Tell me it's not true. Did I hear correctly that the 2012 Olympics in London will not include softball ?

Heard the same thing
 

I heard rumor to that effect at the ballyard tonight.

Dispatch from Reuters
 

From the Reuters report, which I have edited here:

Baseball and softball will not feature in the 2012 London Olympics after they were wiped from the programme in a controversial vote on Friday.

The two sports failed to win a majority of votes in a ballot of members at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Singapore and became the first sports to be axed from the Olympics since polo in 1936.

The 26 other sports from the Athens 2004 programme did win a majority of votes and will remain on the programme in London.

Baseball and softball's ejection opens the door for two of golf, squash, karate, rugby sevens and roller sports to be added.

The IOC's Executive Board will propose two from the five and members will vote on their inclusion on Saturday.

In 2002 the IOC decided to cap the numbers of sports at an Olympic Games at 28, the number of events at 301 and the number of athletes at 10,500.

At that same session in Mexico City IOC President Jacques Rogge proposed that baseball, softball and modern pentathlon be dropped, and golf and rugby union added.

However IOC members resisted and no vote was taken.

"This is payback for Mexico City," a visibly shocked softball federation chief Don Porter said on Friday. "They wanted us out in 2002. It has taken them three years but they have got us.

"We didn't expect this at all. The discussions we have had all week led us to believe we were safe to assume the programme would remain unchanged for 2012."

From AP
 

This one of the saddest day of my life.
Can't believe this.

A.

This is a sore point for me and no doubt others .
The olympics are suppossed to be the pinacle for sports and the best are supposed to compete .
soccer U23 only
tennis no names represent countries
rugby - no its a hybrid game of rugby called sevens which is for entertainment only and as a person from the top rugby country in the world onlt the third tier players will represent NZ not the best .
basketball - are the best in these teams .
To me the olympics are becomeing a joke and are around for what a country or the big wigs of the IOC can get out of it

Agreed. BTW, part of the Reuters article makes no sense as was quoted the sports did not get a majority of the vote. To drop a sport from the Olympics, it is supposed to be two-thirds to drop, not a simple majority.

BTW, I am still a believer that the Olympics should return to amateur status.

This is a sad day for both international softball and baseball, but it wasn't totally unexpected.

The Olympics are Euro-centric. That's why sports like fencing and modern pentathlon--which have very little appeal in North America--permanently stay on the Olympic program while softball and baseball get axed. Even weightlifting, with all its continuous drug scandals, never has to worry about its Olympic status. This decision smacks of anti-Americanism to me.

True story: When softball was first considered for inclusion in the Olympics in the 1980s, one Russian IOC delegate asked what the difference was between a softbal and a shot put! "About 15-1/2 pounds," was the reply.

What bothers me most about softball being dropped is that there are very few female team sports in the Olympics. Now there will be even fewer after 2008.

If it were up to me, "artsy sports" such as synchronized swimming, diving and rhythmic gymnastics ought to be shelved or reduced to exhibition status at the Olympics. Sports in which "style points" and "artistic impression" don't play a role in the scoring--should be emphasized instead. Softball and baseball are two such sports.

Sorry Sir. I cannot understand how can you be so America-centric.

Do you ever mind what Olympic Softball means to countries where softball is NOT sport number one (and neither in the first ten)?
National team at the Olympics in Italy meant in the past some money from the National Olympic Committee to the Fed. for let young girls play softball at school.
I saw girls from Botswana play softball. At a Junior European Championship I saw players from Bashkiria (a far region of Russia) play after they had 48hours-trip by bus to reach Prague and play softball.
Can you imagine all this?
Or is softball just an american business?

I am sad beacause I KNOW what softball can represent for hundreds of girls and women all over the world.

And softball is not a female sport only because it is played by female athletes. Think about this: how many female umpires you can see in any other female olympic sport?

A.

The TV "experts" were speculating that the USA's domination killed off softball.

Do the domination of Italy, France and few more nation in fencing cause any arm to fencing as an Olympic sport?

USA (marvelous) Olympic National Team can't be blamed for this horrible decision...

A.

Just watch: If Canada and the United States continue to thoroughly dominate women's ice hockey, the IOC will consider dropping that sport too.

What I find interesting is that the committee, under secret ballot, dropped the two sports, but couldn't bring themselves together to add one.

To me, that says the purpose of the vote was to drop these two sports, not to adjust the field.

