(ATR) It is possible no group was as excited by the Olympic Agenda 2020 changes as the World Baseball Softball Confederation.
Among the recommendations passed was one allowing Olympic hosts to have a say in tailoring the sports program to the city. This opens the door for the Tokyo Olympics to add the immensely popular sports to the 2020 program.
WBSC president Riccardo Fraccari said the federation "stands ready to support and assist the Olympic Movement in implementing the reforms, wherever baseball and softball can help."
"Above all the Olympic Games is the world's most inspirational sporting event, and the Agenda 2020 reforms will inspire more young people and women, who are the future of all sports, to take up more sport and to participate in sport and in the values of sport, and make sport more relevant to the next generation, and as a catalyst for change in our communities and societies," Fraccari said in a release.
The president then turned to a metaphor from his own sport to describe his emotions.
"It's like when the manager calls you off the bench to pick up the bat and warm up, and the bases are loaded," President Fraccari said. "All you want to do is swing for the fences."
Baseball/softball’s last chance to crack the Olympic program came at the 2013 IOC Session. However, it was wrestling which gained admission with squash and baseball/softball left on the outside.
Boxing Fed "Delighted" by IOC Reforms
International Boxing Association (AIBA) president and IOC member C.K. Wu made a point to commend the the work done by his IOC colleagues in Monte Carlo.
Wu called the passing "a great day for the Olympic Movement" while expressing his pride at having been part of the initiative.
He also praised Thomas Bach, a man against whom Wu ran for the IOC presidency last year.
"I have been deeply impressed by … Bach’s leadership, with such great insight and belief, to produce all of these recommendations that will lead the world of international sports and the Olympic Movement to evolve successfully in the years to come," Wu said in a release.
As boxing goes, Wu believes the changes could be especially impactful on the women’s side of the sport, though he did not elaborate on exact measures that could be taken.
Written by Nick Devlin
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
