An International Olympic Committee meeting to be held in November could decide to drop baseball, modern pentathlon and softball from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The IOC meeting in Mexico City on November 27-29 will consider whether to cut the size of the Games for the first time since 1936.
"It is a painful exercise. It's not easy," said IOC president Jacques Rogge. "It is the first time we have done this since 1936 when polo was excluded. Since then we have added, added, added. It is going to be a close call."
A radical IOC report published in August made the recommendation to exclude the three sports. It also proposed to add golf and rugby union sevens to the programme but drop racewalking, canoe-kayak slalom, equestrian eventing, a wrestling event, the synchronised swimming team event and keelboat sailing.
Modern pentathlon has been an Olympic event since 1912. The report by the IOC's Olympic Programme Commission cited "a lack of global participation by nations and athletes" in the event, due to its expense. The report said baseball's popularity was "not reflected throughout entire regions or continents." It came to the same conclusion over softball. It is also a major cost for host cities to build baseball and softball stadiums which are difficult to adapt for other sports afterwards.
The decision on golf and rugby union sevens will be decided next year at another meeting in Prague. Only simple majority rather than a two-thirds majority would be required in the vote on the fate of baseball, modern pentathlon and softball.
Rogge said the proposal to drop two sports which are popular in North America - the home of most of the Olympic sponsors - showed that the IOC was taking independent decisions. No changes in the programme are planned for the next Summer Games in Athens in 2004.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
