Surfing will make its Olympic Games debut at the 2020 edition in Tokyo – and top Australian officials say the sport’s inclusion is “overdue”.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially ratified surfing’s – plus a further four sports – involvement in Japan at a meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday (AEST).

Baseball (to be played as softball by women), skateboarding, climbing and karate were also added to the Tokyo program by a unanimous vote.

IOC president Thomas Bach told delegates the additions were a “milestone in the innovation of the Olympic program”.

Surfing Australia CEO Andrew Stark was rapt the sport was included in the Olympic program.

“It’s about time, I think it’s overdue,” he told The New Daily.

“It probably should have gone in in Sydney, it would’ve been a pretty amazing time to do it there.

“It’s been a long journey but it’s certainly timely now.”

The Olympic inclusion adds credibility to surfing’s continued growth, Stark argued.

“It solidifies how far surfing has come and it solidifies how professional surfing is and how it does have a global following and how our athletes are legitimate superstars and they are legitimate athletes,” he said.

“It means that not only can surfers win world titles but they can win gold medals and represent their country at an Olympic Games.”

And Stark was more than hopeful of Australia’s chances at its first Games event.

“We are a genuine medal chance … we’re going over there with an extremely strong chance at bringing home,” he added.

Seven-time world champion Layne Beachley said the decision was a “game-changer” for surfing.

The five new sports have only been introduced for Tokyo in 2020 at this stage.

They beat out squash, bowling and Chinese martial art wushu for inclusion in Japan.

The other new additions:

Baseball

Baseball is the most popular sport in Japan and is sure to be well-attended at the Tokyo Olympics.

Baseball will be played as softball by women. It was scrapped from the Olympic program in 2008 because many US-based stars did not play.

The sport’s presence is expected to boost ticket sales by about $US50 million ($A66 million).

Karate

Despite the sport originating in Japan, karate has never been contested at the Olympic Games.

Judo, another martial art born in the east Asian country, was added to the Olympics in 1964, when Tokyo last held the Games, and remains today.

Karate is a striking-focused combat sport, while judo derives from jujitsu, a grappling martial art.

Skateboarding

Skateboarding is arguably the most surprising inclusion to the 2020 Olympics, with the sport not having an all-encompassing world championship event.

Street League Skateboarding, was the first professional league for street skateboarding and is the sport’s only international competitive series, launched in 2010. Both street and park skating have been added.

Sports climbing

Sports climbing has already had a short stint in the limelight, after being chosen by the IOC as a demonstration sport at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.

The three main disciplines in sports climbing are lead, where athletes climb rope-tied one at a time and the one who gets the highest wins; boulder, which is a power and technique discipline with a maximum of 10 movements; and speed, in which climbers, rope-tied from above, run on parallel walls and the fastest wins.

‘This is for the youth’

Mr Bach said the additions are all about keeping young people interested in the Games.

“We want to take sport to the youth,” he said in a statement.

“With the many options that young people have, we cannot expect any more that they will come automatically to us. We have to go to them.

“Taken together, the five sports are an innovative combination of established and emerging, youth-focused events that are popular in Japan and will add to the legacy of the Tokyo Games.”