Sports and medal events cut from the 2032 Brisbane Olympics will have a path to return at future Summer Games, according to International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry.
Her reassurance to the annual meeting of Summer Games sports bodies in Lausanne came after she warned in February of "uncomfortable" talks ahead to make future Olympic hosting more efficient.
The IOC aim to finalise within months the list of sports for Brisbane that Coventry previously told their leaders will be fewer than the 36 being staged at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
"There is a path (back), it's not just an end," the IOC president told Associated Press on Wednesday on the sidelines of the assembly of the summer sports group known as ASOIF.
Brisbane also could have fewer than the 353 medal events being competed for at Los Angeles.
"I know that not everyone will be happy," Coventry acknowledged to ASOIF members, adding "the goal is not to destroy any sport."
Coventry also assured them that "we don't have specific numbers" as targets for the sports and events programme for Brisbane.
The most important metric shapes to be the number of venues needed as the IOC look to manage costs for hosts.
"The cost and complexity comes when you start adding additional venues for single purpose events," Coventry told AP. "That's where we need to look and say: 'How could we change that?'"
A major step toward streamlining the programme for Brisbane and beyond is a June 24 meeting of the full IOC membership in Lausanne that should agree a process for evaluating sports and events.
A list of sports at Brisbane could be confirmed in December, with a longer timeline into 2029 to confirm the detailed programme of medal events.
The 36 sports in Los Angeles is up from just 26 at the 2012 London Olympics, and ASOIF president Ingmar de Vos later acknowledged "It has grown too much and needs to be brought back into proportion."
Modern pentathlon has long been seen as vulnerable to losing its historic Olympic status, while canoe slalom has a very specific venue demand.
Sports added to the LA programme, including flag football, lacrosse and squash, will be competing for their place in Brisbane before having their showcase in 2028.
