The_Torch Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 Just found this news bulletin on the IOC website: New Olympic Programme in 2012 8 July 2005 The 117th IOC Session in Singapore voted today to include 26 of the 28 current Olympic sports on the programme of the Games of the XXX Olympiad in 2012. The Session decided that baseball and softball will remain on the list of Olympic sports as noted in the Olympic Charter, rule 46, but will not be on the programme for 2012. The two sports are, however, eligible for inclusion in the programme of the 2016 Games. The IOC Executive Board will convene later today and decide whether any of the five candidate sports (Roller Sports, World Squash, Golf, Karate or Rugby) should be put forward to the Session, who will then vote on whether the sport(s) could be added to the list of Olympic sports and then potentially be included on the programme of the 2012 Games. wow. :oh: This is really interesting, especially as it will now directly impact the venue plans for London 2012. Bang goes the Regents Park plans for Baseball and Softball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daffyd Pollard Posted July 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 Yeah, but: Rugby could take place at it's spiritual home - Twickenham and Golf could take place at it's spiritual home - Royal and Ancients in Scotland, or Royal Wentworth in England. So it's all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
its a bid of magic Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 I've got to say I would like Rugby to be included in the 2012 games, maybe a shortened version of the game like Rugby 7's. I can appreciate that our American collegues would not like Baseball or Softball to be dropped from the events list, but I have to say, I'm more of a cricket fan myself. :grinning: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argentak Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 Golf is too big. It would be another football/sailing/equestrian type event that in most host cities usually takes place far away, needs larger space, etc. I'm pushing for roller sports, which would be the popular summer answer to the winter games' snowboarding. Roller sports are experiencing a boom in popularity in Asia and Oceania as well as being ubiquitous in North America and even in some European countries. Rugby 7's would be popular and interesting, but usually team sports are looked down upon if there isn't enough popularity to have a counterpart event for women. I'm not very familiar with women's rugby, especially internationally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Henson Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 Squash and Rugby Sevens for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argentak Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 I've got to say I would like Rugby to be included in the 2012 games, maybe a shortened version of the game like Rugby 7's.I can appreciate that our American collegues would not like Baseball or Softball to be dropped from the events list, but I have to say, I'm more of a cricket fan myself. :grinning: Actually, Americans don't care. Softball is really the only one a few people might get grumpy about, but people only care about it just because of the Olympics. Nobody hears about that level softball/"women's baseball' in the US otherwise. As for baseball, MLB pro league players (many of whom aren't even from the US anyways) rarely show an interest in the national team due to the fact that the Olympic Games are right in the middle of the pro season and near the playoffs, where the big million dollar contracts are needed to be worked for the most. And, nobody seemed to care that the US baseball team didn't even make it past the Olympic qualifying rounds at the 2003 Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic at Santo Domingo. One thing people who aren't familiar with the US and see it from afar with stereotypes need to learn is: They don't really care about international performance in anything. The international victories are just the cherry on top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIKYSALT Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 Im Glad baseball and soft ball are out I don't remember use giving it any TV coverage,at Athens. I was thinking Roller-skating would have been fun. But Rugby and golf sound good as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Henson Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 They won't be replaced apparently. Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Torch Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 Just out of interest, how much money will London 2012 save by not staging Baseball and Softball? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Henson Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 Just out of interest, how much money will London 2012 save by not staging Baseball and Softball? £22m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easysurfer Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 I can't believe they aren't replacing them with two other sports. Don't they like squash, rugby, karate e.t.c. either. It will leave a gap in the games. What were the percentages of the votes to include new sports? Why didn't the president make the members vote for two sports to replace baseball and softball? To let them say we'll have less sports in not very good. Why do they want to decrease the number of sports and can London put pressure on the IOC to include two new sports? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Torch Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 22m.....that'll do nicely. :: Well at least this will help the inevitable budget overspend. :oh: I've just noticed that the original plan for the the Olympic Park has a Baseball field for Training. I wonder if Seb and the team will now try and squeeze something else in there. It will also be interesting to see how much the Park scheme develops and changes over the next 7 years. The one thing that strikes me about the rendering of the Olympic Park is the quantity and size of the pathways. I'm surprised they did not try to put at least another 1 or 2 venues within it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitsansh Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 International Olympic Committee members went through seven rounds of voting to decide which two of the five sports should be put up for a vote to give them Olympic status. Squash and karate were selected, before members overwhelmingly rejected their bids to join the Olympic programme. Do you understand the voting process on new sports? Were Squash and Karate accepted as Olympic sports but not added to the programme, or were rejected as Olympic sports? It seems that by leaving 2 slots vacant the IOC left an open door to Baseball and Softball to return in the future... also, the reduction of 2 events and a significant amount of athletes (multiply 8 teams in each sport by the # of players including reserves) could now be distributed between the remaining 26 sports... