Men's and women's 3-on-3 basketball is one of the new events that will be held at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in an effort to move toward equal gender balance, the International Olympic Committee announced on Friday.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will have an historic number of women competing (48.9 percent) and the highest number of women’s events of any Olympic Games, the IOC announced. The 2020 Games will also double the number of mixed events from nine in Rio 2016 to 18 in 2020.
In addition to 3-on-3 basketball, other new events that headline the 2020 Olympics are men's and women's BMX freestyle, mixed doubles table tennis, mixed team triathlon relay and in swimming, the men's 800 meters and women's 1500 meters.
The IOC announced 3-on-3 basketball was included after a successful run at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore 2010 and Nanjing 2014. The goal of the 3-on-3 basketball event is to include more “youth-focused and urban-based” events.
It’s not yet confirmed if the 3-on-3 teams will comprise players from professional teams like NBA and WNBA or professionals who specialize in 3-on-3 matchups.
A full list of the changes for the 2020 Olympic Games can be found on the Olympic's website.
