Looking Forward to The Future Olympic Games

Since its inception in 1896, the modern Olympic Games have evolved into a global platform that celebrates athletic achievement and fosters international unity. As new sports emerge and the number of total events rises, ensuring that the selecting or removing sports, disciplines, and events (SDEs) aligns with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) evolving priorities has become increasingly challenging. This study conducted a literature review of the IOC's criteria and chose the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a multi-criteria decision-making tool. We identified 11 criteria that reflect the IOC's evolving focus on sustainability, youth engagement, and cultural representation while balancing traditional Olympic values. The AHP model reveals the top five SDEs are Athletics, Basketball, Football, Diving, and Badminton. Three new projects—Cricket (2028), Breaking (2024), and Coastal Rowing (2028), and three longstanding projects—basketball, weightlifting, and diving demonstrate high fairness, and benefits, and are aligned with the evolving goals and values of the Olympic Games. This highlights the validity and robustness of our model, as well as Olympics's accurate consideration of IOC Criteria when screening SDEs. We also recommend the permanent inclusion of Breaking and Chess in the 2032 Games and the consideration of eSports for the 2036 Games.