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Baseball, Softball Nixed From 2012 Olympics
Friday, July 08, 2005
SINGAPORE — Baseball and softball weren't big hits among International Olympic Committee (search) members.
Both American-invented sports were dropped Friday from the program for the 2012 Olympics in London (search) — the first events cut from the Summer Games in 69 years.
Each of the 28 existing sports was put to a secret vote by the IOC, and baseball and softball failed to receive a majority required to stay on the program. The other 26 sports made the cut.
The IOC will consider replacing them with two sports from a list of five: golf, rugby, squash, karate and roller sports. That decision will be made Saturday.
Baseball and softball, which will remain on the program for the 2008 Beijing Games, are the first sports eliminated from the Olympics since polo in 1936.
"I feel like somebody who has been thrown out — it's certainly not a good feeling," said Aldo Notari, the Italian president of the international baseball federation. "I don't think the IOC members know our sport deeply enough. But we'll continue to survive. We're looking ahead to Beijing and putting on a good show."
Baseball, which became a medal sport in 1992, has been vulnerable because of the performance-enhancing drugs problem in the United States and top major league players don't play in the Olympics. Softball, a women's medal sport since 1996 that the U.S. has won all three times, has been in danger because of a perceived lack of global appeal and participation.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said the two sports would be eligible to win their way back onto the Olympic program for 2016.
The absence of major league stars from the Olympics is a big issue for the IOC, which wants the world's top athletes from all sports in the games.
"The lack of the MLB players — I think people have looked and said, `Well, all right, if there's to be a change, that seems to be the logic of it,"' British IOC member Craig Reedie said.
Baseball's steroid problem in the United States was cited as another factor. While Major League Baseball has toughened its drug-testing programs, they still fall far short of Olympic standards.
"Problems with doping in U.S. baseball probably cost the sport dearly," Australian IOC member John Coates said.
Several IOC members also cited high stadium costs associated with both sports, saying baseball and softball venues have little post-games use in some host cities.
"I think they've made a big, big mistake," said Tommy Lasorda, the former Dodgers manager who guided the U.S. team to the gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Games. "Baseball is played by all countries now, and softball, too. I think that's really going to hurt the Olympics. I don't want to knock the other sports, but I think this is a big mistake. I am very disappointed."
Don Porter, the American president of the international softball federation, was devastated by the vote.
"We thought that we had a lot of support," he said. "The members told us we were getting support, but obviously we weren't."
Porter said the decision goes back to Mexico City in 2002 when Rogge tried — but failed — to get baseball, softball and modern pentathlon removed.
"It took them three years and now they got us out," he said. "I just think the IOC wanted some opportunity to introduce several new sports ... and in order to do that, they had to remove a couple of sports and that's what they did today."
Porter noted that modern pentathlon, which has been on the program since the first modern games in 1896, had tradition and European support on its side.
"Europe has strong voting power in the IOC," he said. "They worked hard, they did the right thing to get enough to stay in."
The IOC executive board was to meet later Friday to decide which of the five sports from the waiting list to recommend for 2012. No more than two can be added in keeping with the IOC's ceiling of 28 sports. A two-thirds majority of the full assembly is required for initial acceptance as an Olympic sport, followed by a simple majority vote for inclusion on the 2012 program.
With two team sports having been voted out, rugby appeared to have a strong chance of being voted in. The sport is proposing rugby Sevens, an abbreviated and less prestigious version of the established 15-a-side game. The sport is popular in Britain, and London has an 80,000-capacity rugby stadium at Twickhenham.
The IOC kept Friday's voting figures secret. Not even the IOC members or sports federations were given the totals. The secrecy was requested by the international federations in order to avoid any ranking or embarrassment for any sports which just barely made the cut.
Rogge said an independent official was sending the results by sealed envelope to an IOC notary in Lausanne, Switzerland. Rogge will only open the envelope in the case of a voting dispute.
Senior Canadian member Dick Pound harshly criticized the secrecy, saying it undermined the IOC's moves for openness.
"What kind of message does the IOC send when there is complete secrecy on an issue that is important to the world?" Pound said.
"Retreat, hell! We just got here!"-Captain Lloyd Williams, 2nd Marine Division, Belleau Wood, France, WWI
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