The IOC today approved 6 new events to be held at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea. They are as follows:
- Alpine Skiing – mixed team event
- Curling – mixed doubles event
- Snowboarding – Big Air for men / women
- Speed Skating – mass start for men / women
In addition, snowboarding will lose two events – parallel special slalom for men and women.
This will bring the Winter Olympic Program to a total of 102 events, the first time the Winter Olympics have had more than 100 events. The following is how the Program has inflated over the years at the Olympic Winter Games. The biggest changes have occurred in 2002, with the addition of 10 events, and 2014, when 12 events were added.
[table]
Year,Men,Wom,Mix,Total,Men%,Wom%,Mix%
1908,2,1,1,4,50.0%,25.0%,25.0%
1920,2,1,1,4,50.0%,25.0%,25.0%
1924,14,1,1,16,87.5%,6.3%,6.3%
1928,12,1,1,14,85.7%,7.1%,7.1%
1932,12,1,1,14,85.7%,7.1%,7.1%
1936,14,2,1,17,82.4%,11.8%,5.9%
1948,17,4,1,22,77.3%,18.2%,4.5%
1952,16,5,1,22,72.7%,22.7%,4.5%
1956,17,6,1,24,70.8%,25.0%,4.2%
1960,16,10,1,27,59.3%,37.0%,3.7%
1964,20,12,2,34,58.8%,35.3%,5.9%
1968,21,12,2,35,60.0%,34.3%,5.7%
1972,21,12,2,35,60.0%,34.3%,5.7%
1976,22,12,3,37,59.5%,32.4%,8.1%
1980,23,12,3,38,60.5%,31.6%,7.9%
1984,23,13,3,39,59.0%,33.3%,7.7%
1988,27,16,3,46,58.7%,34.8%,6.5%
1992,31,23,3,57,54.4%,40.4%,5.3%
1994,33,25,3,61,54.1%,41.0%,4.9%
1998,36,29,3,68,52.9%,42.6%,4.4%
2002,41,34,3,78,52.6%,43.6%,3.8%
2006,44,37,3,84,52.4%,44.0%,3.6%
2010,45,38,3,86,52.3%,44.2%,3.5%
2014,49,43,6,98,50.0%,43.9%,6.1%
2018,50,44,8,102,49.0%,43.1%,7.8%
Totals,608,394,60,1062,57.3%,37.1%,5.6%
[/table]
So after 2018, there will have been 1,062 Winter Olympic events, or 1,054, if you wish to include the 1908 and 1920 figure skating and ice hockey as part of the Summer Olympics, and not include them as Winter Olympic events. So one of the 2018 Winter Olympic events will be the 1,000th event at the Winter Olympics – can’t tell you which one until the schedule comes out, and with weather problems and re-scheduling at the Winter Games, probably not until it actually happens.
By comparison, through 2012, the Summer Olympics will have had 4,856 events (the numbers for 1900 and 1904 are always disputed), including 1906, or 4,782, if you wish to be a purist, and omit 1906, as the IOC does. (The International Society of Olympic Historians [ISOH] considers the 1906 Games as Olympic Games.)
The last time a Summer Olympics had less than 100 events was at St. Louis in 1904, with 95 events. There were 302 events at both the 2008 Beijing and the 2012 London Olympics.
This continues the IOC policy of trying to equalize the program in terms of gender equity. However, because there are more mixed events now (8 in 2018), the men’s and women’s percentages both go down slightly. However, men will be competing in 56.8% of the events on the 2018 Winter Program, and women in 50.9% of the available events, counting the mixed events.
Counting sports and disciplines, there will be no change in 2018 as no new disciplines were added. Here is the breakdown for the various sports-disciplines at the Winter Olympics. Women do not compete in Nordic combined, as the men do. The only other sport in which women have not competed is military patrol, which was on the program in 1924, and is somewhat similar to a biathlon mass start team event. Women also have only one event in bobsledding, unlike the men, who have two; and only one event in ski jumping, while the men have three.
[table]
Year,Men,Women,Mixed,Total
1908,1,1,1,1
1920,2,1,1,2
1924,9,1,1,9
1928,8,1,1,8
1932,7,1,1,7
1936,8,2,1,8
1948,9,2,1,9
1952,8,3,1,8
1956,8,3,1,8
1960,8,4,1,8
1964,10,5,2,10
1968,10,5,2,10
1972,10,5,2,10
1976,10,5,2,10
1980,10,5,2,10
1984,10,5,2,10
1988,10,5,2,10
1992,12,8,2,12
1994,12,8,2,12
1998,14,11,2,14
2002,15,13,2,15
2006,15,13,2,15
2010,15,13,2,15
2014,15,14,3,15
2018,15,14,5,15
Totals,16,14,5,16
[/table]