Grab your lucky rabbit’s foot, modern pentathlon fans (all 12 of you). Your sport could be dropped from the Summer Olympics on Tuesday.

That is when International Olympic Committee leaders will decide which sport to drop from the Summer Olympics beginning in 2020.


The IOC will also review preparations for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia — less than a year away — and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The sports expected to be on the hot seat for removal besides modern pentathlon: Taekwondo, wrestling, badminton and table tennis.


The report analyzes more than three dozen criteria, including television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global participation and popularity.

Modern pentathlon, which combines fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting — the five skills required of a 19th century cavalry officer, has been a part of the Olympics since 1912.


Taekwondo has been in the Olympics since 2000, wrestling since 1896, badminton since 1992 and table tennis since 1988.

The last sports removed from the Olympics were baseball and softball, voted out by the IOC in 2005 and off the program since the 2008 Beijing Games. Joining the Olympics at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro will be golf and rugby.


Baseball and softball have combined forces to seek inclusion in 2020, competing against karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu. Whichever sport is dropped Tuesday will join the ones vying for the single opening in 2020.

The IOC executive board will meet in May in St. Petersburg, Russia, to decide which sport or sports to propose for 2020 inclusion. The final vote will be made at the IOC general assembly in September in Buenos Aires.

Which sport would you drop from the Olympics? Vote in our poll and let us know.



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