Sports, disciplines, events

For purposes of Olympic competition, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) makes a distinction between sports and disciplines. A sport, in Olympic terms, is a single or group of disciplines as represented by an international governing body, namely an International Federation.[2] For example, aquatics, represented at the Olympic level by the International Swimming Federation, is a sport at the Summer Olympics that includes the swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo disciplines.[3] Skating, represented by the International Skating Union, is a sport at the Winter Olympics that includes three disciplines—figure skating, speed skating on the traditional long track, and short track speed skating.[4]

Medals are awarded on a per-event basis; there can be one or more events per sport or discipline.[2] In fact, with the removal of baseball and softball from the Summer Olympics after the 2008 Games, every current Olympic discipline has at least two events.

For most of the 20th century, demonstration sports have been included in many Olympic Games, usually to promote a non-Olympic sport popular in the host country, or to gauge interest and support for the sport.[5] Some such sports, like curling, were subsequently added to the official Olympic program. This changed when the International Olympic Committee decided in 1989 to eliminate demonstration sports from Olympics Games after 1992.[6] Although no demonstration sports have been included since then, as an alternative, the Beijing Organizing Committee received permission to organize a wushu tournament for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[7][8]