ASA Statement Regarding IOC Vote
 

ASA's Weblink - Click Here

More on this...
 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/olympi...ected%20Sports

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/olympi...Dropped%20Cuba

What are the chances softball gets back into the 2016 games? I am extremely disappointed in their exclusion and hope they will be reinstated.

If you think we're disgusted, imagine how the players feel.

Dear softball friends, please join this:

http://www.petitiononline.com/olysoftb/petition.html

...and tell about this petition to the softball-lovers who don't know this forum.

A.

2012 London
 

You got that right, Softball & Baseball have been omitted from the Olympics after 2008. BSUK (BaseballSoftballUK) have been in shock since all our grassroots plans hinged on the 2012 Olympics. I cannot tell you how much money we were to receive for our Grassroots extension programme, and now it has all gone to pot. On top of that my 14 year daughter has played for GB for the past two years and this was our bestchance for a long time to get a berth based on home country rule.
Softball has just started to get into schools over the past 3 years and we had our 2nd U13 & U16 National Championship last month with 32 schools from around the country completeing, all because of the "Olympic Dream" Like London last week Thursday, it is a disaster.

I hate to be the voice of dissention on this. But I've never thought baseball and softball should be an Olympic sport. OTOH, I don't think futbol or basketball should be either. To me, the perfect Olympic sport is one where people who compete in it feel like the Olympic Gold is the pinnacle of their sport. This is true in track and field, gymnastics, skating, kayaking, swimming, diving, weightlifting, etc. This is not true for baseball, softball, basketball, or soccer/futbol. The average generic baseball player would rather win the wrongly-named World Series or the Japanese Championship than the Olympics. The average generic basketball player would rather win an NBA championship (if he even has the talent to play in the NBA in the first place). Etc.

In some sports, (boxing, cycling come to mind), this definition of mine is borderline, but at least the case can be made that many of the best players in those sports would rate Olympic Gold at least as high as their other event championships. This is just not true in the 4 sports mentioned above. Maybe that's a shame, but it's the way it is.

Ask yourself this --- how much Olympic baseball/softball did you watch. I watched every televised inning of Univ-Texas softball this year, and most of the CWS. I watched most of the Texas Rangers games, some Astros games, and will watch all of the playoff games I can. I didn't watch a single inning of Olympic baseball or softball until the championship game of softball. Are you in the same boat?

Not even the same lake.
I understand your point about the sports that have "higher" goals, especially soccer & NBA, but amateur baseball players have no higher level and there isn't any pro softball or world championship to compare with. To me, any sport, team or individual, that provides competition between nations on a fair basis and meets whatever the IOC rules de jour are; should be allowed.
More to the point, no one nation or city or site committee should be able to alter the structure; especially after the award. If some site has no facilities for a sport and will not construct one, that should be stated in their application.
Also, even if the Londoners prevail, any sport skipped should be automatically reinstated the next time without requalifying or being classed as experimental.

p.s. softball is more global than cricket or rugby

Getting the IOC to pay out the softball $$$$
 

I am as much concerned about the secret vote of the IOC to ban softball and baseball from the Olympics as all other posters. But I do not think that petitions to the IOC from individual softball fans will do anything to reinstate softball in 2016, let alone 2012. What we need is a resolution from the US Congress mandating the IOC to hand over the $$$$ for softball for the 2012 and all future olympics to an organization that will commit to promoting international competition at an "olympic" level. Identifying the $$$$ amount would take about 5 minutes of analysis. The big question is who would the IOC be required to pay the $$$$ to run international softball competition. As much as it hurts to say it, I think it is ASA. Why? Because there is no international softball organization that I would trust to administer the big dollars involved. And there is no other USA softball organization that seems ready to take on the duties required to promote international softball.

How to make the $$$$ contribution to international softball happen. One, we need softball champions to get a vote from congress telling all US olympic sponsors that their $$$$ contributions to the olympics should be contingent on the IOC funding big time international softball competition. Two, we need the eyes and ears of the softball community to identifying US olympic sponsors for Olympics that do not include softball. In the potential absence of IOC $$$$ for international softball, we need to demand that US olympic sponsors pony up the $$$$.

Ed... that's extremely funny.

Unfortunately for you, the US is not the official world government (Yet!), despite the actions and opinions of the Lord, our God, George Bush.

So the US Congress passes a resolution telling the IOC to pay for something? I can see tne IOC now with their tongue out, thumb on nose, fingers waggling, saying, "Pfffffftttt!" Oh, and good luck getting another Olympics in the country after that.

