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Olympics add 3-on-3 basketball and mixed-gender relay races

The International Olympic Committee announced the changes June 9. (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

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The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will include 3-on-3 basketball and two events that will have men and women racing together in track, swimming and triathlon.

The International Olympic Committee’s executive board announced the changes at a much-anticipated meeting on Friday.

The board was scheduled to consider a more-notable issue later in the day, deciding whether to recommend that two winners be chosen in the current bid competition between Los Angeles and Paris, with one city getting 2024 and the other getting 2028.

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As for the Tokyo 2020 additions, the slimmed-down version of basketball features skeleton teams playing half-court games to 21 with a 10-minute time limit.

There will also be the mixed-gender relays and changes in other sports that will add more female athletes.

Olympic leaders had previously approved the addition of baseball and softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing.

“The fascinating new events that we approved today, together with the five new sports that were added to the Tokyo 2020 program last year, represent a step-change in the Olympic program,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. “I am delighted that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will be more youthful, more urban and will include more women.”

Recent Olympic reforms have called for the Games to reach a 50-50 balance between male and female athletes.

Tokyo will have 15 more medal events than the previous Games in Rio de Janeiro.

david.wharton@latimes.com

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Twitter: @LAtimesWharton

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