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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has held discussions with cycling’s world governing body to discuss the introduction of a skateboarding event in 2012, but the inclusion is unlikely, sources tell Around the Rings.

Skateboarding events are part of the X Games, and the IOC is eager to modernize the Olympic program with sports and disciplines that appeal to youth. It has already added snowboarding to the Winter Games and BMX cycling for next year’s Beijing Olympics.

“The IOC wants to make the program relevant for young people,” IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said.

The proposed venue for skateboarding in London is the velodrome in the Olympic Park.

“We are doing our best to introduce skateboarding for 2012,” UCI sports director Olivier Quejuiner told the London Evening Standard. “We have a clear strategy … The venue could be wonderful. All we need now is the green light from the IOC. Technically, logistically and in terms of cost, it would not be a problem to stage the event in 2012.”

Twenty-six sports are on the London Olympic program. While it is too late to add any sports, new disciplines can still be brought in.

If an IOC proposal is approved, Shaun White could be catching big air for the United States in London in 2012.

In a bid to increase youth appeal for cycling the UCI wants to add half pipe BMX to the London program, joining the motocross discipline which will debut in Beijing. As part of a play to make maximum use of the BMX half pipe track, UCI was also willing to consider bringing skateboarding into the federation for a double-barreled shot at attracting younger sports fans for the Olympics. UCI sports director Olivier Queguiner, who met recently with IOC officials to discuss the situation, now tells Around the Rings that the “no decision about skateboard” will take place during the UCI Congress in Stuttgart later this month. A vote of the UCI Congress is a must to bring a new discipline into the sport of cycling. Failure to act this year effectively kills the chance of adding skateboarding to London.

High-level sources in Lausanne say the IOC will take no action on skateboarding until it hears from the UCI. One source indicates 2016 is a more likely start for skateboard. Skateboarders are also apparently divided on what event to stage in the Olympics, with the majority of top boarders believed to be in favor of a street-style event, not the half-pipe proposed by UCI.

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