Sports for 2016 -- IOC Program Commission Hears Pitches for Inclusion

Rugby

Rugby wheeled out some of its star players to promote the sport’s Olympic ambitions in the presentation to the IOC commission. Agustin Pichot, former captain of the Argentinean rugby team and Anastassiya Khamova, one of Kazakhstan's top female players put forward the athletes' perspectives. Bryan Habana, the International Rugby Board's (IRB) player of the year in 2007, and a Rugby World Cup winner with South Africa, offered his support in a video.

Pichot said, like any other rugby player, what was missing in his sport was the Olympic Games. "We would love to be part of that," he said, adding that there was huge support from his fellow players for rugby's Olympic aspirations.

Bernard Lapasset, IRB president, said he had a good feeling about rugby's chances after his delegation had presented to the commission: "All the elements are in place to continue the project."

Mike Miller, secretary general of the IRB, also played a key role in the pitch. "I think we have a very good story to tell about how rugby can add to the Olympic Movement," he told reporters after the meeting.

Technical questions from the commission focused on the number of teams proposed, whether they would include men's and women's events and qualification system for an Olympics, he said. "We would be delighted to have both men's and women's teams in but we understand there are issues about player numbers."

The presentation focused on the benefits of the Rugby Sevens format to the Olympics. Miller said the format was already a proven success at multisport Games, listing the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games among others.

"It's a format that works incredibly well over two or three days; packed houses, it's exciting and works very well for television. That's why we think we would make a very positive addition to the Olympic games.

"The demographic is very good: young, upmarket, traveling fans. They’d go and pack out the stadium for Rugby Sevens, but they would also go to the other Olympic events as well," Miller commented.

Lapasset said that the Rugby World Cup Sevens, which was first staged in 1993, may be scrapped if his sport made it onto the Olympic program. This move would be subject to an IRB council vote.

"The pinnacle for the Rugby Sevens should be the Olympic Games. The council will decide, but this is my position," he explained.

Softball

Softball's leaders placed special emphasis on the growth of youth participation in the sport and the way the federation was reaching out to developing countries.

"We are addressing some of those sides and also improving our sports technically," said International Softball Federation President Don Porter, noting that the first Youth World Cup was taking place in Prague next August.

"We have made a number of rule changes in the past five years and we're going to make some more which make the sport more interesting; attractive to not only spectators but the media and television," he added.

Porter said he was pleased with how the federation had got their message across to commission members. "I think they were very attentive in listening to our message and what we want to do in the future and hopefully it will be enough that the IOC will see us as a positive force and bring us back into the Olympic program for 2016."

Asked if softball might be prepared to associate with baseball to establish a joint pitch to join the Olympics, Porter said it was unlikely. "It's not that we’re reluctant; we are a separate sport and also we have a very competitive men's softball program and we expressed that to the program commission.

"We feel that we have both men's and women's and we don’t feel we should be combined with any other sport."

After softball's success in Beijing, Porter insisted the sport was carrying forward the momentum and said he believed there was goodwill from IOC members towards softball. "We're doing what the IOC members and the [IOC] president said we needed to be doing as a sport and we're on track."

He said softball's cause might have been helped by the fact that the U.S. didn't win gold at the Beijing Olympics. "It really shows that the U.S. does not dominate and I don’t think in the future it will. I think more countries are getting more competitive and we’re working towards that."

Low Beng Choo, the federation's Malaysia-based deputy secretary general, told ATR that the presentation reflected the fact that softball had listened. "We have made changes and we're moving forward very positively to make sure we meet whatever the challenges the IOC would like any Olympic sport to meet."

Squash

After coming out on top of all the other candidates in 2005 only to be denied by previous IOC rules requiring a two-thirds majority for any new sport to be accepted, the World Squash Federation (WSF) said it had not been thrown any tricky balls by the Program Commission on Friday.

"It all went pretty much how we expected. We answered all the questions they put to the best of our ability and had the feeling they were happy with those answers," WSF President N Ramachandran told Around the Rings.

Ramachandran said his team's presentation had included an action-packed DVD demonstrating the physically demanding aspects of the sport as well as highlighting its universality.

"We showed them that squash is a grueling sport, an athletic sport, and one which has world champions from every region of the world. It is also played in most countries of the world and we demonstrated how modern technology glass courts allows the sport to be played in iconic locations – the Red Sea, the Taj Mahal, wherever."

Ramachandran said he believed those attributes of his sport corresponded very strongly to what the Olympic movement was looking for from its new additions, but refused to speculate on the chances of squash seeing off the other contenders.

"Let me put it in a different fashion" he said. "If we are chosen, then we are ready to become an Olympic sport.

"I think the IOC is looking for a modern sport which is growing and being played in every region of the world, one which is not very difficult to comprehend and where you have equality and universality."

Having come so close only to miss out on little more than a technicality last time, Ramachandran seems particularly wary about his sport being seen as the frontrunner.

"I do not think it would be right for us to compare ourselves to the other bidders. I am sure they have all done their best too, and of course we were not present when they made their presentations.

"We are happy of course that the rules have been changed to a straight majority vote [for accepting new sports into the Olympic Program]. Will it make a difference this time? Let's see. We’re keeping our fingers crossed."

The IOC will announce a decision on the seven sports' status next year in Copenhagen, Denmark.

With reporting from Mark Bisson and Mark Ledsom in Lausanne.