quite knows who is on this "Independent Sanctioning Panel" and the IWF, when contacted, said there is "no intention to publish the names yet to avoid direct contact and pressure..."

I don’t think you can talk about transparency without, ahem, being transparent, although they are not the only International Federation who don’t back up their rhetoric.

When studying the unpublished International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation accounts which we were sent on the eve of Ivo Ferriani’s re-election as President for a third four-year term, we were shocked to discover how the Italian’s expenses had rocketed from €79,000 (£70,000/$92,000) for the financial year ending March 31, 2016 to €180,585 (£159,029/$210,268) for the following 12 months - an increase of 128 per cent. This included travelling expenses of €57,799 (£50,896/$67,296), "other" costs of €101,395 (£89,290/$118,055) and a new figure of €21,401 (£18,846/$24,919) for a car.

Ferriani ignored our request for a comment but I am told it was explained during the Congress that the growth was due to his rising responsibilities as an IOC member. 

Do members not have all expenses covered by the IOC while on Olympic business?

There are also currently no IBSF accounts existing for the last 15 months so no awareness of spending in the build-up to the Winter Olympics, which is not great. 

The International Association of Athletics Federations and the International Gymnastics Federation are among other major sports bodies who appear to publish no financial accounts. 

The International Swimming Federation now do, and my colleague David Owen reported last week that their 2013-2016 "FINA family expenses" for hotels, travel and per diems came to CHF18 million (£13.7 million/$18 million/€15.6 million). In comparison, spending for out-of-competition drug testing was CHF4.2 million (£3.2 million/$4.2 million/€3.6 million) and development activities were CHF3.5 million (£2.7 million/$3.5 million/€3 million).

Both of these latter figures were due to rise in later budget forecast, but no more recent data is available. If you divide the total number of FINA staff by the total salaries budget, it also averages out at a tidy CHF182,000 (£139,000/$184,000/€157,500) per full-time employee.

This coming in a sport, remember, were most of the top athletes do not earn very much at all.

These points all get notices by the press, public and politicians in places considering bidding for the Olympics.

Speaking of which, another classic cycle appears to be beginning in Graz. A feasibility study conducted by the University of Applied Sciences Campus 02, Joanneum Research and Graz University of Technology has, surprise surprise, concluded that a Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Austrian city is "absolutely feasible" and would only cost €1.137 billion (£1 million/$1.3 million). 

This figure would supposedly not affect the public purse. However, if you delve deeper, the report does say further down that taxpayer money could be spent on security and wider infrastructure costs.

Already the Communist Party are claimed they have enough signatures to force a referendum, and, after one in Innsbruck failed last year, it is hard to see such a vote being successful. Austrian officials claim that a referendum should be "non-binding" but, as we have seen, it is hard to go against popular will.

The same cycle could also be beginning in Barcelona, where sporting and political officials joined together to speak enthusiastically about bidding plans for 2030 last week. 

Is there any chance of this breaking the trend of failed European bids? Only if they try something different.

Calgary, another city likely to face a referendum at some stage if its bid for the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games is to continue, announced its Board last week.

It was the usual mix of political and sports administration figures. One thing both Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 did in their successful Summer Olympic bids last year was involve big name athletes in every step of the way. I remember having lunch near bid leader Tony Estanguet when he jubilantly reacted to a message from Zinedine Zidane promising to promote the bid on social media.

Can Calgary 2026 not get somebody like ice hockey star Sidney Crosby as an ambassador or even as a Board member? It would be a small step but could go a long way in raising profile and moving the narrative away from unwinnable financial debates.

Sports bodies, like players at the FIFA World Cup, have to demonstrate substance and solidity and show they have really changed on issues such as governance. 

But they also need spectacular moments of style to resonate and appeal to potential doubters.