The International Olympic Committee says no to Olympic baseball being a part of the 2024 Paris Olympics games.
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While baseball and softball may have lost their chance in the games, others like surfing, rock climbing, and skateboarding joined the Olympic.
Many knew that new sports were joining, and IOC may eliminate baseball. It became official in a conference held by the IOC, making us aware of other rule changes.
Some of the new changes include a reduction in the total number of athletes due to the coronavirus. Along with the decrease, the IOC also wants to showcase gender equality with the equal participation of male and female athletes. There is a reason why girls play softball and not baseball that much.
Baseball has always had a shaky relationship with the Olympics games. In 1984 baseball was played as an exhibition match, and then in 1988, it was seen as a demonstration game.
While baseball is immensely popular in North America and some parts of Asia such as South Korea. It has no presence in Europe. Most of the decisions for the Olympics is made by the European countries, who knows nothing about baseball. So it’s no wonder baseball isn’t in the Olympics.
The reason for the shaky relationship is mainly due to MLB player’s schedules. The schedules of professional players are jam-packed during most summer Olympics. Also, the commissioners and owners of these teams are rather pessimistic about being in the Olympics.
Their reasoning for the pessimism is because of continuity. The owners and commissioners are quite keen on keeping the baseball players with their team instead of being in the Olympics. They say that players leaving for a season for the Olympics will alter the game so much that they will suffer.
With too many players away for the Olympics, the competition will regress.
Without their best players in the team, the chances of winning will decline, and morale will descend. Keeping up the pressure on other groups is more manageable with their star players, but that won’t be possible if they are away.
Finally, from 1992 baseball was a full-time part of the Olympics games. It continued being a full-time part for the 1996,2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympic games. IOC vetoed it for the 2012 and 2016 games but brought it back for the 2020 Tokyo games.
While we aren’t going to see a baseball tournament in the 2024 Paris games, we can expect to see it again in the 2028 Olympics Los Angeles games.
Baseball is never likely to be a world sport (despite the oddly named ‘World Series’) – sports need to be equally accessible and have realistic chance of being adopted if not already played worldwide. The US want it as they get no real competition other than maybe a couple of teams. Its actually much less popular in the world than cricket because huge countries by population play and fanatically follow that yet that isn’t seen in the Olympics. More people follow table tennis and volleyball than baseball.
Thanks for commenting. We always appreciate your opinion. As you and I have both said baseball is popular in a very small circle. At the same time I believe that through more exposure baseball will reach other countries
Is baseball a worldwide sport? No. But you know what will help it become one? Being in the Olympics.
Is “Team Handball” a worldwide sport?
First of all, thank you for your comment. Yes, I cannot agree more with you. Putting baseball on the world stage will certainly give baseball the necessary exposure to become a global sport.
Your next query: Handball was featured in the 1936 Summer Olympics and has been in Olympics since. It has Ancient Greece origin. Additionally, The International Handball Federation (IHF) comprises 209 national federations. So, you can safely say “Team Handball” is a worldwide sport.
Thank you, Harold.