June 08, 2005

Who's Getting Nervous?

No, I'm not talking about the 2012 host city election.

Baseball joins the growing list of sports that are absolutely sure that they are not going to be voted off the Olympic Programme next month. In this case, they want us to believe that their recent anti-doping crusade and the upcoming World Baseball Classic will convince voters that they belong in the Olympic Games.

(International readers should note that the World Baseball Classic is not to be confused with the World Series, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the World.)

Meanwhile, IOC president Jacques Rogge continues to give his empty reassurances:

In 2002, we proposed to delete baseball. This time, we're not proposing to delete any specific sport and the fact that it's not a negative proposal is a good sign for all sports.

And the summer Olympic sports are still speaking (or is that begging?) with one voice, at least in public. But the brotherhood doesn't extend to sports that want to be on the Olympic programme. Here's ASOIF president and IOC member Denis Oswald:

When it comes to rugby I'm not a specialist but people within the sport tell me that rugby sevens is something of a joke.

And this coming from a rower!

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