Let's Get Some More Fresh Events Into the Winter Games
That's in stark comparison to the Summer Games, which has seen relatively greater fluctuation in its program - Tokyo 2020 saw baseball & softball, karate, 3x3 basketball, surfing, sport climbing, and skateboarding all join the program, at least for that one edition. What's more, Beijing 2022 will feature only 109 medal events, compared to 339 at Tokyo 2020 during a same 12-day window.
Granted, it has traditionally been tougher to expand the winter program, as host sites have tended to be smaller in size; winter ski resort destinations like St. Moritz or Lake Placid. But Salt Lake City 2002, Vancouver 2010, Beijing 2022 and even Milano Cortina 2026 buck that old trend, and reports of larger candidates for 2030 - Salt Lake City again, Sapporo, or Barcelona, for example - show that hosts can be found to accommodate more athletes and venues.
That got me thinking...what are some other new sports or new disciplines of existing sports out there that could or should fit into a Winter Olympics? Let's take a look...
Bandy
Ice hockey is currently the only true team sport on the Winter Olympics (curling doesn't count as a team "ball" sport!). Bandy is similar to ice hockey but is played with eleven players each side (vs six in hockey) and a ball (vs a puck) on a larger rink. It's certainly global - twenty nations took part across the 2019 and 2020 men's world championships A and B divisions, including Russia, Sweden, Japan, China, the U.S., Great Britain...even Somalia and Mongolia.