Game Over for Minor Olympic Events

They are the quaintest of sports which, despite boasting few players, only a handful of fans and no stars, help to give the Olympic Games their unique appeal.

But the days of tae kwon do, modern pentathlon and equestrianism being part of the world's biggest sporting festival are numbered. They are set to be punished for their lack of popularity by being dropped from the Games.

Olympic chiefs are planning to axe minority specialist sports and replace them with guaranteed crowd-pullers, such as golf and rugby, in a move which will outrage sporting traditionalists.

Alarmed that the Olympics are increasingly seen as too staid, too out-of-touch and too dominated by the world's biggest countries, the International Olympic Committee is preparing a radical overhaul of the event intended to make it sexier, more global and better reflect sports which young people like.

Baseball and softball are included among the sports facing the axe, while golf, rugby sevens, karate, squash and even roller-skating are being lined up as replacements.

The IOC president, Jacques Rogge, is keen to boost the image of the four-yearly summer Olympics, which he and other senior IOC figures fear is too staid and unattractive to younger people who are into newer, more demanding pursuits, such as dirt-biking and extreme sports. IOC insiders describe the process as 'making the Games more relevant'. One source admitted: 'We're going to do this. We know there will be casualties, and we know this will cause a huge row.'

An IOC working group is drawing up plans to modernise the sporting programme for the summer Olympics. Whatever changes are agreed will be introduced at the 2012 Games, which London might host.

That raises the prospect of golf being played at Wentworth, Twickenham hosting rugby sevens and Hyde Park being used for competitive roller-skating. Sources in London's campaign to stage the event say they could easily use existing venues to accommodate any new sports the IOC decides to put in.

Last week, the IOC confirmed that it was writing to the world governing bodies of five sports that could potentially add to the quality and popularity of the Games: golf, rugby, squash, karate and roller sports. All five are desperate to become part of the Olympics.

The IOC says that the popularity of the Games largely depends on the content of the sports programme, which must be 'exciting, attractive, action-packed and athlete-focused. It must also reflect the constant evolution of public expectations.'

Rogge tried to axe modern pentathlon, baseball and softball in 2002, but those sports fought successful campaigns to thwart him. But the experience of the 2004 Olympics in Athens in August has convinced IOC members that a revamping of the schedule is needed. Minority sports, such as equestrian, often drew small crowds in venues built especially for them at great cost, and for which there is no clear future use, given the sports' low profile in Greece.

The IOC has decided that for every sport which comes in, one will have to go, as it intends to keep the maximum number of sports contested at 28. Golf and rugby are highly likely to be included, karate is tipped to replace tae kwon do, but squash is unlikely to supplant the three existing racquet sports of tennis, badminton or table tennis.

Roller-skating is seen as an outside bet for inclusion in 2012. Although a popular pastime, few people realise that it is also a competitive sport. However, the IOC has already agreed other changes intended to modernise the Games, such as substituting two BMX cycling events for two track cycling contests at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

The IOC has drawn up 33 criteria to assess which sports should keep or lose their place, or gain admission. It has sent a questionnaire to the 28 existing sports and five potential new ones, requesting details of how many television viewers they attract, how much commercial sponsorship they raise, how many countries play them, how many women play, and how much they cost to stage.

Olympic bosses are keen to make the Games a more truly global event. 'People in every country in the world play golf, but only a few do modern pentathlon. Also, many of the world's top golfers come from places such as South Africa and Fiji, which can only help,' explained one IOC source. 'And if we had rugby sevens, you could have teams from lots of small countries, rather than just the traditional big nations such as Britain and Australia.'

The IOC will decide which sports are in and which will go in July 2005.