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The 2012 Summer Olympic programme features 26 sports and a total of 39
disciplines. The 2012 Paralympic Games programme has 20 sports
and 21 disciplines. London's bid featured 28 sports, in line with other
recent Summer Olympics, but the IOC voted to drop baseball and softball
from the 2012 Games two days after it selected London as the host city.
The IOC reinforced its decision to drop both sports during the Turin
Games after they lost votes for reconsideration. They will remain Olympic
sports, despite being scheduled for the last time at Beijing in 2008.
Following the decision to drop the two sports, the IOC held a vote
on whether or not to replace them. The sports considered were karate, squash,
golf, roller sports and rugby sevens. Karate and squash were the two
final nominees, but neither received enough votes to reach the required
two-thirds
majority.
Women's boxing, which was not included in Beijing, is again being considered
for inclusion. Boxing is the only Summer Olympic sport that does not
include events for women. The IOC will meet in 2009 to decide which
new events to include in the programme.
Murad Qureshi, a member of the London Assembly, is pushing for a Twenty20
cricket showcase tournament to be included in London. Twenty20
cricket did originally bid for inclusion in 2012, but was not one of
the finalist sports. Netball is being drafted as a possible demonstration
sport at
the 2012 games. This idea was backed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown,
suggesting that it would encourage more young girls into playing sport.
The IOC eliminated demonstration sports following the 1992 Summer Olympics,
however, special tournaments have been run for non-Olympic
sports during the games, such as the Wushu tournament at the 2012 Summer
Olympics.
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