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Rugby sevens, golf join Olympic line-up
[ed. it will be interesting to see the reaction of the Canadian Olympic bureaucracy. One of the complainers about the vote was Dick Pound the Canadian delegate and past Canadian Olympic Committee President, news stories reported "Dick Pound has criticized the IOC following the selection of rugby sevens and golf to the Olympic program in 2016." His bio lists squash (a rejected Olympic sport) as one of his sports so will there be any bitterness towards rugby in taking that spot? It would indeed be a cruel irony for Canadian Rugby if he was one of the 8 votes in the world against rugby's inclusion into the Olympics.]
posted Oct 9 2009
from NZ Herald
COPENHAGEN - Tiger Woods will get a chance to win golf gold, and rugby teams can start rehearsing their Olympic hakas after both sports won inclusion in the 2016 Games.
After more than a century on the sidelines, golf will return to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Rugby, last played in 1924, is coming back as well.
Both were reinstated for the 2016 and 2020 games after a vote by the International Olympic Committee.
Each sport received majority support in separate votes after leading athletes and officials from both camps gave presentations, including a taped video message from Woods and other top pros.
Woods has indicated he would play in the Olympics if golf were accepted for 2016.
"There are millions of young golfers worldwide who would be proud to represent their country," Woods said from the Presidents Cup. "It would be an honour for anyone who plays this game to become an Olympian."
Golf was approved 63-27 with two abstentions. Rugby was voted in 81-8 with one abstention.
The vote brings the number of summer Olympic sports back to 28. There have been two openings on the program since baseball and softball were dropped in 2005 for the 2012 London Games.
They are the first new sports added since triathlon and taekwondo joined the program for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
After the announcement, the rugby group jumped from their seats in the back of the room, cheering and hugging each other. The golf representatives were more reserved, applauding and shaking hands.
"We were ecstatic and wanted to jump on the table, but we sort of restrained ourselves," former New Zealand rugby great Jonah Lomu said. "It was just fantastic for the game."
Lomu stopped short of breaking into the haka, the intimidating pre-game traditional Maori war dance performed by the New Zealand All Blacks.
Rugby will organize a four-day seven-a-side tournament - instead of the more traditional 15-a-side game - for 12 men's and women's teams. Golf will stage a 72-hole stroke-play tournament for men and women, with 60 players in each field.
The venue and schedule for both sports in Rio de Janeiro has yet to be decided. The golf tournament will not necessarily be played between a Thursday and Sunday, bid leader Ty Votaw said.
"It might be Wednesday to Saturday," Votaw said. "Or it might be that the women's competition is first, and the men's is second. ... All of those things need to be worked out over the next seven years."
British bookmaker William Hill immediately named Woods the favourite in Rio, giving 6-1 odds that the American will win the gold medal.
Rugby and golf both made their Olympic debuts at the second modern games in Paris in 1900. Golf was only played again at the 1904 St. Louis Games, while 15-a-side rugby featured three more times, making its last appearance in the 1924 Paris Olympics.
Rugby Vote Tomorrow: Rugby's Connection to IOC Presidents
posted Oct 8 2009
[from morethanthegames.co.uk]
PIERRE de Coubertin would not recognise the International Olympic Committee now presided over by Jacques Rogge.
His first Olympic congress - held at the Palais de Sorbonne to restablish the revival of the Games - was attended by just 78 delegates from nine countries.
In contrast, this week's gathering at a soulless convention centre under the flight path of Copenhagen airport, has been attended by more than 4,000 delegates, from over 200 countries.
But the pair share a common bond that goes beyond their respective leaderships of the IOC.
Both have a lifelong love of rugby and now, 92 years after the sport was dropped, to de Coubertin's disgust, Rogge is set to preside over its triumphant return at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The founder of the modern Olympic movement was a hardcore devotee of the game, establishing rugby in his native France and refereeing the first-ever French international game at the Parc de Princes in 1906.
Six years earlier, he introduced the sport at the 1900 Olympics in Paris.
The hosts won gold beating Great Britain, a team made up entirely from members of Mosley Wanderers, and Germany.
