The year is 776 BC, or at least that’s what the historians claim. The very first Olympic Games are being held in the town of Olympia in honour of the mighty Zeus. Athletes from various city-states gather at the stadium to show their strength and athletic prowess. They will be competing in six disciplines: boxing, wrestling, chariot racing, running, a combination of boxing and wrestling, called pankration, and an event that includes the skills of a long jump, throwing a disc and a javelin.
The Ancient Olympic Games ceased to exist some time around the late 4th century. But people remembered them. And as sport remained a huge part of life at any point in history, it was only a matter of time before the Olympics were revived. The first Olympic Games of modernity were played in 1896 in Athens, to honour the country of their origin.
Since no one engaged in pankration or race chariots competitively anymore, and disc throwing wasn’t a particularly popular sport either, the organizers updated the programme to include more sports. This time around athletes would compete in athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling.
Modern Olympic Games became as popular in the world as their ancient counterpart was in Greece. With three exceptions caused by World War I and World War II (1916, 1940, and 1944), they were held regularly every four years. As sports evolved, new ones appearing on the arena, others becoming obsolete or at least not as popular, the programme of the Olympics expanded and evolved with them. Today, the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games include 45 sports in the programme, 7.5 times as many as the ancient Games. These sports are:
- Artistic swimming
- Diving
- Marathon swimming
- Swimming
- Water polo
- Archery
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Basketball (basketball & 3×3 basketball)
- Boxing
- Breaking
- Canoeing (slalom & sprint)
- Cycling (BMX freestyle, BMX racing, mountain biking, road, track)
- Equestrian (dressage, eventing, jumping)
- Fencing
- Field hockey
- Football
- Golf
- Gymnastics (artistic, rhythmic, trampoline)
- Handball
- Judo
- Modern pentathlon
- Rowing
- Rugby sevens
- Sailing
- Shooting
- Skateboarding
- Sport climbing
- Surfing
- Table tennis
- Taekwondo
- Tennis
- Triathlon
- Volleyball (volleyball & beach volleyball)
- Weightlifting
- Wrestling (freestyle & Greco-Roman)
Things You Need to Know About Softball
Softball is often referred to as a variation of baseball. It is played with a larger ball on a smaller field and only underhand pitches are allowed. There are two forms of softball, slow pitch and fastpitch. While the first variation is mostly a recreational activity, fastpitch is played professionally and has various international tournaments.
Softball is widely believed to be an all-female sport, however that is not entirely true. While there are far fewer men’s teams, men do play softball in different countries, and even co-ed teams exist.
The credit of inventing the game is ascribed to reporter George Hancock who came up with the model for a 17-inch ball and a bat smaller than the one used in baseball. Initially, the game was envisioned as an activity that would help baseball players stay in shape during the off-season when they couldn’t play outdoors. Later softball too moved outdoors and grew in popularity so much that it became a sport of its own.
First Appearance and History at the Summer Olympic Games
Japan and the United States, where the sport was especially popular, made first attempts to include softball into the Olympic programme as far back as the 1940s. The process continued for several decades, with more countries such as Australia and New Zealand joining the cause and supporting the idea.
However it wasn’t until the 1996 Summer Olympic Games held in Atlanta, United States that softball was finally granted the status of a medal sport at the Olympics. It was one of the three sports that would be represented only by women at the Games. The other two are artistic swimming and rhythmic gymnastics.
Softball stayed in the programme for the next three editions of the Olympic Games but was dropped together with baseball before the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Later it was confirmed that neither sport would be making a comeback at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games.
For a while it looked like softball and baseball wouldn’t gain the status of the Olympic sport again, but in 2016 the International Olympic Committee voted to approve the petition submitted by the International Softball Federation and International Baseball Federation. Both sports were scheduled to return to the Olympic stadium at Tokyo 2020.
Softball Olympic Statistics
So far softball has been featured in five editions of the Olympic Games. During this time, the United States have won 3 gold and 2 silver medals, leading the medalist table. They are followed by Japan, with 2 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze medals to their credit. Australia is in the third position on the table with 1 silver and 3 bronze medals. The other two nations that have won medals at softball Olympic tournaments are China (1 silver medal) and Canada (1 bronze medal).
Below you can find the list of softball Olympic tournament results by year.
| Edition | Year | Official host | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
| 1 | 1996 | United States | United States | China | Australia | |
| 2 | 2000 | Australia | United States | Japan | Australia | |
| 3 | 2004 | Greece | United States | Australia | Japan | |
| 4 | 2008 | China | Japan | United States | Australia | |
| 5 | 2020 | Japan | Japan | United States | Canada |
Is Softball in the Olympics 2024?
Well, the short answer is no. But what happened and what prompted the decision to remove softball and baseball from the 2024 Summer Olympics programme?
While it is the International Olympic Committee that holds the ultimate power of resolution on which sports will compete for Olympic medals at every edition of the Games, they do take recommendations from the organizing National Olympic Committee as well as international federations when it comes to so-called non-core sports.
In this particular case, France, as the hosting nation, decided to go with skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing, and breakdancing. As neither softball, nor baseball enjoy particular popularity in the country, the organizers decided that it wouldn’t hold an entertainment value high enough to attract the youth. Another sport that was dropped for a similar reason was karate.
Another supposition is that the duration of the Olympic Games coincides with the heat of the Major League Baseball season, which would create scheduling conflicts.
However, for all of you softball and baseball fans, there is a piece of good news to look forward to. Since both sports are highly popular in the United States, there was always a high chance they would be included in the programme of 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games.
In fact, a proposal had been submitted to feature these two sports in the next edition of the Games alongside four others: cricket, flag football, lacrosse, and squash. In October 2023 the International Olympic Committee voted to admit all of them to 2028 Los Angeles.
Betting is only available to participants above 18 years. Please bet responsibly. BeGambleAware.org