BEIJING — It could be that the toughest competition facing the U.S. softball team won’t come on the field of play, but rather some 14 months from now in Copenhagen, Denmark.
That’s when 100 or so members of the International Olympic Committee vote on the sports that will make up the 2016 Games. Softball, here today but gone tomorrow — it’s already been dropped from the 2012 Games in London — is hoping for a reprieve.
That battle, a case study in the subjective and at times political way Olympics sports are determined, has overshadowed anything that might happen at Fengtai Field over the next nine days.
“It’s sort of like the elephant in the room for all of us,” said U.S. catcher Stacey Nuveman. “We’re focused on the U.S. and our not playing, but we’re not the only ones grieving. There are little girls in Australia and Japan and Chinese Taipei who are devastated also.”
Softball, and baseball, are being chopped at a time when open-water swimming and BMX racing have been added.
“I won’t name names, but you definitely look around and see what’s out there,” Nuveman said. “We were standing in the holding tank before the opening ceremony and looking around and going, ‘You mean to tell me that softball isn’t worthy and those guys are?’ ”
The decision to drop softball was the result of a vote made by the IOC in 2005, following its review of the Athens Games.
The public reason given was that the sport wasn’t universal enough. There are only eight teams here, and softball has been a part of the Olympics only since 1996.
The United States has won all three Olympic gold medals; in 2004, the team went 9-0 and outscored opponents 51-1.
“We’ve only been an Olympic sport for 12 years; that’s not enough time to say there are only four countries in the world that can play it or that we’re too dominant,” U.S. outfielder Jessica Mendoza said.
A complex process
Given an almost full menu of competition to choose from here, President Bush decided to drop in at the U.S. team’s practice, saying afterward he would give his full support to getting softball back into the Olympics. But he has no influence.
Softball’s lack of universal appeal, or the specter of doping in baseball, or the paucity of stories written about modern pentathlon in Athens, are just some of the 33 criteria used by IOC in reviewing its sports.
The review is done in part to help keep the Games at what the IOC considers to be a manageable number: 28.
That’s not to say that there isn’t a little wiggle room.
This is the first year, for example, for open-water swimming. But rather than call it a new Olympic sport, it is attached to the overall swimming umbrella.
Similarly, BMX racing, another addition, is considered a discipline of cycling, an already-existing sport, so it stays within the 28.
Vibrant Games
The IOC uses its review to keep all sports on their toes, so to speak. Minus baseball and softball, there are 26 sports that will be contested in London in 2012; when the IOC meets next year, the thinking is that those two sports, along with golf, rugby, roller sports, squash and karate, are competing for two open slots.
“We need to make certain that the Olympic program is relevant and vibrant and have some level of flexibility to embrace and adapt to new sports,” said Darryl Seibel, chief communications officer for the U.S. Olympic Committee. “Women’s hockey and snowboarding in the Winter Games have been a huge plus; golf is appealing to us, it enjoys worldwide popularity. Look at something like the Ryder Cup and how much interest and attention it generates.”
But, before Tiger Woods tees off in the 2016 Games, Seibel admits the USOC’s first priority is getting softball back.
“It’s not just because the United States is good; we think it’s important to make certain opportunities for women to participate in the Olympics grow,” he said.
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
We’re No. 1
Team USA softball set at least 18 Olympic records in rolling to gold in 2004. At least four members of that team, including Lisa Fernandez, one of the game’s all-time best hitters and pitchers — couldn’t make this year’s squad. Among the records set by the Americans in Athens:
Runs scored: 51
Runs allowed: 1
Shutouts: 8
Lowest ERA: 0.12
Hits: 73
Highest average: .343
Highest slugging pct.: .559
Source: USA Softball
