Softball Federation Launches Campaign For Inclusion in 2016 Olympic Games
28/06/2007 |
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The International Softball Federation has launched a two-and-a-half year marketing campaign to have the sport reinstated in time for the 2016 Olympic Games. Softball will be dropped from the Olympic program starting with London 2012 as a result of a 2005 vote by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) where the sport lost by a single vote.
At the 2009 Olympic Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark the IOC will elect a host for the 2016 Olympic Games and vote on which sports will be on the program. Don Porter, the President of the International Softball Federation (ISF) is determined to have his sport reinstated following what he calls the first campaign of its kind.
"There are 10 items in the blueprint of things we will be doing between now and 2009" Porter told GamesBids.com from the Netherlands where the campaign was launched.
"It's going to be like a kind of marathon for us, we've got a long run to 2009 and we have our competition. We just want to get started."
The plan will address weaknesses identified by the IOC prior to the 2005 vote; these include the establishment of more national federations, improving the competitiveness of the sport and increasing media awareness and interest.
"There are currently 128 national federations and we are working to include two more to bring it to 130. But we hope to have 150 national federations in time for the Beijing Olympic Games."
There are also plans to make rule changes to the sport, provide "more interesting timing" to get the attention of the media and provide equipment to develop the sport in countries where it may not be affordable.
Next week the IOC will hold an Executive Board meeting in Guatemala where they will vote on a proposal tabled to narrow down the existing 26 sports to 25 core sports and then have three optional sports that will be elected separately for each Olympiad. If adopted, this plan would automatically exclude softball from the core sports and force softball to bid for a spot every 4 years.
For softball this plan is "...not the best situation - but pursuable", admitted Porter.
Softball is not the only sport looking for inclusion in the Olympics, according to Porter "we are in competition with some other sports, certainly baseball."
Baseball was also dropped from the Olympic program in the 2005 vote, but looking to be adopted for the first time were five new sports; karate, roller sports, rugby, squash and golf. Those and other sports, including skateboarding, could begin campaigns of their own.
(Source: Gamesbids.com)
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