Baseball boost as IOC chief hints at place in 2020 Tokyo Games
WRESTLING spent eight million dollars to keep hold of their place in the Olympic Games, according to media reports.
News from Sochi, venue for the forthcoming Winter Olympics, revealed that International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach left the door open for the possible return of baseball-softball for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
Bach (pictured left) said he would like a more flexible system in place to decide the Summer Olympic programme. He also has been supportive of scrapping the 28-sport limit.
Wrestling was removed from the Games last February only to be restored at the IOC session in September. Seven sports then competed for one spot on the program for 2020. The finalists – baseball/softball, squash and wrestling – spent almost $10 million on their bids, with wrestling’s budget nearing $8m.
That means that the losing baseball-softball and squash bids totalled $2m. There was no detail of how this sum was split between the two sports.
After Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics at that September session, momentum began to build to bring baseball, regarded as Japan’s most popular sport, back to the programme.
Baseball and softball made their last Olympic appearance in 2008 in Beijing. Softball had been in the Olympics since 1996, and baseball since 1992.
Bach, who revealed changing some of the procedures would be discussed during IOC meetings this week, added: “The goal is to have more flexibility in the composition of the Olympic program,”Â
He later admitted that he hoped any changes to the sport selection procedures would be in place by the end of the year. After that, there would be a more concrete discussion of what sports would be considered for possible inclusion. He also stressed that the process of adding a new sport doesn’t necessarily have to take seven years, as is the case now.
Pictures from Squash Mad archive
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