Olympic baseball is out, so what's in?

[J.R.]

Today in Singapore at the IOC's 117th Session, baseball and softball were dropped from the Olympics begining at London in 2012, meaning Beijing in 2008 will be the last summer games featuring the events. Not too big of a deal, because Olympic baseball never really interested me (or many people for that matter). Anyways this now leaves an opening for up to two new sports to be added to the program in 2012. Among those being considered are golf, rugby, squash, karate and roller activites. So what events would you like to see at the Summer Olympic Games? Any of those? Other ideas?


Via:Baseball dropped from Olympic program
7/8/2005 12:09:33 AM

SINGAPORE (AP) - Baseball and softball were dropped from the Olympic program for the 2012 Games on Friday.

Each of the 28 existing sports was put to a secret ballot by the International Olympic Committee, and baseball and softball failed to receive a majority required to stay on the program.

The IOC will consider replacing them with two sports from a waiting list of five sports: golf, rugby, squash, karate and roller activites.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story.asp?id=129912 .

[KB in Kelowna]

I'd vote for Rugby for sentimental reasons. My dad was member of the Lancashire County under 15team, and he helped start a team in Saskatoon in the late 60's. The game isplayed in most Commonwealth countries and several other nations as well. It is physical and demands a high level of fitness.

But given the demands of American television the new sport will probably be ballroom dancing. No offence intended to dancers, it takes more skill than I have, but please.

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

I hope it's rugby. It's a fun sport to watch, it's played in a lot of countries, and it beats the hell out of roller blading :thumb:

[The Insider]

I picked Golf, not because it would be exciting, but I love Golf and even if it isn't an actual "Sport" it would still lead to some drama down the final holes. Especially since no pros would be allowed so Tiger wouldn't clean up with Gold Medals. Bring on the Golf!

[J.R.]

I picked Golf, not because it would be exciting, but I love Golf and even if it isn't an actual "Sport" it would still lead to some drama down the final holes. Especially since no pros would be allowed so Tiger wouldn't clean up with Gold Medals. Bring on the Golf! I think golf would be the best choice as well, but I would like to see the professionals allowed to participate.

There are players from all over the world on the PGA tour. Just look at how diverse the big five is - Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson from the United States, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els from South Africa, and Vijay Singh from Fiji. Also in the top ten (http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/rankings/default.sps), Sergio Garcia from Spain and Paddy Harrington from Ireland.

Rugby would also be a great choice, considering the number of countries that play the sport at a high level. And of course, England being the reigning World Cup champions from 2003 is a major plus.

By the way, both golf and rugby were Olympic sports in the past (http://olympic.org/uk/sports/past/index_uk.asp). Also on that list, lacrosse interests me.

The other three shouldn't even be considered.

Squash - Too recreational to be competative, in my opinion.

Karate - There's already martial arts like Judo and Taekwondo, why add yet another?

Roller activites - This ain't the lame X-Games, thanks.

[PDO]

Lacrosse would be outstanding. The problem is, there'd really only be two teams, and the Canadian team would be unstopable...

[leaferfan87]

It'd be cool to see Rugby.

[butterfly_style]

I voted roller activities

http://members.aol.com/lbphoto23/rollerblade.jpg