Talk about an overinflated opinion of the purview of one's country. Good grief.

PS - the next meeting regarding reintroduction of any sport to the Olympics is in 2009, and would apply to the 2016 Olympics.

PPS - this announcement is not London-centric and has nothing to do with the recent award of the Olympics to them.

The question is where does the IOC get its funding from?

The only way to pressure the IOC would be to hit them where it hurts, the pocketbook. So the next question is how?

I think the IOC will do what the IOC wants, no matter what petitions are signed or governments react.

Why did the IOC decide that they would only have 28 sports?

Although some might argue the WCWS is the pinnacle of softball, it seems the best players in the world all list as their goal to make the US national and olympic teams and win a gold medal for their country... so I think it's hard to say the Olympics aren't the pinnacle of the sport for softball. Also, I know I watched a great deal of Olympic softball as well as the WCWS. Personally, I'm just sad to see my favorite sport lose the opportunity to be seen at the Olympics. Oh well.

Some errors -

Quote:

there isn't any pro softball or world championship to compare with.

Yes, there is a pro league which actually includes games again travelling teams from the likes of China. And there is a true World championship played, it's called the World Cup.

Quote:

More to the point, no one nation or city or site committee should be able to alter the structure; especially after the award. If some site has no facilities for a sport and will not construct one, that should be stated in their application. Also, even if the Londoners prevail, any sport skipped should be automatically reinstated the next time without requalifying or being classed as experimental.

The US did just that at the Squaw Valley Olympics by refusing to build a bobsled course due to expense. There was no bobsled competition for that Olympics.

Also, London has absolutely nothing to do with this. There is a lot of baseball and softball in Great Britain and they are not that bad. The UK would probably welcome softball, and maybe baseball with open arms. I still think Don Porter should be setting up a World Cup for 2012 in London during the Olympics. The facilities are there and money will be put into them for a tournament. TV would suck it up.

Quote:

What we need is a resolution from the US Congress mandating the IOC to hand over the $$$$ for softball for the 2012 and all future olympics to an organization that will commit to promoting international competition at an "olympic" level.

Since when does the US Congress have authority over an international organization? I know many think they do, but they do not. The IOC is financed through different organizations, some govermental, some not. The money is offered for the specific games, not specific sports. Different sanctioning bodies of the sports remaining will go after the money provided to increase their participation or exposure levels. This began less the 48 hours after the announcement of the dropped sports.

If the US pulls money, it will just penalize the participants of the sports remaining.

Quote:

and most of the CWS.

Speaking of wrongly named.....

BTW, softball is played competitively in over 100 countries, quite a few than many of the existing Olympic sports.

Let's get real
 

Why suggest that Congress has anything to do with the Olympics? Because, the United States Olympic Committee was established by an act of Congress and exists in its present form solely as an expression of the will of the American people through this act of Congress.

Why suggest that we let all involved with the olympics, including sponsors, that we want the money associated with olympic softball put into the hands of an organization that will spend it to promote international softball? Because the money is already commited to the USOC and the IOC for the 2012 games. Don't take my word for it. Go to the current audited annual reports of these organizations. These reports tell you precisely how much money is already commited to the 2012 olympic games.

Why should American softball umpires be so cavalier with the loss of so much money for women's fastpitch softball over the next several years? Money that would have gone to promote international women's softball competition. Frankly, the IOC and several national olympic committees have already accounted for income through 2012, and they are not about to go back to contributors and sponsors with a "give back" because the IOC has cut softball and baseball out of the olympics. Rather, they will spend more money on the remaining 26 sports. Even though this is money that the 26 sports do not need. They already have plans and budgets through 2012. They might love the thought that they might get the softball and baseball money as freebie add ons to their income streams, but they do not need this freebie money.

Would you like to know who needs the money, money already commited to olympic games that include softball and baseball. In my opinion, its international softball. I'll let baseball speak for itself.

But, this is an officials forum. So go ahead and do your LOL thing. Even though its difficult to LOL when you realize how much money will disappear in the next few years in funding softball internationally.

Re: Let's get real
 

So what? The USOC is not the IOC which was the target of YOUR post.

Quote:

Why suggest that we let all involved with the olympics, including sponsors, that we want the money associated with olympic softball put into the hands of an organization that will spend it to promote international softball? Because the money is already commited to the USOC and the IOC for the 2012 games. Don't take my word for it. Go to the current audited annual reports of these organizations. These reports tell you precisely how much money is already commited to the 2012 olympic games.

