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Marcus
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<table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <tbody> <tr> <td>Posted on Thu, Aug. 29, 2002</td> <td valign=top align=right></td> <td width=15 rowspan=7>
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</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan=2> <span>IOC Considers Including Golf and Rugby in 2008</span>
<span>BY ADRIAN WARNER</span>
<span>Reuters</span>
<table cellspacing=5 cellpadding=0 width=100 align=right border=0> <tbody></tbody></table><span><span> <span>LAUSANNE, Switzerland</span><span> - </span>Olympic leaders took a step toward radical changes to the Summer Games on Thursday, including throwing baseball, modern pentathlon and softball out of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and putting in golf and rugby union sevens. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge announced that the IOC's ruling executive board would discuss the proposals further at a November meeting in Mexico before deciding whether to put them to a vote of all IOC members at a subsequent session in the city. The proposals are some of the most radical changes to the Olympics to be discussed and will cause fierce debate among sports leaders and IOC members. They were included in an IOC report, discussed by the executive board Thursday, which also suggested scratching disciplines such as racewalking and equestrian eventing. No changes in the program are planned for the next Summer Games in Athens in 2004. The IOC's executive board, under the leadership of former president Juan Antonio Samaranch, discussed a report including radical changes in the mid-1990s but shelved the ideas to gather dust. But Rogge is keen to find ways of reducing the cost of the Games after the expansionism of Samaranch's 21 years in charge of the IOC which came to an end last year. The former surgeon, who played 15-a-side rugby for Belgium as well as competing as an Olympic yachtsman, said the IOC would not bring in golf or rugby without reducing the number of sports because the IOC wanted to keep the number of disciplines to 28. "We are not going to have the number of sports increasing without any sports going out. It is set at a maximum 28," he said. "Of course there are difficult decisions. Our intention is have the best possible Olympic program." CLEAR SIGNAL Less high-profile sports such as modern pentathlon have faced worries about their future before but they have never faced such a clear signal from the IOC leadership that they could face the axe. The report by the IOC's Olympic Program Commission said baseball was very popular in certain countries but said its popularity was "not reflected throughout entire regions or continents." It came to the same conclusion over softball. It said there was "a lack of global participation by nations and athletes" in modern pentathlon which was due to the fact that it was expensive to practice the sport. The IOC is also considering plans to scratch racewalking, canoe-kayak slalom, equestrian eventing, a wrestling event, the synchronized swimming team event and keelboat sailing. The report also recommended a review of the retention of badminton's mixed doubles and the exclusion of lightweight rowing events as well as a reduction of the number of events in shooting. The IOC will discuss these proposals at the Mexico meetings and at a session in Prague next year. But Rogge said its executive board had the right to take out events in certain sports without a vote of all IOC members. The report said golf was a simple sport to understand and was popular for television but stressed that the participation of the major players was needed before it could be admitted. SEVENS SUCCESS Compact rugby sevens competitions were included with success at the last two Commonwealth Games in 1998 and 2002. The report said it was the most appropriate discipline of the sport -- as opposed to the main game of 15-a-side. "This discipline would allow more depth and universality within the Olympic competition and would be better integrated within the existing competition schedule," it said. Unlike the Commonwealth Games, however, England, Scotland and Wales would have to compete as one British team at the Olympics, reducing the number of leading teams. The board decided to reject the efforts of 14 other sports to be included in Beijing: roller sports, polo, surfing, bridge chess, air sports, billiards, boules, dance sports, bowling, racquetball, water skiing, squash, and underwater sports. The martial art of Wushu is still under review, however.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>
---------------------------------- 7s rugby would be a certain hit in the Olympics. In the CW games the rugby 7s event was 2nd in the amount tickets sold. The use of a single venue across 3 days is rugby's selling point and the IOC recognise this.
<span>BY ADRIAN WARNER</span>
<span>Reuters</span>
<table cellspacing=5 cellpadding=0 width=100 align=right border=0> <tbody></tbody></table><span><span> <span>LAUSANNE, Switzerland</span><span> - </span>Olympic leaders took a step toward radical changes to the Summer Games on Thursday, including throwing baseball, modern pentathlon and softball out of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and putting in golf and rugby union sevens. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge announced that the IOC's ruling executive board would discuss the proposals further at a November meeting in Mexico before deciding whether to put them to a vote of all IOC members at a subsequent session in the city. The proposals are some of the most radical changes to the Olympics to be discussed and will cause fierce debate among sports leaders and IOC members. They were included in an IOC report, discussed by the executive board Thursday, which also suggested scratching disciplines such as racewalking and equestrian eventing. No changes in the program are planned for the next Summer Games in Athens in 2004. The IOC's executive board, under the leadership of former president Juan Antonio Samaranch, discussed a report including radical changes in the mid-1990s but shelved the ideas to gather dust. But Rogge is keen to find ways of reducing the cost of the Games after the expansionism of Samaranch's 21 years in charge of the IOC which came to an end last year. The former surgeon, who played 15-a-side rugby for Belgium as well as competing as an Olympic yachtsman, said the IOC would not bring in golf or rugby without reducing the number of sports because the IOC wanted to keep the number of disciplines to 28. "We are not going to have the number of sports increasing without any sports going out. It is set at a maximum 28," he said. "Of course there are difficult decisions. Our intention is have the best possible Olympic program." CLEAR SIGNAL Less high-profile sports such as modern pentathlon have faced worries about their future before but they have never faced such a clear signal from the IOC leadership that they could face the axe. The report by the IOC's Olympic Program Commission said baseball was very popular in certain countries but said its popularity was "not reflected throughout entire regions or continents." It came to the same conclusion over softball. It said there was "a lack of global participation by nations and athletes" in modern pentathlon which was due to the fact that it was expensive to practice the sport. The IOC is also considering plans to scratch racewalking, canoe-kayak slalom, equestrian eventing, a wrestling event, the synchronized swimming team event and keelboat sailing. The report also recommended a review of the retention of badminton's mixed doubles and the exclusion of lightweight rowing events as well as a reduction of the number of events in shooting. The IOC will discuss these proposals at the Mexico meetings and at a session in Prague next year. But Rogge said its executive board had the right to take out events in certain sports without a vote of all IOC members. The report said golf was a simple sport to understand and was popular for television but stressed that the participation of the major players was needed before it could be admitted. SEVENS SUCCESS Compact rugby sevens competitions were included with success at the last two Commonwealth Games in 1998 and 2002. The report said it was the most appropriate discipline of the sport -- as opposed to the main game of 15-a-side. "This discipline would allow more depth and universality within the Olympic competition and would be better integrated within the existing competition schedule," it said. Unlike the Commonwealth Games, however, England, Scotland and Wales would have to compete as one British team at the Olympics, reducing the number of leading teams. The board decided to reject the efforts of 14 other sports to be included in Beijing: roller sports, polo, surfing, bridge chess, air sports, billiards, boules, dance sports, bowling, racquetball, water skiing, squash, and underwater sports. The martial art of Wushu is still under review, however.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>
---------------------------------- 7s rugby would be a certain hit in the Olympics. In the CW games the rugby 7s event was 2nd in the amount tickets sold. The use of a single venue across 3 days is rugby's selling point and the IOC recognise this.
Sorry Marcus
