Press Release World Baseball Softball Confederation
Olympic gold medallist Jennie Finch makes final plea to IOC members to support women’s sport and put Softball and Baseball in Olympic Games
BUENOS AIRES (ARG) – A worldwide expression of love for the game of Softball and the Olympic Games has come from girls and women around the world, calling on the IOC to place Softball in the 2020 Olympic Games.
The support for Softball at the Olympic Games comes from girls and women from all backgrounds – from primary school to university and all sporting levels in many countries – expressing deep love of Softball and calling on IOC members to include Softball at the Olympic Games in 2020.
The plea includes hundreds of letters and emails from girls from India, Europe, Australia, Japan, the United States, Canada, Africa and other countries and regions to the International Softball Federation, as well as national federations, from the moment Softball and Baseball were surprisingly delisted from the Olympic Games core sports programme in 2005.
Now the same girls and many more women are supporting the joint Baseball and Softball campaign led by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) to have the two sports included at the 2020 Olympic Games.
The concerns of those young girls have driven Jennie Finch, one of the greatest Softball players of all time and Gold and Silver medallist at the 2004 and 2008 Games, to become a high profile ambassador for the campaign.
“Millions of girls around the world are dreaming about playing softball for their national teams at the highest level – the Olympic Games the pinnacle of sport – and that’s why we all want our games back in the Olympic Games,” Finch, a mother of three, said.
The final decision to include baseball and softball at the Olympic Games will be taken in Buenos Aires at the 125th IOC Session on September 8th.
Softball is one of the world’s most popular sports for women of all ages and backgrounds, and Finch believes the IOC decision will be important to millions of girls and women everywhere.
“The vote will be historic and life changing, and will impact the lives of millions of girls and young women on softball teams and women and girls who support softball passionately in schools, universities, businesses, community groups and other organisations across the world.
“Including softball in the Olympic Games will help to inspire millions of girls to use the Games and the Olympic values of friendship, respect and excellence to strive for their best on and off the field. This will be good for girls, and good for society and it will make the Olympic Movement more relevant to women and also help to sustain the Movement.”