Indoor Skydiving came up short in its quest to make it onto the sports program for the Games of XXXIII Olympiad Paris 2024.
The bid submitted by the French Parachuting Federation, FFP, and the World Air Sports Federation, FAI, to the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee, POCOG, for inclusion of Indoor Skydiving events into the Paris 2024 Olympics was solid. Its presentation online and in the brochure was absolutely state-of-the-art in terms of “look & feel.” Maybe the overall message(s) should have gone beyond the emotional pitch and addressed some of the key areas that relate directly to the new realities of the Olympic Agenda 2020.
Maybe FFP and FAI were counting on fine-tuning their message(s) to POCOG during the World Indoor Skydiving Championships in Lille, FRA, from 17 – 20 April. The timeline established by the Sports Department of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) foresaw the selection – or a shortlist – of additional sports to be made by POCOG in the second quarter 2019. A formal vote by the IOC Session was scheduled to take place in June 2019.
The surprise was huge by mid-February, when several French media outlets leaked which four sports would be put forward by POCOG. The formal announcement at a media conference on 21 February 2019 merely confirmed them: breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing.
The announcement dealt a major blow to baseball/softball and karate. Both are additional sports on the Tokyo 2020 program together with skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing. And it disappointed 15 other sports, air sport with Indoor Skydiving among them. POCOG confirmed that 19 IOC Recognized International Federations had submitted a bid for inclusion.
POCOG provided the reasons for its choice of four sports, which many considered to be “rad 4 sure,” with four words: YOUTH, PERFORMANCE - SPECTACULAR and INCLUSIVE!
FAI and IPC are well advised to analyze the four success stories very thoroughly with a view to a possible bid for Los Angeles 2028.