By Sven Busch, DPA,
Berlin : In a move certain to please the world’s major sport sponsors, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed Thursday to propose golf and rugby sevens as sports for the 2016 Olympics at the next IOC Session in October.
The 15-strong IOC Executive Committee meeting in Berlin also approved the introduction of three weight divisions of women’s boxing for the first time at the London Olympics in 2012, removing the anomaly of it being the only summer Olympic sport without women competitors.
“Women’s boxing is a fantastic addition. It was time to include this sport,” said IOC president Jacques Rogge.
However, baseball, softball, squash, karate and roller sports failed to make the proposed selection for 2016 and will not be put forward for ratification by the full 106-member IOC assembly in Copenhagen on October 9.
Golf was previously an Olympic sport at the 1900 Games in Paris and four years later in St Louis while rugby sevens, which is a faster version of the standard 15-a-side game, has never been an Olympic sport although the full version made an appearance between 1900 and 1924.
“We are a youthful, dynamic sport,which can show significant economic success,” said Mike Miller, general secretary of the International Rugby Board (IRB).
The last Rugby World Cup in 2007, which was hosted by France, generated a profit in excess of 100 million euros ($141 million).
The IOC Session can accept one or both sports and a simple majority vote in favour will suffice.
Tiger Woods already made clear earlier this week that he would be eager to compete an Olympic Games, if he is still playing the sport at that stage.
“If I’m not retired by then, yes,” said Woods, who will be 40 in 2016.
“Golf is a truly global sport and it should have been in the Olympics a while ago. If it does get in, I think it would be great for golf and especially for some of the smaller countries that are now emerging in golf.”
Rogge also expressed his strong support for golf, which would likely involve a 72-hole stroke-play competition for men and women, with 60 players in each field.
There was disappointment in Taiwan at the IOC’s decision regarding baseball with Lin Tzung-cheng, secretary-general of the Taiwan Baseball Association, saying he was not surprised because it was not a sports decision, but a “political” one.
“Selecting which sport can return to the 2016 Olympics involves many factors, so the decision to exclude baseball was not made from the point of view of sports,” he told DPA.
However, Lin expressed hope that baseball might return to the 2020 Olympics “because as long as we (baseball nations) unite, there is hope and opportunity,” he said.
The sports federations that win a ticket to the Olympics can budget for an IOC subvention of at least $15 million.