Commentary: Baseball & Softball: Farewell As Olympic Sports?

August 21, 2008

Japan’s 3-1 victory over the United States in the gold medal women’s softball game ended the Americans’ Olympic dominance. But it may have also signified the end to a larger streak — softball’s entire presence in the Olympics after four appearances.

The Beijing Games softball venue logo.

Baseball and softball will not part of the London Games in 2012. But the two sports as well as squash, karate, golf, rugby and roller events will all make grand pitches next week to be included in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Why are softball and baseball being jettisoned?

Bill Bradley, sports editor of the Sacramento Bee, speculated August 21 in his section-front column “Leading Off” that the two sports were dropped because “The International Olympic Committee wanted the Games to be more Eurocentric by getting rid of two U.S.-based sports.”

Bradley also commented it’s hard to accept the dismissal of the two sports while niche events like trampoline jumping and synchronized diving are still in the Olympic mix. And he makes a good point.

At the three newspapers where I’ve been employed, including The Bee, I pushed for years for more coverage of endurance sports as legitimate events. With rare exception, the sports editors for whom I worked, were keener on stick-and-ball or traditional sports like boxing and horse racing.

But if softball and baseball have to go, perhaps the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should take another look. Triathlon and mountain biking were approved as Olympic sports pretty quickly. And both are sports I appreciate and have covered on the world championship level. But neither of the two endeavors have exactly attracted any great new following as Olympic sports.

So, farewell softball and baseball. You’ve been ousted by the biggest, strongest, swiftest contingent at the Olympics.