They also included Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera in their team - the first known black athlete to compete at the Olympics.
Four years later, in London, Australia beat Great Britain for the title while the USA won gold at the 1920 Games in Antwerp and again four years later in Paris.
However, de Coubertin's decision to step down as President of the International Olympic Committee in 1925 robbed rugby of its strongest supporter, although it was staged as an exhibition sport in Berlin 11 years later.
Indeed, until tomorrow, the biggest impact the sport has had on the Olympics was the fall-out from the All Blacks tour of South Africa in 1976, which led to 22 African countries and Guyana boycotting the Montreal Games after the IOC refused to exclude New Zealand.
Rugby has made previously attempts to gain Olympic status - and got close four years ago when they came back with a sevens bid, as opposed to previous campaigns with the 15-man code.
Like de Coubertin, Rogge has made no secret that rugby is his first sporting love.
Despite appearing at three Olympics in sailing, the orthopedic surgeon was also a handy back for the Belgian national team and follows both the international and European club game closely.
He even criticised teams at the recent World Cup in France for their lack of creative play - a rare controversial comment from a man not known for going off script.
Tomorrow Rogge's colleagues will reaffirm him in his role as IOC President for another four-year term and will also vote on the inclusion of his favourite sport.
The first vote is a formality - he is running unopposed - but the second could be an interesting alternative referendum on Rogge's position within the Olympic movement after eight years at the helm.
If rugby fails to gain the 57 votes it needs, it will be a major snub to the Belgian, who hailed to the decision of his Executive Board to recommend the sport for inclusion earlier this year, subject to the support of the full IOC membership.
"Rugby sevens is a spectacular sport," he said. "It's very dynamic and that a format that is all about a 15-minute match.
"It's a short, quick format with lots of scoring and it's easier to understand that the 15-man code.
"And there are also many countries that could win the title."
Rio's iconic Maracana has already been mooted as a potential venue, should sevens receive its rubber-stamp.
The rugby world, unlike golf - the other sport on the verge of Olympic status - has rallied around the campaign, Jonah Lomu is just one of the former players in Copenhagen pressing the case.
But success will owe much to Rogge - and the legacy of the visionary de Coubertin.
Rugby Clears the First Hurdle in Becoming Olympic Sport: IOC Executive Board Chooses Rugby 7s
[ed. all that's needed now is the full IOC assembly vote in October]
By Stephen Wilson, The Associated Press
Aug 13 2009
BERLIN - International Olympic leaders have selected golf and rugby for proposed inclusion in the 2016 Summer Games, rejecting bids from baseball, softball and three other sports.
The International Olympic Committee executive board narrowed the field to two sports Thursday from a list of seven, which also included squash, karate and roller sports.
The board will submit golf and rugby sevens - a faster-paced version of the standard 15-a-side game - for ratification by the full 106-member IOC assembly in Copenhagen in October.
"In the end, the decision came down to which two would add the most value,' IOC president Jacques Rogge said. "Golf and rugby will be a great addition to the Games. ... They have global appeal, a geographically diverse lineup of top iconic athletes and an ethic that stresses fair play.'
The board also gave approval to the inclusion of women's boxing in the 2012 London Olympics. Boxing had been the only summer Olympic sport without women competitors.
The golf decision opens the possibility of Tiger Woods playing for an Olympic gold medal in 2016.
Rogge said he is "absolutely' sure that Woods and other top players will compete if the sport gets final approval.
"Who is one of the major icons of the world? Tiger Woods,' Rogge told The Associated Press. "This is a very important sport.'
The 15-member board selected the proposed sports for 2016 by secret ballot over several rounds, with the sport receiving the fewest votes eliminated each time. Rogge, who chairs the board, did not vote.
Rugby was the clear winner overall, getting seven votes in the first round and a majority of nine in the second. In a separate ensuing vote, golf needed four rounds to get through. Karate led the first round with five votes, with golf getting three. Golf then got six votes in the second, seven in the third and nine in the fourth.
Golf was played at the 1900 Paris Olympics and 1904 St. Louis Games, where Canadian George Lyon won the gold medal. The sport's backers say bringing the game back into the Olympics would help it develop worldwide, noting many governments only fund Olympic sports.
