(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Marco Stoovelaar & Henk Seppen)
 Baseball & Softball move closer to Olympic return!
Nederlands
 TOKYO (Japan) -
The return of baseball and softball on the programme of the Olympic Games has come a major step closer, as the organisors of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (Japan) announced on Monday (September 28) that it has proposed the 'diamond sport' (baseball for men, softball for women) as one of five sports to be included in the programme.
The other sports are karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding.
The 2020 Summer Olympics are planned to be held from July 24 to August 9, 2020.
Tokyo was announced as the host city at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on September 7, 2013.
Tokyo previously hosted the 1964 Summer Olympic Games.
During that event, baseball was a demonstration game and one game was played.
In a statement, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee today announced that it has proposed 18 additional events from five sports to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for inclusion at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad (Tokyo 2020).
It has become the first-ever organising committee to be given this unique opportunity to contribute to the design of the Olympic Programme, thanks to Olympic Agenda 2020.
The statement continues:
This package of events represents both traditional and emerging, youth-focused events, all of which are popular both in Japan and internationally.
They will serve as a driving force to further promote the Olympic Movement and its values, with a focus on youth appeal, and will add value to the Games by engaging the Japanese population and new audiences worldwide, reflecting the Tokyo 2020 Games vision.
In the baseball-tournament, six teams (of 24 players each) will participate.
The softball-tournament also will have six participating teams (of 15 players each).
...WBSC-President Riccardo Fraccari...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In a reaction, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) said it joined players and leadership from leagues around the world in welcoming the landmark decision by the hosts of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to propose adding baseball/softball among five new sports for the Games in 2020.
Baseball/softball is the biggest sport not currently featured at the Olympic Games.
There are an estimated 65 million baseball/softball-athletes in over 140 countries.
,,Tokyo 2020's decision to propose our sport is a 'home run' and giant leap forward for baseball and softball'', said WBSC-President Riccardo Fraccari.
,,On behalf of WBSC and our athletes, I would like to thank Tokyo 2020 as well as IOC President Thomas Bach, whose Olympic Agenda 2020 vision has paved the way for this extraordinary opportunity.
The entire baseball and softball world is excited and ready to cross the Olympic home plate.
But above all, I am happy for all our male and female athletes who today can see there is a real chance to fulfil their greatest dream of representing their country in the most important sporting spectacle there is, the Olympic Games.''
Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manfred said: ,,Today's announcement by Tokyo 2020 to include baseball/softball into its proposal for additional events at the 2020 Olympic Games is an exciting step forward to hopefully seeing our game return to this great platform.
We look forward to the IOC's decision in August 2016.''
Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Commissioner Katsuhiko Kumazaki stated: ,,The recommendation today from Tokyo 2020 to restore Olympic baseball and softball has drawn attention here in Japan as well as globally.
United with WBSC and our colleagues from around the world, baseball and softball want to shine bright for Tokyo 2020 and the Olympic Movement moving forward.''
...A baseball-shop in the streets of Tokyo...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
WBSC-President Fraccari added: ,,Baseball and softball's global position, expansion and opportunities today are thanks to all of our partners' contributions and a shared vision to return our sport to the highest stage in sports, the Olympic Games.
And we will do everything possible so that baseball and softball, if included, are a great attraction/success for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and IOC's Agenda 2020, as it remains WBSC's top priority to demonstrate that our sport aligns with the Olympic Movement and has the qualities to earn a place on the Olympic programme in 2020 and in future Games.''
Baseball was an Olympic Medallion Sport from 1992 through 2008.
In that period, it was played during the Olympics of 1992 (Barcelona, Spain), 1996 (Atlanta, USA), 2000 (Sydney, Australia), 2004 (Athens, Greece) and 2008 (Beijing, China).
Softball was an official Olympic Medallion Sport from 1996 through 2008.
Baseball was first played during an Olympic Games in 1912 when the event was held in Swedish capital Stockholm.
It returned as a demonstration sport in 1936 (Berlin, Germany) and 1956 (Melbourne, Australia), followed by 1964 (Tokyo, Japan).
A full demonstration tournament was then staged during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles (USA) and 1988 (Seoul, Korea).
The Netherlands Baseball Team participated in the 1988 tournament after capturing the European title during the European Championship (which also served as Olympic Qualifier) in 1987 in Barcelona (Spain).
Basebal then made its official Olympic debut in 1992, followed by softball in 1996.
Beside participating in 1988, the Dutch baseball-team also was in the Olympics in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008.
The Dutch softball-team participated in 1996 and 2008.
Baseball and softball are both very popular and successful in Japan.
During the Olympic Games of 2008 in Beijing, Japan won the Gold Medal in softball after having won Bronze in 2004 in Athens.
The baseball-tournament in Beijing also was won by an Asian baseball-power, Korea after Japan had captured Bronze four years earlier.
The Japanese baseball-team won the first two editions of the World Baseball Classic (2006, 2009), while the softball-women won the Gold Medal on the last two World Championships in respectively Whitehorse (Canada, 2012) and Haarlem (Netherlands, 2014) after having won Silver on the previous three Championships.
...There are many softball-fields (and baseball-fields)...
...at many locations in Tokyo...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Following the 2012 Games in London (Great Britain), the IOC assessed the 26 sports, with the remit of selecting 25 'core' sports to join new entrants golf and rugby sevens at the 2020 Games.
This would involve the dropping of one sport from the programme of the 2016 Games, that will be held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
This would leave a single vacancy in the 2020 Games program, which the IOC would seek to fill from a shortlist containing seven unrepresented sports and the removed sport.
On February 12, 2013, the IOC voted to drop wrestling from the Olympic programme.
The decision to drop wrestling, one of the oldest Olympic sports, was opposed in several countries and wrestling therefore joined other sports in a short list applying for inclusion in the 2020 Games.
On May 29, 2013, it was announced that three sports made the final shortlist, being baseball/softball, squash and wrestling.
On September 8, 2013, at the 125th IOC Session, the IOC selected wrestling to be included in the Olympic program for 2020 and 2024.
Wrestling got 49 votes, while baseball/softball got 24 votes and squash 22.
Under new policies of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that shift the Games to an "event-based" programme rather than sport-based, the host organizing committee can now also propose the addition of sports to the programme, with a particular focus on adding sports that are popular in the host country.
As a result of these changes, a shortlist of eight sports was unveiled on June 22, 2015.
These sports included baseball/softball, bowling, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, surfing and wushu.
Today, the organisers proposed five of these sports to the IOC for inclusion in 2020, being baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding.
The final decision will follow in August 2016 during the 129th IOC Congress in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
(September 28)
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