The last ten days would have been an important time for Baseball and Softball, if the IOC executive wouldn’t have pre-selected Rugby-seven and Golf in August to get into the Olympic program for 2016. On Friday these two sports received the necessary votes at the IOC session in Copenhagen, Denmark and will be in the Olympics 2016 and 2020.
Several IOC members, including the former WADA chairman Dick Pound criticized the selection process. The Canadian voiced his displeasure in the British newspaper Telegraph:
“The fact is we were not allowed to consider all seven sports. That’s a mistake, it’s not fair to the other five sports, and because we do not know why this was decided it is not a transparent process. The session was asking for guidance not a decision that would be take it or leave it.”
IBAF president Dr. Harvey Schiller, who is near the end of his term at the top of the International Baseball Federation, traveled to Copenhagen last week and together with CEB president Martin Miller, he made a final push to get Baseball back into the Olympic program. But as expected it didn’t lead to something.
On Thursday he posted on his blog at IBAF.org:
Tomorrow, the IOC Congress in Copenhagen will vote on the two sports forwarded to the Congress by the IOC Executive Committee. Once again, only these two sports will be considered for the 2016 program, no others! If either Golf or Rugby fail, there will be no substitutions made by the Congress. Martin Miller and I visited with many IOC members this past week in Copenhagen to support our Baseball efforts. Although we did receive support from many, the current rules will not allow our consideration. In addition, we did reach out to softball, again to no avail. They will remain independent under their current leadership.
In the past days, which also included the stunning first-round rejection of Chicago’s bid to become host of the 2016 Olympics, Dr. Schiller sounded more and more frustrated due to the lack of support for the Baseball campaign and the current apparent anti-American mind-set by the IOC.
Another excerpt of a blog post by Dr. Schiller:
One only has to review the events of these past years to understand the power of IOC President Rogge to appease the demands of NOC’s and sport federations to reduce the USOC share of TV and sponsor revenues . US President Obama received the strongest welcome of any world leader in Olympic history. The city of Copenhagen came to a complete halt to allow his motorcade to move to the convention hall.Chicago drops out on first round of voting. Obama is selected for Nobel Peace Prize, an award every IOC President has sought! New York City is considered the world’s home. Their bid is defeated by Madrid in 2005. The national pastime of America, Baseball, is removed as an Olympic sport despite it’s presence in 12 previuos Olympic Games! Softball, another popular sport among American girls and women, is thrown out as well. The present USOC leadership is given a vote of no confidence by all their sport bodies primarily based on their poor relations with the international sports community. Golf and Rugby Sevens are promoted by the IOC President and added to the 2016 program. No US city will probably be considered as a host til 2024 or later. As young folks say: “Hello!”