"It's a historic moment for golf,' said Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal and Ancient club and co-leader of golf's Olympic bid. "We're absolutely delighted to have the prospect of being back in. We're not counting any chickens because we have the Copenhagen vote to go through, but obviously the recommendation is a major step.'
Golf proposes a 72-hole stroke-play competition for men and women, with 60 players in each field. The world's top 15 players would qualify automatically, and all major professional tours would alter tournament schedules to avoid a clash with the Olympics and let the big names play.
Rugby was played in four different Olympics between 1900 and 1924 in the full 15-a-side format, but now proposes the seven-a-side version. The tournament would be played over four days with 12 teams each for men and women.
"They bring the spectacular side of sport, with a lot of scoring, reversals and turnovers,' said Rogge, who played rugby on a national level for Belgium. "You have a lot of countries that can win medals. It's very universal.'
International Rugby Board president Bernard Lapasset was ebullient but cautious.
"We recognize the significance of this milestone in our campaign but are also mindful that the ultimate decision rests with the IOC members when they meet in Copenhagen. The Olympic Games would be the pinnacle of the sport for all our athletes,' he said.
Final approval of the two sports will require a simple majority vote by the full IOC. Rogge said the sports will be put to individual votes, not as a tandem.
Softball and baseball had been seeking a return after being voted off the program four years ago for the 2012 London Games. Attempted reinstatements were rejected by the IOC in 2006. In Thursday's ballot, neither received more than two votes in any round.
"Obviously I guess we didn't do a good enough job,' International Softball Federation president Don Porter said. "We have to think that over and see what's going to be important to try to get all our young athletes all over the world that Olympic dream. I guess that hurts all of us more than anything else, the sense that we let them down.
"We can't throw in the towel, even though it's the seventh inning,' Porter said. "Hopefully we'll come to bat in the bottom of the seventh.'
International Baseball Federation president Harvey Schiller said he saw no point of mounting another Olympic bid for his sport.
"That's not for me to decide ... but what are you going to say differently?' he said. "This wasn't about using the Olympics to grow the game of baseball. This was about having the opportunity for people to play on this big stage.'
Rogge said softball and baseball should not give up hope.
"There is life outside the Olympic Games; many sports have proven that,' he said. "Secondly, never say never.'
Rogge was asked how the IOC could reject softball at a time when it is pushing for gender equality. He said golf and rugby will bring in a total of 204 women athletes, compared to 120 from softball.
"This is an upside of 84,' he said.
For London 2012, three women's weight classes - a total of 36 athletes in flyweight, lightweight and middleweight - will be added to the boxing competition. To make room for the women, one of the existing 11 men's weight divisions - light flyweight - will be dropped.
Overall, the number of boxers will remain unchanged at 286.
"I can only rejoice about the inclusion of women's boxing,' Rogge said.
"Women's boxing has progressed a tremendous amount in the last five years and it was time that it be included in the games.'
In other changes for 2012, the IOC approved new 200-meter sprint events in canoe-kayak, a combined run-shoot format for modern pentathlon and the elimination of non-medal consolation matches in handball.
The IOC told wrestling, swimming and cycling they will have to drop events and keep the same number of athletes if they want to add new events. A decision on mixed doubles in tennis was put off pending more information from the International Tennis Federation.
IOC to consider new Olympic sports Thursday: Rugby 7s Favourite for 2016 Inclusion
By Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press (ctvolympics.ca)
posted Aug 12 2009
GENEVA - Women's boxing, mixed doubles in tennis and 50-metre sprints in swimming are among the events being considered this week for inclusion in the 2012 London Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee executive board will meet in Berlin on Thursday to consider a range of changes put forward by the 26 summer Olympic sports federations.
The board will also recommend two sports for inclusion in the 2016 Olympics, with golf and rugby sevens the favourites in a group that also includes baseball, softball, karate, squash and roller sports.
The 15-member board must weigh the demands against its stated goals of gender equality and universality - the opportunity for all nations to compete with a realistic chance of winning medals - while keeping within a limit of 10,500 athletes.
