(ATR) The three sports vying for a place at the 2020 Olympics have presented their cases to the IOC.
Baseball-softball, squash and wrestling each had 20 minutes to try and convince delegates to back their bid to become the 28th sport. The vote takes place around 12pm local time in Buenos Aires where the IOC Session is taking place.
Earlier the Session voted to approve the 25 core sports. IOC president Jacques Rogge had rejected a proposal by Canada's Dick Pound to delay the vote. Pound said the ancient sport of wrestling should be retained but the IOC should review the core sports to make space for a new one, emphasizing that was the reason for the sports bidding process.
Riccardo Fraccari, co-president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation, gave a handful of compelling reasons why the IOC should restore the sports to the Olympics after both were knocked off the program in 2005.
Fraccarisaid baseball-softball "should be the choice" if the IOC wanted diversity, gender equity, commercial appeal and revenue generation. "There’s no other bat and ball sport in games," he said.
Almost in tears at times, World Baseball Softball Confederation co-president Don Porter gave a heartfelt appeal."This is my 40th year working and living for softball and baseball too. A lot of people ask me why I keep working so hard. The truth is I love mysport."
He cited letters he received soon after softball were kicked out of the Olympics, saying kids were "heartbroken" about the decision. "I keep thoseletters because they touch my heart and constantly remind me of myvision," he added.
Porter said the baseball and softball tournament would be "innovative and efficient" and offer real added value to the Olympics.
Leaders of national confederations appeared in a video to underline their support for the Olympic bid.
Antonio Castro, son of former Cuban leader, talked about the globalreach of the sport and its role in educating the youth of the worldabout Olympic values.
Australian baseball player made a reference the fact that many MajorLeague Baseball players are keen to turn out at the Olympics. "Putbaseball in the Games and you’ll get the best players in the world," hesaid.
Squash:Olympics the Pinnacle
World Squash Federation president N Ramachandran told the IOC that his sport "represents the future and not the past".
He said the sport's third consecutive bid was the culmination of a 10-year campaign to join the Olympics.
"We have come of age and are more than ready to join the Games," Ramachandran said, speaking about a series of innovations designed to grow its appeal as an Olympic sport. "We are genuinely a global sport and growing."
What would it mean to play at the Olympic Games?, asked men’s world champion Ramy Ashour in a video: "Absolutely everything."
The video showcased the key squash proposition: low cost, easy to integrate, and how glass courts could be erected in attractive locations in an Olympic host city.
Ashour also highlighted his sports anti-doping record and 100 percent compliance with WADA.
Five-times women’s world champion, Sarah Fitzgerald from Australia told the IOC how the sport had been "on a journey of innovation" to broaden its appeal.
The presentation wrapped up with a YouTube video featuring clips of squash players young and old around the world who are championing the Olympic bid
Wrestling Battles to Retain Olympic Status
Wrestling president Nenad Lalovic made an impressive start to his sport’s final bid to avoid the Olympic chop.
Describing today as "the most important day in the sport’s 3,000 year history", Lalovic added "we feel the weight of that history. It is crucial to our survival."
In February, the IOC Executive Board recommended wrestling be dropped from the Olympcs, triggering a global backlash to the decision. But the IOC gave wrestling the chance to retain its status when it shortlisted the sport in May for the IOC vote in Buenos Aires.
"We have made mistakes, we admitted it. It will not happen again," he said in answer to questions from IOC members about what FILA had done to turnaround the sport.
Concerns about allegation of corruption under Lalovic's predecessor were also raised. He batted them away, saying FILA was working to become more transparent: "We are on the right track."
U.S. Olympic wrestler Jim Scherr, who starred at the 1988 Seoul Games, added punch to the presentation’s momentum.
"If there’s one thing you remember from this presentation it’s that wrestling is new in every way. The EB [decision] was a wake-up call. We have turned it into a huge opportunity for the sport and the Olympic Movement," he said.
He claimed FILA was "united and focused" like never before under wrestling’s new leadership following a wave of governance changes. He spoke of a wave of innovations, including rule changes and a new look and feel for the sport to make it more interesting for spectators and TV audiences.
Scherr said wrestling had made "extraordinary progress" and to highlight the sport’s push for greater gender parity said two new weight classes for women had been introduced at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
"FILA understands it responsibilities to our athletes, the Olympic Games and the IOC," he said.
Several wrestling Olympians also took the stage, the best line from one being: "We just didn’t create a new FILA we created a new wrestling."
Written by Mark Bisson.
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
