Yes, and those are usually the events that are at risk when it comes time to make cuts. Generally speaking people saying that "this event being cut from the Olympics would kill said event" is, IMO, a pretty good indication that it's a good candidate for being eliminated from the Olympics. The IOC is ultimately not who is killing the 50k walk, it's WA that has wanted to get rid of it for ages.
The 50km race walking event shouldn't need the Olympics to survive, the fact that there won't even be a world championship anymore proves that the IOC isn't to blame for the demise of the event.