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexolympics Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 Latest just in: no golf, 7s, karate, squash OR rollersports. They only voted on karate and squash and neither got enough votes. The 2012 committee is saying that Regent's Park might be used for "cultural activites", in the same way Hyde Park is meant to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexolympics Posted July 8, 2005 Report Share Posted July 8, 2005 and from what I understand, the votes to remove sports and to add sports are deliberately kept completely separate. It is hard enough to get a majority of IOC members to agree to get rid of a sport (one reason why no sports have been cut since polo in 1936) let alone get agreement to exchange one particular sport for another. Baseball and softball really had to go because noone watched them on TV, not even the Americans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parisphoto Posted July 10, 2005 Report Share Posted July 10, 2005 Yeah, but:Rugby could take place at it's spiritual home - Twickenham Not Rugby? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick The Mick Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 Any chance that some of these events could make an appearance in London as demo sports, before, during or after the main event? London already has the experience and the venues to host most, if not all of the events being considered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtorr_2000 Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 I really feel the decision to remove baseball and softball was a political/anti american one. Here is the article from Eurosport on why they where eliminated: http://www.eurosport.com/home....9.shtml Look at the arguments on why baseball was nixed 1) No interest from the pros: On that logic, shouldnt soccer be eliminated as well? compared to the soccer world cup, the olympics are meaningless. I know that theres an age limit for soccer in the games, but the end result is the same,the best of the best arent playing, period. 2) problems with drugs. What sport doesnt have problems with drugs?!!? look at cycling,track/field,etc. there's hypocrisy in these arguments I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtorr_2000 Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 No, its not worth it to add anything.. Although I thought the baseball/softball elimination was political, at least the host cities save some money not having to build facilities... Please, dont add anything and negate the cost savings just incurred. There are still too many sports out there,even after cutting out baseball/softball.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexolympics Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 An anonymous person posted this on my LJ blog - thought it was very funny... "In place of softball I believe they are now going to be staging some new Olympic events in Regents Park, namely: - “Britain should relinquish their $3 billion EU rebate but the French shouldn’t have the scandalous CAP system overhauled”: Discus(s) - Dogging - For those amorous couples who tend to picnic there and go overboard on the public displays of affection after glugging buckets of wine: The 5 litres breast stroke - 110m 'avoid the dog poo' hurdles - In the kids playground by the zoo: Synchronised Swinging - The bad dance relay: Agadoo (hands over to) - The Birdie Song (passes the baton to) - Achy Breaky Heart (and down the final stretch to)- Footloose - The Special Brew marathon, (extra points awarded for smelling of wee and random abuse of passers by) - The polite 1500m queue for Ice Creams - The continued antipodean dominance of endurance frisbee - Freestyle sunburn on the first hot day, extra points for socks with sandals, vest marks, lobster affinity and smelling of malibu lotion - The picnic cocktail stick javelin, extra points for the handicap of cheese and pineapple chunks decoration" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherRob Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 I think the Baron had a point when he said: The only reason they've left the door open in 2009/2016 for baseball and softball to return is because New York already has the venues for these. Does anyone else think this could be seen as a very early indication that the USA will be a very big favourite for 2016? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexolympics Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 I really feel the decision to remove baseball and softballwas a political/anti american one. ..... 1) No interest from the pros: On that logic, shouldnt soccer be eliminated as well? compared to the soccer world cup, the olympics are meaningless. I know that theres an age limit for soccer in the games, but the end result is the same,the best of the best arent playing, period. ... Yeah, I think anti-Americanism was partly to do with it. But the biggest factor - which the IOC can never be seen to admit to - was that noone watches Olympic baseball or softball on TV - not even the Americans. Even watered-down, not very skilful, Olympic soccer gets more viewers. Why? Because soccer is the only truly global sport, and not everyone can qualify for the World Cup Finals. Look at Iraq - even they managed to send a soccer team to Athens - I think it was the only Olympic competition they entered. But baseball? Softball? Not global sports. In baseball's case, none of the best people play. And in softball, noone even knows or cares who the best people are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim856796 Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 One of the reasons why Baseball and Softball were dropped from the London 2012 Olympic programme is because the United Kingdom does not have much interest in these sports. I know the UK is a member of the International Softball Federation, but the UK has not had any stadiums suitable for baseball or softball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 One of the reasons why Baseball and Softball were dropped from the London 2012 Olympic programme is because the United Kingdom does not have much interest in these sports. I know the UK is a member of the International Softball Federation, but the UK has not had any stadiums suitable for baseball or softball. There were plans to build baseball and softball venues for London 2012 - both were to be staged in Regents Park. To be honest neither have a particularly large following in the UK, so nobody really mourned the loss and it did save 100 million or so to be spent elsewhere. According to the IOC at the time the decision to axe them from the programme was due mainly to doping issues within baseball, however, I'm sure if it was a more global sport it would have survived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arwebb Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 See cycling as an example, perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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