Eight sports, including wakeboard and sport climbing, will battle it out for a spot in the 2020 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee said.
Baseball and softball, the two sports removed after the 2008 Games, as well as wakeboard, squash, sport climbing, rollersports, karate and the martial art of wushu, will be evaluated and possibly reduced further in early 2013, IOC President Jacques Rogge told reporters.
"Twelve sports were considered, eight were retained," Rogge said. Surfing, dancing, bowling and netball missed out.
Rogge said a final list would be put to the vote in late 2013 at the IOC session in Buenos Aires for one spot.
Rogge also said the IOC had decided to include men's and women's ski slopestyle and snowboard parallel special slalom in the Sochi 2014 winter Games programme.
"Such events provide great entertainment for the spectators and add further youthful appeal," he said.
The IOC in April introduced six new events for Sochi, including women's ski jumping, team events for figure skating and luge, ski halfpipe for men and women and biathlon mixed
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Should wakeboard or climbing get the nod, they will join a long tradition of weird and wonderful sports being included at the Olympics.
Here's our pick of the top five crazy events to take place at the Games:La Canne - aka walking stick swordfighting
The 19th century French martial art of "La canne" was included as a demonstration event in the 1924 Games in Paris. Competitors were armed with walking sticks and deposited in a boxing ring, whereupon they set about thrashing each other around the calves or on each other's heads and torsos in order to score points.
Live pigeon shooting
Back in the days when bloodsports where thought about more in terms of sports than blood, nobody batted an eyelid at the idea of competitors killing dozens of pigeons in cold blood in the name of the Olympian ideal.
Over 300 pigeons gave up their lives in the event in 1900, with Belgium's Leon de Lunden winning gold. The event was phased out in favour of clay pigeon shooting after one appearance, however; a crying shame, since London's Trafalgar Square would surely have been the perfect location for the event to be resurrected in 2012.
Tug o' War
A regular event at the Games between 1900 and 1920, the event's high point came in 1912 when the British team came up with a radical new tactic: sitting down to catch their breath during a bout. Sadly, the move was against the rules and the Swedish team were awarded gold by default.
Rope climbingThis fabulous event was part of the gymnastics programme at the Games every year until 1932. And like the pigeon shooting, it is surely another event which would have been perfect for inclusion in London 2012, with a rope dangled from Nelson's Column - or perhaps draped over the London Eye.
The rope climb's most inspiring winner could show today's Paralympians a thing or two: American George Eyser won in 1904 despite having a wooden leg.
The swimming obstacle race
Narrowly beating out the long jump for horses to take the final place in our top five is the 200m obstacle race in the swimming pool. In scenes that foreshadowed 1980s children's TV show 'We are the Champions', competitors had to swim a bit, climb a pole, dive back in, climb over two boats, swim under two more boats, and then sprint to the finish. Is this really any weirder than competitive climbing? We think not - and demand the IOC consider the event's immediate reinstatement.
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