Olympians Michele Smith and Dot Richardson joined International Softball Federation president Don Porter Feb. 22, at the ISF headquarters in Plant City, for a presentation to local dignitaries on the progress of getting softball back into the Olympic Programme.
It’s a process Porter and others have been hard at work to accomplish after the sport was voted out of the Olympics in 2005, in Singapore.
With the competition of Olympic bids at an all-time high, Porter and the ISF took a big stride last December when they joined with the International Baseball Federation to form the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The joint effort came about as a unified vision to get both sports back in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games on a single bid, with each sport representing a separate discipline.
Porter is the co-president of the WBSC, along with IBAF president Riccardo Fraccari.
“After exploring options, we saw that combining with baseball would give us added value for our bid to be approved,” Porter said to Plant City officials at the meeting, including Mayor Mike Sparkman and City Manager Greg Horwedel.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
With the inclusion of baseball in the bid, the task then became to find out what level of support and participation professional leagues around the world would have with the WBSC, namely Major League Baseball.
“The International Olympic Committee has a great interest in whether or not MLB will participate in the Olympics,” Porter said.
WBSC officials met with the MLB last October and gained their support for the joint bid and the return to the Olympics.
If the MLB agrees to participate, it will make the stock grow for the WBSC, as Olympic baseball could include well-known professional players, much like the National Basketball Association’s involvement with the Olympic Games.
“They’re positive in wanting to support us, it’s just a matter of what the support is,” Porter said.
Porter said the WBSC and MLB are trying to come up with a meeting time in March to discuss the involvement and relationship with the bid.
MOVING FORWARD
Currently the joint baseball and softball bid is up against seven other sports — climbing, karate, roller sport, squash, wakeboard, wushu and wrestling — for a spot in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
That number will be narrowed down to three sports in May, by the IOC, before voting for the inclusion of one of the sports at its session in Buenos Aires in September.
There is no requirement or regulation to how many sports can be on the Summer Olympic Programme, but the IOC seems committed to keeping the number at 28, compared to just seven for the Winter Games.
“That seems to be the magic number for them,” Porter said.
Originally seven bids, the number became eight recently, after wrestling was voted off the Olympic Programme Feb. 19, a move that surprised Porter and others.
“Many suspected that it would either be tae kwon do or (modern) pentathlon,” he said. “A lot of people were in total shock.”
This creates another challenge for the WBSC, because wrestling almost automatically becomes one of the favorites to be reinstated in 2020. Wrestling has been a mainstay in the Olympics since 1896, but the secret ballot by the IOC to exclude it from a guaranteed slot beginning in 2020 was reportedly to “modernize” the Olympics.
SAVING FUTURE DREAMS
“I was fortunate enough to have my opportunity,” said Smith, a two-time Olympian, at the Feb. 22 presentation.
Smith played for Team USA in 1996 and 2000. She now does softball color commentary for ESPN at the NCAA Women’s College World Series and World Cup of Softball.
“It’s heartbreaking to see young girls that have had their Olympic dreams taken away,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if those girls would make it or not. The point is that they no longer have that chance.”
Richardson, who won two gold medals with Smith for Team USA in Atlanta and Sydney, shares her passion for the sport and wants young girls to be able to have the same dream she once had.
“It’s one thing to have a dream, and it’s another to have a girl collapse in your arms crying, because there is no opportunity for her,” Richardson said. “This is about the opportunity to fulfill dreams and also about teaching the fundamentals of softball and the life lessons of the game.”
Contact Matt Mauney at mmauney@plantcityobserver.com.
