Olympic Comeback: Softball Struck Out!
The Olympic dream has been shattered!
The International Olympic Comittee's (IOC) Executive Board held a vote today to determine which of the 7 sports would get a shot at making it for the 2016 Olympics.
Along with softball and baseball, rubgy sevens (a variation of the original game), golf, roller sports, squash, and karate were bidding for an inclusion (or re-inclusion) in the Olympic program for 2016.
At the end, Golf and rugby were selected as the 2 sports that Executive Board will recommend for inclusion for the 2016 Olympics. A final approval vote will be held in October in Copenhagen by all IOC members.
It's very sad as it's pretty much the end of any hope of seeing our sport make a comeback in the Olympics - at least for a generation. This certainly shatters the Olympic dream of thousands of young softball players worldwide.
As explained by Cindy Bristow of Softball Excellence, the only remote possibility for softball to make it back for 2016 is if the entire IOC overturns the recommendation of the Executive Board in October which is what International Softball Federation (ISF) and the softball community will do for the next 2 months.
The good news is that even if softball is not an Olympic sport anymore, the sport is healthy worldwide. It did exist well before its inclusion in the 1996 Olympics and will continue to grow for many years to come.
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