From 1996 softball was a popular part of the Olympic program, but it hasn't been played at the Games since 2008. Olympics drop baseball, softball", "Softball needs baseball to get back on the Olympic program — espnW", "Golf, rugby backed by IOC board for 2016 Games", "Canberra Times: Diamonds could lose chance to sparkle", "Baseball, softball consider joint 2020 Olympic bid", "IOC approves five new sports for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020", "Even in defeat, U.S. proves point about softball's parity", "Baseball and Softball on the Road to Tokyo 2020", "Japan stuns US to win softball gold in Beijing Olympics", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Softball_at_the_Summer_Olympics&oldid=959921907, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 31 May 2020, at 07:28.

Some thought the American dominance of the sport played a role, however, Team USA failed to reach gold three years later during the sport’s last appearance.

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Japan automatically qualifies by being the host country. “[International Olympic Committee President Jacques] Rogge has basically conspired against the sports to get them removed. The MLB has never halted or interrupted its season for the Olympics, and MLB officials still seem reluctant to do so. This effort was led by the American softball association and Jiro Iwano, Vice President of the Japanese Olympic Committee and President of the Japanese Softball Association.


This was an enormous blow to the softball community, as the sport’s popularity was largely tied to its Olympic presence. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. It will be really different [to be away from the hype of an Olympics] but it is probably a good thing that we are focused on our world championships and not having to watch the opening ceremony and all those fun things.

It was a largely American sport and an Olympic competition where women’s athleticism shined. In 2008, a secret vote removed softball and baseball from the Olympics and shocked players and fans.

[4] On 1 April 2011, the International Softball Federation and International Baseball Federation announced they were preparing a joint proposal to revive play of both sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics. And this will be a victory, regardless. Efforts to improve the chances of getting softball on the 1956 programme included having New Zealand's national softball body affiliating with the American one. Rule differences between Olympic softball and baseball included: 1) ball is pitched underhand.

Softball’s Olympic return won’t be a perfect victory until the sport gets a permanent reinstatement, but returning at all is a big step.