The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to delay a decision on the elimination of three sports – baseball, softball and modern pentathlon – from the Olympics until after the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
Each sport had 10 minutes to present its case, and none of the 39 speakers expressed support for a report that recommended eliminating the three sports from the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The report cited limited international appeal and high costs.
IOC president Jacques Rogge avoided a question about whether the three sports are assured of being part of the Beijing Olympics.
Speaking in support of softball, Jelena Tomic of Croatia said “to take away the dream from so many girls is the same as banning women in all sports of the Olympics”.
Aldo Notari of Italy, head of the International Baseball Federation, promised that better professional athletes would be included in future Olympic baseball tournaments, which he said would be cheaper and would cover fewer days.
He added that losing the Olympics “would be the demise of baseball as a worldwide sport”.
And Klaus Schormann, head of the modern pentathlon federation, said being dropped from the Olympics would kill sport altogether. It was created for the 1912 Games by modern Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertain. Its five disciplines of shooting, swimming, running, riding and fencing are meant to display well-rounded skills. “If there are not millions of participants, should the sport die? Don’t send us to the Olympic Museum”.