The most dramatic change for 2012 would be the introduction of women's classes in boxing, currently the only summer Olympic sport exclusively for men.
"The thousands of female athletes who practice religiously and compete in national, intercontinental and international competition with the dream of one day, possibly, being able to celebrate the world's greatest sporting occasion, deserve the opportunity," said Richard Baker, spokesman for boxing's governing body AIBA.
AIBA is proposing that 40 female boxers compete in London, with eight in each of five weight categories. They range from 47 kilograms (104 pounds), comparable to the men's light flyweight class, up to 75 kilograms (165 pounds), equal to the men's middleweights.
Men's boxing would lose 40 places across 11 weights to keep the sport within its limit of 286 Olympic athletes.
IOC president Jacques Rogge has said the time is right for women's boxing after the proposal was rejected four years ago after failing to reach standards of medical safety and universality. However, its approval is not a certainty, as some board members are not enthusiastic about adding women's boxing.
The Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, a London-based campaign group, urged the IOC on Tuesday to accept women's boxing as part of its stated drive for gender equity.
"Women's boxing at London 2012 would be a great step forward but women are still losing out in other Olympic sports," Sue Tibballs, the charity's chief executive, said. "In Beijing 165 medals were available to men versus 124 to women."
Swimming governing body FINA is seeking eight more medal races - 50-metre backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly for men and women, the 800 freestyle for men and 1,500 free for women - for a total of 42 to match its world championships program.
FINA also wants to add four teams in women's water polo and synchronized swimming for 12-nation competitions, and introduce a free combined event in synchronized.
The International Tennis Federation wants to add a 16-pairing mixed doubles tournament to its four existing gold medals in singles and doubles for men and women.
Mixed doubles was last played at the 1924 Paris Olympics when Hazel Wightman and Richard Williams won as part of a United States sweep of the five golds.
After BMX racing debuted in Beijing last year, the International Cycling Union would like to add BMX freestyle events for men and women in London.
The International Canoe Federation wants to give women a greater share of its 16 medal events, and offer a more exciting package for television viewers. In flatwater sprints, men currently enjoy a 9-3 share of the golds, while in slalom the split is 3-1.
"It doesn't reflect participation rates of 60 per cent men, 40 per cent women. The IOC has recognized that we need to tackle this issue," ICF secretary general Simon Toulson said.
Modern pentathlon, one of the oldest and most traditional of Olympic sports, is seeking a historic change.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, designed the sport as a test of soldiering skills in which competitors must shoot, fence, swim for 200 metres, ride a horse over a showjumping course and run 3,000 metres.
The International Modern Pentathlon Union voted last year to combine pistol shooting and running into one final discipline with a staggered start.
The changes aim to shorten the event and create a more dynamic finish in which the winner is determined by crossing the line first rather than accumulating the most points.
Rugby Reaches Out in Lausanne: Presentation Made to Olympic Executive Board
iRB Press Release
posted June 16 2009
The President of the International Rugby Board (IRB), Bernard Lapasset, on Monday led the team presenting Rugby Sevens’ case for inclusion in the Olympic Games to the IOC’s Executive Board in Lausanne, Switzerland.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH 'REACHING OUT', A CELEBRATION OF RUGBY SEVENS
Mr. Lapasset was joined by Mike Miller, Secretary General of the IRB, Agustín Pichot, former captain of the Argentina Sevens Rugby Team, Cheryl Soon, captain of the Australia Sevens team that won Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens earlier this year, Humphrey Kayange, captain of the Kenya Sevens team and Anastassiya Khamova, one of Kazakhstan’s top female players, a referee at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 and a leading figure in the Women’s Game.
“Our team was very excited about presenting to the IOC Executive Board today. Our rehearsals as a team in the last few weeks were very beneficial and I feel that we left a positive impression of a united and committed team with the members. We shared our Olympic vision and highlighted Rugby Sevens’ case for Olympic Games inclusion, which we firmly believe would be good for the Olympic Games and good for Rugby,” said Mr Lapasset.
“We are committed to the continued global growth and development of the sport and its values and it is this aim that underpins our current campaign to secure the introduction of Rugby Sevens in the Olympic Games, beginning in 2016,” added Lapasset.
