Softball: Making a case for 2016

Olympic fans might have to brush up on some new sports or they might rejoice at the return of some familiar ones as the International Olympic Committee's executive board meets this week in Berlin to analyze bids from seven sports vying for a spot on the docket at the 2016 Olympic Games.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said Friday in published reports that a review of seven sports --- baseball, golf, karate, rugby sevens, roller sports, softball and squash --- will take place Thursday at a board meeting before the opening ceremony at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin.

The IOC will vote on Oct. 9 for a maximum of two sports to be added to the Games at the 121^st IOC Session and XIII Olympic Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Softball and baseball had been part of the Olympic Games but were hit with a huge curveball in 2005 when the IOC voted to exclude the sports for the London 2012 Games. Both sports were part of the Olympic program last summer in Beijing. Golf was an Olympic sport once, back in 1904 in St. Louis.

Rugby sevens, squash, karate, golf and roller sports made bids to become Olympic sports back in 2005 but none of them earned required two-thirds majority vote. This time around, only a simple majority is required.

Today, we examine each of these sports as the vote for their inclusion approaches.

Softball's bid to get back into the Olympic Games will suffer either a huge blow, or get a big win later this week.  

After taking their last swings in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, softball players are eagerly awaiting the results of a vote that is expected to take place Thursday by the International Olympic Committee's executive board which could put the sport back on the Olympic program in 2016.

"I think we've got a chance," International Softball Federation President Don Porter said.

Softball and baseball were a part of the Olympics as recently as the Beijing 2008 Games, but in 2005, the IOC voted to eliminate it from the London 2012 Games. Softball made its debut as a medal event since the 1996 Olympic Games, and - up until the Beijing 2008 Games - was dominated by the Americans. The United States won gold in 1996, 2000 and 2004 before losing to Japan and bringing home a silver medal in 2008.

Not wanting the Beijing 2008 Games to be softball's last Olympic appearance, a group supporting the sport is lobbying to get it back on the agenda for the 2016 Games.

In a campaign called "BackSoftball," Porter said a group of people ranging from media, business personnel and athletes have attended numerous meetings and events, have given many presentations about the sport and have done "everything else we can do to get the attention of the IOC.

"We're trying to cover all bases," Porter added.

The sport will find out this week if it hit a home run or registered a strikeout.

Some of the ISF's efforts have involved changing some aspects of the sport. Porter said to make the sport more attractive for spectators and television viewers, the federation worked to speed games up, while also making the games more entertaining.

"We have rules that have made it more offensive, less defensive, with more action," Porter said.

The BackSoftball campaign also has focused on promoting the positive aspects of the sport.

Jessica Mendoza, a two-time U.S. Olympian and an ambassador for the BackSoftball campaign, touts the sport's drug-free record. The 2004 Olympic gold medalist said softball is "100 percent drug free" and that no player has ever failed a doping test.

"That's huge with the IOC," said Mendoza, who represented Team USA in 2004 and 2008.

In a news release issued in July, Porter noted that softball was "at the cutting edge in the fight against drug cheats," and that more than 250 tests were taken.

"Softball has been an Olympic sport that has no time for cheats and has conducted rigorous doping testing and never experienced a positive test at the Games,'' Porter said in the release. "We're proud that our athletes maintain the integrity of sport that we seek to promote at all levels of the game.''

Mendoza added that softball allows more women to be included in the Olympics, which will help the IOC achieve gender equality at the Games.

Michele Smith, considered one of the all-time greatest pitchers who won Olympic gold with the U.S. in 1996 and 2000, said softball has also improved its grassroots effort to get more people involved with the sport.

"It's an all-encompassing sport," said Smith, another athlete ambassador for softball's reinstatement campaign. "You can be anyone and everyone and play softball."

Softball has been criticized for not being global enough, so to counter these opinions, those involved with the campaign are armed with information about softball's world-wide appeal.

Mendoza said softball is played in 127 countries, and it's continuing to grow. She also added that in countries in Africa and the Middle East, softball is part of an effort to create peace through sport. Athletes from around the world have been lobbying for the sport's return to the Olympic Games. It's also proven to be a big crowd pleaser. Approximately 180,000 fans turned out to watch the sport in Beijing.

Earlier this month, for instance, two major softball tournaments were held in Spain and Belgium and featured teams from 21 European nations. BackSoftball has been sending some ambassadors to events around the globe.

But there's one issue the Americans are better at addressing than their international colleagues. Mendoza, Smith and others who are campaigning for softball's 2016 bid face criticism over softball's global reach in part because of the success of the U.S. squads.

Until the 2008 Olympics, the Americans dominated the Olympic softball competition.

Team USA lost just one game en route to capturing gold in 1996, and rode a 112-game winning streak before being upset by Japan in round-robin play at the 2000 Olympics. The Americans went on to also lose to China and Australia at the Sydney Games before putting together a five-game winning streak to capture the gold medal.

The Americans captured their third consecutive gold in dominant fashion in 2004, posting a perfect 9-0 record at the Athens Games.

But the United States' reign ended in 2008, when Japan defeated the Americans 3-1 in the gold-medal game. With the loss, Team USA took home silver, and conspiracy theories arose about the championship defeat.

Cat Osterman, the starting pitcher for the U.S. in the gold-medal game, said that people asked her if the team lost on purpose to show that the rest of the world was catching up to the United States.

But the pitcher denied the accusations, saying she and her teammates gave 100 percent every time they took the field during the Olympic Games.

"Losing, in our minds, is never good," Osterman said.

But now, with previous Olympic results in the past, softball Olympians are focusing their efforts on the future of the sport.

"It's about the girls around the world,'' Mendoza said. "Working with these girls, all they're asking is 'How can I get to the Olympics?' I was a young girl once dreaming of representing my country and playing in the Olympics. I want every young girl to have that dream."