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International Softball Federation President Don Porter has urged the International Olympic Committee to reinstate softball to the Olympic Programme to help meet Olympic challenges in the 21st century.

Mr. Porter is part of the delegation that includes Olympic softball athletes Michele Smith (Team USA, gold medals in 2000 & 1996), Jessica Mendoza (Team USA, 2004 – gold, 2008 – silver), Danielle Stewart (Australia, 2008 bronze medal), and Rubilena Rojas (Venezuela, 2008), as softball makes its presentation to the IOC Executive Board here in Lausanne tomorrow (Monday).

The IOC has stressed on a number of occasions that its priorities include the engagement of young people within the Olympic movement, increasing the role of women in sports participation & administration, and doping-free sport.

Mr. Porter declared that softball can complement and even enhance the Olympic values that the IOC seeks to promote in every respect and was eager to underline the benefits softball’s return to the Olympic Programme would bring.

Mr. Porter said, “A vote for softball is a vote for the Olympic values that the IOC promotes across the world. The ISF has made tremendous progress in the last few years, pushing forward our vision of a clean, inclusive, and accessible sport that enriches the lives of tens of millions of people around the world.

“Like the Olympic Movement itself, softball enriches and changes lives, providing an opportunity to enjoy sport for women and young people in areas of the world where it is not always possible. Cheap and simple to play, softball promotes the Olympic values that are so important in today’s world, underscored by its exemplary anti-doping record at the highest level.

“Softball captures the imagination of women and that is perhaps why it has become so popular with women in Muslim countries, for instance, where team sports are not often permissible. And in developing nations, softball is being taken up by children in huge numbers, providing a genuine alternative to the social problems young people tend to encounter in troubled communities.”

Australian Olympic bronze medalist Danielle Stewart said that her experience at Fengtai Softball Field in Beijing last August underlined what softball means to the millions of players around the world.

Ms. Stewart said, “Participating in the Olympic Games has been the pinnacle for softball players around the world and the standard of competition has increased so much, as we saw with Japan’s victory last summer in Beijing. Softball is a positive influence in society on so many levels, but at the elite level the Olympics is the ultimate dream.”

The BackSoftball team in Lausanne will make its presentation to the IOC Executive Board Monday, highlighting the progress and development the sport has made in recent years and the opportunities it provides in under-developed and troubled areas of the world.