Along with seven other sports, softball is vying for a spot in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. “Without question we are thrilled to have softball on the IOC’s shortlist for the candidate sports for 2020,” ISF president Don Porter said. “That being said, the real victory, of course, would be a decision in our favor come 2013 when the vote is taken on which sport the IOC will add for the Summer Olympics.”
Mr. Porter noted that an ISF Olympic Legacy Committee had already been formed in anticipation of the shortlist announcement, with ISF Secretary General Ms. Low Beng Choo as the chairperson. He said that convincing the IOC that softball should be the one sport that they add in 2013 for the 2020 Games will be a global effort that will require and involve support from not only the worldwide softball community and the ISF’s current 127 member national federations, but others from within the Olympic Family, National Olympic Committees, sports ministries, media, government and the corporate sector.
Baseball, Wakeboarding, Squash, Sport Climbing, Roller Sports, Karate and Wushu are the other sports on the shortlist hoping to make it into the 32nd Olympiad program.
Mr. Porter added that, “We’ve never given up on restoring dreams. Just as the athletes give it their all on the field, we must ensure that we make every effort to return softball to the Games so that a new era of players can get the chance to compete on the biggest stage like others did in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008.”
The ISF president stated that, “Softball brings so much to the Olympic Movement. We know that the IOC wants a sport whose best athletes will compete at the Games. It should go without saying that a sport clear of doping problems is a must. And a sport that is global, relevant, and not financially burdensome to the host organizing committee round out the attributes that have been stated as being of prime importance. We are confident that softball delivers on all of those criteria.”
www.facebook.com/BackSoftball is set to become the digital headquarters for the Olympic reinstatement campaign.