Sports
17:27, 19-Jul-2018
Yang Yang welcomes the IOC decision to add seven new events
Updated
16:46, 22-Jul-2018
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Wednesday that seven new events have been added to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics program. These new additions will also pave the way for the highest representation of female athletes at the quadrennial event.
Soon after the IOC decision, CGTN's Sports Scene spoke to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics Sports Committee Chairman Yang Yang via the phone.
The two-time Olympic champion in short track speed skating told CGTN more about why the IOC has decided to add seven events to the 2022 Games.
She elucidated the fact that the organization is aiming to make the Olympic program more youthful and gender balanced.
Yang also mentioned that China will hopefully benefit from the IOC's latest move.
The IOC's executive board approved one-woman bobsleigh - also known as mono-bob - men's and women's freestyle ski big air, short track mixed relay, a ski jumping mixed team event, mixed gender team aerials, and a snowboard cross mixed team event.
Interestingly, with this decision, the Beijing Winter Games will see female representation increase from the 41 percent of the PyeongChang games to 45.44 percent.
A total of 1,314 female athletes will compete in 46 women's events. The IOC also said that the overall number of athletes was trimmed by 41 to 2,892, a figure within the Olympic Charter framework.