Humphrey Kayange, captain of the Kenya Sevens team, believes that Olympic Games inclusion has the potential to offer medal opportunities to more nations around the world as well as bring a new fan base of enthusiastic young people to the Games.
“Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai showed that the so-called smaller sporting nations can compete with the biggest in the world. Countries like Zimbabwe, Samoa, Tonga, and Uruguay proved they are capable of beating the best. Playing at an Olympic Games would offer these countries a real chance of medals and a further opportunity to be part of the global sporting family.”
“Sevens supporters are like nothing I have seen before. They are passionate, dedicated and love sport. I know that once an Olympic Sevens tournament has finished, the Rugby fans would stay and enjoy all that the world’s greatest sporting celebration has to offer.”
Australia captain and Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 gold medalist Cheryl Soon, believes that Olympic Games inclusion would provide a further boost to a women’s game that continues to go from strength to strength.
“All my teammates and colleagues on the Sevens circuit play at the highest level of our sport. We want to play alongside the world’s top athletes competing at the highest level of their sport. It would be a privilege to do so."
Agustín Pichot, a bronze medalist at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2001, reinforced the support of players for the campaign. He said: “I have spoken with many of my fellow top players and each one agrees that competing at the Olympic Games would be an amazing experience. We would all be there and would be proud to call ourselves Olympians”.
Anastassiya Khamova, captain of the Kazakhstan Sevens team and a top figure in the women’s game, indicated that a Rugby Sevens tournament at the Olympic Games would provide the impetus for the further growth of Women’s Rugby.
“Women’s Rugby is a strong sport and in excellent health. I was one of 32 administrators and senior players at the first ever IRB international conference on Women’s Rugby in London in 2007. Every single one of us agreed that Sevens in the Olympic Games would be the greatest catalyst to the growth of the women’s game and the best thing that could possibly happen to our Sport.”
Mike Miller said: “We believe that Rugby Sevens has much to offer the Olympic Movement. We would bring a modern, youthful and skilful sport that can be added easily, efficiently and cost-effectively to the Olympic Programme. The Sevens format – seven players per team, two seven-minute halves, 24 matches a day – is made for television, made for sponsors and most importantly loved by fans and players alike.”
Rugby's Olympic exclusion is hardly trivial
By John Inverdale (London Telegraph)
posted May 30 2007
It must be great fun coming up with the multiple choice questions on pub quiz machines. My local hostelry has one that asks: “What is cricketer Ian Botham’s nickname?” a) Beefy b) Skinny c) Grumpy. There are some slightly harder ones, such as whether Roberto Duran or Duran Duran was once a world champion boxer, but then you can guarantee that at some point you’ll come upon one of those stock sport quiz questions that compilers always resort to when all else fails.
Who are the current Olympic rugby champions? a) New Zealand b) Great Britain c) USA? Rugby hasn’t been in the Olympics for more than 80 years, and the nature of the 15-a-side calendar would make it impossible to include it in the modern Olympic schedule, while also detracting from the World Cup. However, London in 2012 is surely the ideal time for the seven-a-side game to be added to the list of medal sports.
To be at Twickenham last weekend for the latest round of the IRB World Sevens circuit, was to witness one of the most enjoyable and competitive day’s sport of the year so far, and if Jacques Rogge and his IOC pals had been there, they’d have been inspired by the kaleidoscope of tracksuits representing countries from every corner of the world which gave the occasion an 'Olympic’ feel. Sevens has long since moved on from its Commonwealth roots, and is far more international than a great many other disciplines that still maintain their Olympic status.
With the main stadium in 2012 lying unused for a week between the opening ceremony and the start of track and field, it’s a golden opportunity not just to showcase a spectacular sport but also to make a few million quid in gate receipts which will help towards the odd bill. This is not wantonly expanding the already gargantuan Games, but a genuine case of added value. So don’t waste it guys. Incidentally, the answer to the Olympic rugby question – just in case you didn’t know – is the USA. The Americans defeated France in Paris in 1924 – four years after they beat the same opponents in Antwerp. But you must have known that…
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