Which is exactly why other sports have started asking for more of that already budgeted money as I stated in my post.

Quote:

Why should American softball umpires be so cavalier with the loss of so much money for women's fastpitch softball over the next several years? Money that would have gone to promote international women's softball competition. Frankly, the IOC and several national olympic committees have already accounted for income through 2012, and they are not about to go back to contributors and sponsors with a "give back" because the IOC has cut softball and baseball out of the olympics. Rather, they will spend more money on the remaining 26 sports. Even though this is money that the 26 sports do not need. They already have plans and budgets through 2012. They might love the thought that they might get the softball and baseball money as freebie add ons to their income streams, but they do not need this freebie money.

Once again, information to which I have already alluded.

Quote:

Would you like to know who needs the money, money already commited to olympic games that include softball and baseball. In my opinion, its international softball. I'll let baseball speak for itself.

Again, you point out what I have already stated, the money budgeted was for the 2012 Olympics, not for softball or baseball specifically. The ISF does a great job at promoting softball world-wide. There is an on-going project which the ISF will accept donated softball equipment and send it to member countries to help their programs. Members of Team USA, players and coaches routinely give clinics to international players and coaches. Many of the foreign coaches, and some players, are citizens of the U.S. The ISF, with the help of ASA/USA Softball spend thousands of dollars in an effort to improve this sport in any country willing to give it a shot at developing a competitive softball program.

To be honest, the Olympics provides great exposure, but is more of a tool in teaching outsiders how popular the game is, as opposed to providing a champion. International softball is in pretty decent shape and has a fair amount of money pushed in it's direction completely independent of the IOC/USOC. Look for the ISF and ASA to provide some great tournaments in the future, beginning with this weekend in OKC, that will draw almost as much attention to international softball as the Olympics can.



But, this is an officials forum. So go ahead and do your LOL thing. Even though its difficult to LOL when you realize how much money will disappear in the next few years in funding softball internationally. [/B][/QUOTE]

Ed, you are sadly misled. The IOC is a completely separate organization from the USOC. Despite the similar letters at the end of the acronym, they are not related to each other.

The IOC has PLENTY of money, and would not be significantly hurt by any sort of TV boycott, sponsor boycott, or US Congressional action.

Any boycott of Olympic sponsors would not likely be successful - but even if successful, would only hurt the USOC, not the IOC, and would only hurt US participation in other sports.

It's nice to get rallied in a cry for action. Heck - I'm usually among the first on board (I'm a member of Amnesty Int, for example). But your suggested actions are misplaced here, and would not have the effect you expect or intend.

Australian softball
 

We have a member in the Australian team from our town, I think most of us were very disappointed about baseball and softball being left out of the 2012 Olympics, it gave a lot of young kids in this town something to strive for and someone to look up to with having an Olympic player from here. Our association is a small one but I know everyone who has seen the petition on the internet will sign it, anyone I have spoken to so far has.
Jen

Getting on my soapbox...
 

Ed,
Please don't take it personal, but I think you're either high, uninformed or just don't know much about this stuff.

There is an international softball body in place. ISF is headquartered in Florida and has helped further the spread of softball around the world. Don Porter and others will admit they were rather blindsided by the actions of the IOC and are working hard to get softball reinstated for the 2012 Olympics. Failing that, you can be certain they will do everything possible to have a major softball event, such as the World Cup, in or around London in 2012. I think Regents Park would be a nice place for it...but failing that, there are many fine places just right for the world's best softball tournament.

A reactionary view such as withholding money from IOC or, God forbid, USOC, would do little to further softball but would serve two purposes:
1. Piss off folks in the IOC who are borderline anti-American.
2. Hamstring American athletes. As we all know, many of them work steady jobs (do they all still work for Home Depot, like in the commercials?). They don't need to be busy with car washes and bake sales.

We've already seen one fine example of when we told IOC to go to hell: the 1980 Olympics. A good friend of mine was on the women's basketball team. Jill Rankin had to go to the White House and pretend to smile when she received her "gold medal" from President Carter. She's never worn it since. It's been in a safe deposity box for most of the last 25 years.

What did many other countries do? Screw the U.S., we're not going to LA in 1984.

Let's not spite the IOC. Let's work to get softball back in the 2012 games - and beyond.