"Baseball5 can help strengthen the Olympic Movement"

Guardar

When I received confirmation that Baseball5 had been accepted as a medal sport at the Dakar 2022 Youth Olympic Games last month, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride and joy for what we had achieved.

The decision, confirmed by the IOC's Executive Board in Lausanne last month, brings young Baseball5 players all around the world a step closer to living every athlete's dream of representing their country on the Olympic stage. On behalf of all of them, and the global baseball-softball community, I would like to express our deepest gratitude for the trust placed in us by the Dakar 2022 Organising Committee and the IOC Executive Board.

Having officially launched Baseball5 as a discipline in March 2018, it was difficult to imagine at the time, all that we would go on to accomplish over the following 20 months. Since then, Baseball5 has exploded everywhere in popularity, enhancing WBSC's ability to do good around the world. We are now able to introduce the skills and the values of baseball-softball to young people in new communities we couldn't reach before.

The fast-pace, low-cost and accessibility of the discipline is its greatest strength. All you need is a ball and a hard-surface. No dedicated sports equipment or venues are required to play, making Baseball5 a perfect fit for the IOC's and President Bach's innovative Agenda 2020 vision.

But our ambition is not just to participate at Olympic events; our ambition is to make a sustained and substantial contribution to the long-term health of the Olympic Movement.

That contribution begins at the youth level where our sport offers a safe, accessible route for young people -- and girls in particular -- to play and stay in sport. Furthermore, at Dakar 2022, Baseball5 will become the first Olympic team sport to feature mixed-gender teams, building on the IOC's commitment to promoting gender equality across all of its events.

And at the senior level, we are reinforcing the Olympic Movement's connection to some of the most loyal fan bases and sports markets on the planet.

The media coverage, buzz and excitement generated from the Premier12, our flagship event and Tokyo 2020 baseball qualifier, was unprecedented, particularly in Asia and the Americas. A great indication of the electric atmosphere and packed stadia we can expect when we make our spectacular Olympic comeback at Tokyo 2020 later this year.

Our National Federations and followers around the world should feel empowered by our recent Olympic success. Our presence on the Olympic Programme has opened up new opportunities for them to grow and develop the sport in their countries, further fueling the expansion of our sport around the world, and helping us achieve our vision of a billion-strong global baseball-softball community by the end of the decade.

-- WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only

Guardar

Últimas Noticias

Utah’s Olympic venues an integral part of the equation as Salt Lake City seeks a Winter Games encore

Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation chief of sport development Luke Bodensteiner says there is a “real urgency to make this happen in 2030”. He discusses the mission of the non-profit organization, the legacy from the 2002 Winter Games and future ambitions.
Utah’s Olympic venues an integral part of the equation as Salt Lake City seeks a Winter Games encore

IOC president tells Olympic Movement “we will again have safe and secure Olympic Games” in Beijing

Thomas Bach, in an open letter on Friday, also thanked stakeholders for their “unprecedented” efforts to make Tokyo 2020 a success despite the pandemic.
IOC president tells Olympic Movement “we will again have safe and secure Olympic Games” in Beijing

Boxing’s place in the Olympics remains in peril as IOC still unhappy with the state of AIBA’s reform efforts

The IOC says issues concerning governance, finance, and refereeing and judging must be sorted out to its satisfaction. AIBA says it’s confident that will happen and the federation will be reinstated.
Boxing’s place in the Olympics remains in peril as IOC still unhappy with the state of AIBA’s reform efforts

IOC president details Olympic community efforts to get Afghans out of danger after Taliban return to power

Thomas Bach says the Afghanistan NOC remains under IOC recognition, noting that the current leadership was democratically elected in 2019. But he says the IOC will be monitoring what happens in the future. The story had been revealed on August 31 in an article by Miguel Hernandez in Around the Rings
IOC president details Olympic community efforts to get Afghans out of danger after Taliban return to power

North Korea suspended by IOC for failing to participate in Tokyo though its athletes could still take part in Beijing 2022

Playbooks for Beijing 2022 will ”most likely” be released in October, according to IOC President Thomas Bach.
North Korea suspended by IOC for failing to participate in Tokyo though its athletes could still take part in Beijing 2022