This had been achieved, according to the IOC, following the confirmation of the Olympic programme for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. 

Given the title, you might have thought the IOC had taken bold and brave steps by adding the likes of speed skiing, a demonstration event at Albertville 1992, and skijoring - where athletes get pulled along ice or snow by horses or dogs and was a demonstration event at St. Moritz in 1928 - to the 2022 Games in the Chinese capital. 

Now that would have been exciting.

Instead, the IOC’s ruling Executive Board announced the inclusion of no fewer than four mixed team events in ski jumping, freestyle skiing, skating and snowboarding.

While the addition of another snowboard cross discipline will unquestionably provide an element of sheer lunacy to a Games which already threaten to be rather flaccid, the Olympics really does not need more mixed team events.

Reaching gender equality is an admirable goal. Only the biggest of sceptics would disagree with that.

But, there is an argument that the IOC are pandering too heavily to gender parity and are sacrificing quality in a bid to achieve that hallowed 50-50 split of men and women.

Yes, the Olympics are about celebrating participation, but they are principally about competition.

I doubt the competitive edge which makes sport and the Olympics so special will be elevated by a mixed team ski jumping event.

Take Pyeongchang 2018 as an example. Few remember the mixed competitions which took place in the isolated South Korean resort; fans will recall the dazzling displays of figure skating, the nerve-shredding tension in curling and the drama of an Olympic ice hockey final.

From a spectator point of view, there is not the clamour and desire to see the mixed events at the Olympics.

Given the drop in television viewers at Pyeongchang 2018 compared with previous Games in winter sport mad countries such as the United States, shouldn’t the IOC be asking what the fans want?

You can bet it is not mixed team freestyle skiing aerials.

The IOC could also have gone down an alternative route in their efforts to reach gender equality at Beijing 2022, where a record 45.44 per cent of the 2,893 athletes at Beijing 2022 will be women.

What about women’s Nordic combined, one of only three events across the entire Summer and Winter Olympic programme not practised by both men and women at the Games?

IOC sports director Kit McConnell claimed the reason for the omission of Nordic combined was that it required "further development" in areas including competitiveness and the amount of countries who actively participate in the discipline in order for it to be considered in the future.

"The inclusion of any women’s events at the Olympic Games are really important in promoting gender equality but they also need to be at a level appropriate to be included at the Games and for an Olympic medal to be contested," McConnell added.

Is that not also the case for the mixed team events favoured by the IOC? Are they really at the "appropriate level" worthy of an Olympic medal? I suspect the answer is no.

To quote IOC President Thomas Bach, these kind of events do represent a "win-win-win" situation, however.

The IOC can claim progress towards gender equality, the International Federations get the bonus of another Olympic medal event - always sought after by governing bodies - and athletes have the chance of adding another gold, silver or bronze to their collection.

Alternatively, I’m sure an athlete at the Winter Olympics would much prefer individual glory than a mixed team gold medal in an event only added to improve gender equality statistics.

The reaction to the confirmation of the new disciplines and athlete quotas at Beijing 2022 was not universally popular, with athletes among the leading critics.

American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, a three-time Olympic medallist, claimed the IOC had effectively ignored the wishes of the sport’s most important stakeholders when they chose the monobob - single-person bobsleigh - over four-woman.

Her comments followed a period where confusion was more prominent than clarity in the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation’s (IBSF) process for proposing new events at Beijing 2022.

The Executive Committee voted 4-3 in favour of four-woman at a meeting earlier this year but President Ivo Ferriani has openly admitted he prefers monobob. Given the Italian is an IOC member and is considered a close ally of Bach, it is little surprise his chosen discipline was given the nod.

There have even been suggestions that the IBSF only submitted monobob for inclusion, defying the vote of its own Executive Committee. McConnell has since claimed to insidethegames that both disciplines were put forward for consideration.

Meyers Taylor, a keen advocate of four-woman bobsleigh and a campaigner for its inclusion, said the IOC decision was "disappointing" as it had overlooked the discipline the competitors in the sport actually wanted.

"Adding the monobob, although it adds a medal opportunity, does not add more numbers to the sport and does not give us equal participation as the men," she wrote on Facebook.

"I feel as though the female bobsledders around the world were not listened to in this regard and cannot help but be disappointed in the decision."

Where the IOC does deserve praise is in the reduction in the amount of athletes at Beijing 2022, as the confirmed number is seven below the approximate threshold of 2,900 for the Winter Games outlined in the Olympic Charter – even if it has been met with consternation by the likes of the International Biathlon Union, whose athlete quota was cut by 20.

The limit in the Charter is rarely adhered to but the Winter event has more success in this regard compared with its more illustrious bigger brother and Beijing 2022 will follow Sochi 2014 in staging a Games where less than the 2,900 target number of athletes will compete.

In comparison, the last Summer Olympics where the athlete number was under 10,500 was Atlanta 1996 – where 10,320 competitors took part – raising questions as to why the IOC even bother with a limit frequently unattainable.

Athlete quota numbers are just one of several concerns for sports hoping to secure a place on the Olympic programme, even with the IOC’s tendency to fail to meet their own number. As the amount of sports grow - 33 will feature at Tokyo 2020, the most in history - as does the total quantity of participants.

Not only that, but the need for cost-cutting and budget-slashing when it comes to hosting the Olympic Games raises the possibility that less sports will be included in future, unless they can persuade the IOC that their inclusion will not prompt an increase in expenditure.

"It is a challenge but I would not say it was illogical," Bach said when asked about adding new sports to future editions of the Games.

"This is because when we take these decisions, we are always trying to respect the framework and the limitation of numbers.

"This means that when adding new sports, we do not want to see an increase in the number of facilities for instance.

"As long as we are respecting these limitations, then in fact we are not putting more pressure on Organising Committees because these are the factors which are causing additional costs."

This is among the only discernible benefits of these mixed team events; they do not put further strain on Organising Committees and thus have a much easier road to Olympic inclusion.

But convenience and suitability should not trump the need for thrilling competition. 

Mixed team events do not increase the excitement for spectators - no matter what the IOC might say.