When medals are given out next month at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, several will be making history. That's because alongside the usual athletics, swimming and cycling events, there will be five new sports at this year's Games: skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing, karate and baseball/softball.

As the one-month countdown to the opening ceremony begins, here's a little primer to get you up to speed on everything from barrels and bouldering to fly balls and kata.

Young & urban

In a push to make Olympic Games more hip and young, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) adopted a new strategy in 2016 allowing host nations to propose new sports for their edition of the Games.

Announcing the ones being showcased this year, the IOC said Tokyo's plans marked "a historic step in bringing the Games to young people and reflecting the trend of urbanization of sport."

The new events are not meant to be permanent additions to the Olympic program but temporary experiments.

But they illustrate growing trends in recent years: sport climbing and karate made their debut at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in 2018; and skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing have been approved for the next Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024, alongside breakdancing.

Baseball/softball is the odd one out in that it is not really a newcomer at Olympics: baseball was an Olympic sport between 1992 and 2008, and softball between 1996 and 2008.

Dropped from the Olympic program as they were not deemed to be truly global sports, they have been brought back for Tokyo, due to Japan's obsession with the sport.

Baseball/softball

Most people are familiar with baseball but outside North America or Asia, softball may be more of a mystery.

While baseball is played primarily by men, softball is played by women, but the two follow pretty much the same format with a few minor differences, such as the size of the ball and pitch.

The only team sports among the five newbies at Tokyo 2020, the pair will each feature six teams. However, baseball will see teams play two group games before moving on to a knockout round, while softball will use a round-robin format, with each team playing every other team for a total of five games before the medal finals.

Skateboarding

The most hip and urban of all the new sports at Tokyo 2020 – with some star athletes as young as 12 – skateboarding will feature two medal competitions: park and street.

In both, skateboarders will get to show off tricks, flips and jumps, but the street course will mimic a street setting with rails, slopes, stairs and curbs, while the park course will resemble a bowl with curved sides – a more elaborate version of the usual skateboard ramp.

Competitors, both men and women, will be judged for speed, execution, originality and difficulty of tricks.

Surfing

As with skateboarding, surfers will also be judged for speed, creativity and flow as they execute difficult moves and show their mastery of the waves.

Held at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, about 60 kilometers east of Tokyo, this is the only new sport that will be held in a natural setting.

Each surfer will have about 30 minutes to demonstrate his or her skills, with several surfers taking part in each heat.

In all, 20 men and 20 women will compete in this Olympic first. A cap was placed on countries, allowing them only two athletes per gender, to avoid having a tournament dominated by strong surfer nations like the U.S. and Australia.

Sport climbing

Perhaps more than other sports, sport climbing embodies the Olympic motto "Faster, higher, stronger."

The combined format at Tokyo 2020 means athletes will need to perform well in three disciplines – speed, bouldering and lead climbing – for a chance at a medal.

The speed event involves scaling a 15-meter wall as fast as possible – something that top athletes can do in five to seven seconds. Lead climbing will require climbing as high as possible on a vertical wall, while in bouldering, athletes will need to navigate a wall with overhangs and small holds, often using only their fingertips. All this will be done on artificial climbing walls.

Karate

Appropriately, karate will make its Olympic debut in the country of its birth. There will be two medal events: kumite, which involves sparring between two opponents; and kata, which is performed alone and where athletes demonstrate offensive and defensive moves, with judges awarding points for speed, power and balance.

A total of 80 athletes will take part in eight events, with the kumite events divided into separate weight classes.

Who are the favorites?

Baseball/softball – Although the U.S. have qualified for both the baseball and softball tournaments, they might not be the favorites that one would normally expect. Active Major League Baseball (MLB) players are not allowed to take part in Olympics so the sport's biggest names will not be on hand in Tokyo.

Japan, on the other hand, will be able to draw from the country's domestic league. Meanwhile, South Korea come in to these Games as the reigning Olympic champions, having won gold at Beijing 2008, the last time baseball was included.

In softball, Japan are the reigning Olympic champions from 2008 and three players from that gold-winning team will take part again this year, giving them a possible edge. However they will face three-time Olympic champions the U.S., and an Australian team that has medaled at every Olympic Games where softball was included.

Surfing – Three nations are sure to dominate the competition: the U.S., Australia and Brazil.

Look out for the reigning world champions, Italo Ferreira of Brazil and four-time world champion Carissa Moore of the U.S. Other big names include Australia's Stephanie Gilmore – a seven-time world champion, U.S. surfer John John Florence and Brazilian Gabriel Medina.

But athletes from nations less associated with surfing will also be taking part, such as Morocco, Indonesia, Israel and Ecuador.

Skateboarding – At just 13 years old, Sky Brown of Great Britain will not just be one of the youngest athletes at Tokyo 2020 but also a top contender, having won bronze at world championships in 2019. But she will be up against top-ranked Japanese Misugu Okamoto and Sakura Yosozumi in the park event, while on the men's side, all eyes will be on Heimana Reynolds of the U.S.

In the men's street event, U.S. skateboarder and multiple world champion Nyjah Huston is the absolute favorite, but he was beaten to the world title earlier this month by Yuto Horigome who will have home advantage in Tokyo. For the women, keep an eye out for Leticia Bufoni of Brazil and Aori Nishimura of Japan.

Karate – The kata competition looks set to be a two-way battle between Spain and host nation Japan. The world number ones in both the men's and women's events are currently Spanish: Damian Quintero and Sandra Sanchez. But hot on their heels are multiple world champions Ryo Kiyuna and Kiyou Shimizu of Japan.

With different weight categories, the list of favorites in the kumite competition is long. But China counts at least one name among the top medal contenders: Yin Xiaoyan, a silver-medalist at the last karate world championships in 2018 and currently top of the world in the -61kg class. 

Sport climbing – Two names are on everyone's lips for gold at Tokyo 2020: Czech climber Adam Ondra for the men, and Janja Garnbret of Slovenia for the women. But the home crowd will certainly be cheering on Tomoa Narasaki, who crucially won the combined event at world championships in 2019.