Baseball and Softball Excluded from Olympics
The International Olympic Committee announced on Friday 8
July that it had voted to exclude baseball and softball from
the Olympic programme of the 2012 London Games. The decision
is a major blow to all associated with the sports in the UK,
so excited by the possibility of the Great Britain teams competing
in front of a home audience in seven years’ time. London
2012 would have provided a dream opportunity to promote these
growing sports and to realise the great efforts of BaseballSoftballUK’s
staff and volunteers who are coaching today’s junior
players, tomorrow’s international representatives.
Olympic participation in London would have meant so many
more things for UK baseball and softball, including their
presence in the most prestigious international sports event,
support funding and the creation of temporary and permanent
facilities. As developing sports in this country running with
relatively small resources and profile, baseball and softball
were certainly among the sports with the most to gain from
appearing in a home games. After the euphoria of winning the
bid on Wednesday, it is therefore deeply ironic that baseball
and softball were the only sports to be excluded by this morning’s
IOC decision.
The IOC were asked to vote on each sport in the Olympic programme.
Only sports that received more than fifty percent of the vote
were to be retained and, with the exception of baseball and
softball, all were. Baseball and softball have been invited
to work to convince the IOC to re-include them for the 2016
games. But that will be too late for the UK to take full advantage
of the possibilities competing in a host games would have
presented.
Very interesting articles have appeared from news agencies
such as Reuters and Associated Press revealing the reactions
to the decision and the voting process used to reach it. They
report that a long process of between seven and nine rounds
of voting were needed, during which baseball and softball
were thrown out.
"This is payback for Mexico City," a visibly shocked
International Softball Federation chief Don Porter said on
Friday, referring to the IOC meeting of 2002 in which it was
proposed that baseball, softball and modern pentathlon be
removed. Baseball entered the Olympics in 1992, softball four
years later, and the sports were given a temporary reprieve.
"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."
Jacques Rogge of the IOC urged the two sports not to lose
heart. "Needless to say, these sports will be disappointed,"
he said. "But this does not disqualify them forever.
Bob Fromer, General Manager of the Great Britain Women’s
Softball Team commented, “While this decision will be
devastating for softball around the world, you could argue
that Britain has suffered more than most, since we are the
only country whose chance to play in the Games as a host team
has now been taken away.”
In the voting process IOC members were also asked nominate
for consideration two of the five sports vying to be added
to the Olympic programme: rugby sevens, golf, squash, karate
and roller skating. Squash and karate made it to the final
vote only to be turned down by big margins: 63-39 and 63-38
respectively.
Associated Press reported that this “signaled a sharp
protest against the whole process.” It went on to quote
Canadian IOC member Dick Pound as saying. "We've lost
two sports and done nothing to replace them."
The length of the procedure - and ultimately rather unproductive
outcome – and the secrecy surrounding the voting have
also been criticised by the media.
Whilst a reduced programme will save London money because
Olympic baseball and softball venues will not be built in
Regent’s Park anymore, it will mean the loss of opportunity
for 16 teams and around 300 sportsmen and women. It also mean
that despite calls to increase the participation levels for
women in the Olympics, the one female-only sport is being
dropped by kicking out softball. Another point of controversy
is the automatic coupling together of baseball and softball
which was in evidence in the IOC’s thinking since the
2002 meeting in Mexico City – if one goes out, so does
the other.
Associated Press reported ISF President Don Porter’s
acknowledgement of this. "We tried to keep our distance,"
he said. "But I think there's still too many people think
we're part of baseball. We're absolutely not. We're a separate
sport."
It is widely believed that the three main factors behind
baseball and softball dropping off the programme were the
refusal of Major League Baseball to allow their professionals
to grace the Olympics, ongoing stories of steroid use in MLB,
and America’s domination of the softball competition
since the sports entered the Games in 1996, all of which haved
posed problems for the image of the sports.
STATEMENTS FROM BSUK
John Boyd, Joint Chief-Executive Officer of BaseballSoftballUK,
the sports’ managing agency: “Today, the baseball
and softball communities are in shock – but none more
than those in the UK, who had been celebrating the news of
London hosting the 2012 Olympics, assuming that we would be
involved as host sports. To have such a fantastic opportunity
given with one hand, on Wednesday, and then taken away so
abruptly today, is cruel and will be with us as sports for
many years to come. Now we must focus our attention on qualifying
for the Beijing Games and being involved, in any way we can,
in contributing to the success of the London Olympics in 2012.”
The Great Britain Women's Fastpitch Team and the Great Britain
Baseball Team have lost out on the opportunity to play in
front of a home crowd in 2012. The baseball team are currently
competing in the European Baseball Championships (8-17 July
in Prague) and the GB Women are preparing for the European
Softball Championships in in the same city between August
1-6. Bob Fromer, General Manager of the GB Women issued this
statement to players on the team:
"London's victory against the odds to secure the 2012
Olympic Games was almost certainly going to give the GB National
Team a guaranteed place in those Games, increase our funding
still further and transform softball in the UK. We were all
ecstatic at lunchtime (UK time) on Wednesday.
Now, by the cruellest of ironies, all that has been taken
away by the International Olympic Committee's decision this
morning to drop softball (and baseball) from the 2012 Olympic
programme. While this decision will be devastating for softball
around the world, you could argue that Britain has suffered
more than most, since we are the only country whose chance
to play in the Games as a host team has now been taken away.
But all is not completely lost. softball will be on the Olympic
programme in Beijing in 2008 and our recently increased funding
will remain in place at least through the Euro-Africa Olympic
Qualifying Tournament in 2007. So we are going to do everything
we can over the next two years to make sure that Great Britain
has its one day in the Olympic sun.
We hope that many of you will share this journey. We are
disheartened and angry by what we regard as a wrong-headed
and undeserved decision by the IOC, but we are determined
to build the best programme we can over the next two years
and to go all out to qualify for Beijing. This will requirement
commitment, dedication and sacrifice on all our parts, but
we think we can do it and we know the prize will be worth
it.
For those who will be taking part in European Championships
in less than a month's time, our first step is to try to qualify
for next year's World Championships, and then go onward from
there.
Many people that we all know, respect and love will be hurt
by the IOC's decision, in different ways and to different
degrees, as we are. But softball is a wonderful game and nothing
can take away the joy and excitement of playing and of succeeding.
That will continue!"
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