The IOC ruled Wednesday that no new sports will be accepted for the 2004 Summer Games in Athens

The IOC ruled Wednesday that no new sports will be accepted for the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, dashing the hopes of water skiing, ballroom dancing and other events lobbying to get onto the Olympic program. In a break with recent tradition of adding new sports at each games, the International Olympic Committee executive board upheld the recommendation of its program commission to shut the door for 2004. The decision means there will be 28 sports contested in Athens, the same number as on the program at the Sydney Olympics. At the same time, the IOC confirmed that sports and disciplines that have had provisional status -- women's softball, taekwondo, triathlon, beach volleyball and trampolining -- will remain on the program in Athens. The IOC also set the maximum number of athletes to compete in Athens at 10,000. The same limit was set for Sydney, but more than 11,000 athletes wound up competing there. The IOC has added sports to the Olympics on a regular basis. Tennis was added to the program in Seoul in 1988, baseball in Barcelona in 1992, softball and beach volleyball in 1996 and triathlon and taekwondo in Sydney.