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Olympic Games: Three sports still in running for 2020 place

Last updated on .From the section Olympicscomments110

squash

Squash, baseball/softball and wrestling beat off five other sports to remain in contention to be added to the Olympic Games programme in 2020.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide on one remaining place in the programme in September.

The IOC has dropped wushu, wakeboarding, roller sports, karate and sport climbing from the shortlist.

"It was never going to be an easy decision," said IOC President Jacques Rogge.

"But I feel my colleagues on the board made a good decision in selecting baseball/softball, squash and wrestling to be put forward in Buenos Aires [where the decision will be made]."

A space was freed when wrestling was originally dropped in February - though it was then allowed to reapply.

It remains in the running after the IOC executive board voted for it following 30-minute presentations by each international federation.

Baseball and softball were dropped as individual sports after 2008 in Beijing, while squash has never been played at the Olympics, although it is a Commonwealth Games sport.

In 2010 in Delhi, England led the way with six medals, including double gold for Nick Matthew.

But although squash is one of the better funded non-Olympic sports - Sport England has pledged to contribute almost £5m in talent and elite programmes up to 2017 - even top players often struggle financially compared with their equivalent rankings in other sports.

The decision to retain squash at this stage was greeted positively by Laura Massaro, the current British Open champion.

"We deserve to be included and it was almost painful to watch London 2012 with no opportunity to be part of the nation's success," said the 29-year-old.

"All of the other notable racket sports are in the Games already - tennis, badminton and table tennis - but squash has been overlooked in the past and it has been tough to take when you compete at the highest level on the world stage."

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The IOC initially recommended the removal of wrestling after assessing the performance of all 26 sports at the London Games, but it could now be granted a reprieve.

Softball had a presence at the Olympic Games, solely for women, between 1996 and 2008. It was then dropped from the programme for 2012, as was men's baseball, which had appeared sporadically at the Olympics since 1904.

Climbing was a high-profile casualty however, despite Dame Kelly Holmes backing its bid.

"It has strength, power and, from an energetic sports perspective, it hits all the marks," she told BBC Sport.

Whichever sport succeeds in the September vote will be added to the 25 core sports, plus golf and rugby sevens.

Wrestlers from Russia, the US and Iran form alliance

To remain relevant to sports fans of all generations, the Olympic programme commission systematically reviews every sport following each edition of the Games.

The commission uses 39 criteria in determining a sport's suitability for the Olympic Games, including youth appeal, universality, popularity, good governance, respect for athletes and respect for the Olympic values.

Golf and rugby sevens are the latest sports to be added to the Olympics and will debut at Rio.

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110 comments

  • Comment posted by EnglandIrelandFan, at 22:02 29 May 2013

    Any sport where the olympics is not the pinnacle should be removed in my opinion, in favour of many more minor sports. On this basis football should go, as should tennis, and golf should never have been added. They've all already got tournaments that get more than enough coverage, which are deemed 'more important' than the olympics.

  • Comment posted by Mugan, at 21:24 29 May 2013

    Squash has been desperate for the Olympics for years, and I think that the two would really benefit each other.

    I dont really see why they have to limit sports like wrestling and squash and make them fringe events when sports like football particularly where the olympics is often regarded as a second class tournament and never has the same appeal for players and fans. Drop that instead!

  • Comment posted by Yossarian, at 21:29 29 May 2013

    Wrestling should never have been removed. If the IOC has any brains they'd reinstated it, and issue a formal apology. Golf being added is beyond a joke. A bunch of overpaid, business-casual clad, non-club carrying non-athletes taking the place of the some of the best athletes surely has to be some kind of in-joke.

  • Comment posted by philjer, at 21:49 29 May 2013

    I can only see one reason for golf being in the Olympics and that is for the large sponsorship amounts that they they must be hoping for from the manufacturers of golfing equipment.

    But then the Olympics has already discarded most of the Olympic ideals.

  • Comment posted by toffeeapple, at 21:29 29 May 2013

    Squash MUST get in.

  • Comment posted by nffc_1978, at 22:18 29 May 2013

    Baseball/softball has limited geographical spread,won't sell tickets in a lot of potential host countries, doesn't have gender equality (a different code for men and women) and is another team sport that the Olympics doesn't need. No idea why they are considering bringing it back.

    Squash deserves a chance, and although I'm not a wrestling fan it is a "traditional" Olympic sport.

  • Comment posted by Tim, at 22:24 29 May 2013

    @20 Mr Brownstone: "squash is a fairly elitist sport not available to a lot of people worldwide".

    £3.40 is my share for 40 minutes of squash.
    There are 50,000 squash courts in 127 countries. The greatest male players ever are Pakistani, and the current world number 1 is Egyptian. The current female world number 1 is Malaysian.

    Exactly how do you define "elitist" and "not available"?

  • Comment posted by Raedwulf, at 21:52 29 May 2013

    Wrestling should never have been dropped, and squash absolutely deserves to be in. Naturally, I'm now worried that baseball, which along with golf has no place at the Olympics, is now going to get the nod for money reasons. It'll be farcical if it does.

  • Comment posted by User0859032121, at 08:34 30 May 2013

    Simple Choice : SQUASH

    1.One of the 5 toughest sports in the Olympics
    2. Huge Participation Numbers in UK and across the Globe
    3.Cheap anyone can play this sport in their local community
    4. Great game to play and watch only takes maximum 90 mins

    Nothing wrong with Wrestling as a sport compared to other sports in there already such as Shooting, Horse Riding, Archery,Golf, But in UK anyone do Wre

  • Comment posted by G Smith, at 22:17 29 May 2013

    If it is not the peak of a sportspersons ambitions it should not be a part of the Olympics. Swap a Wimbledon title or winning The Open for a gold medal, not in a million years.

  • Comment posted by User0722826456, at 22:38 29 May 2013

    @ John W

    Baseball is considerably less popular worldwide than cricket. To call it the worlds second most popular sport is just silly.

  • Comment posted by Flooch, at 22:09 29 May 2013

    Please go for Squash. It's a proper sport which would benefit from greater exposure. However, expect the Yanks to get their way & bring back baseball/softball. Yawn.

  • Comment posted by brianbutterfield, at 22:01 29 May 2013

    where is cheese rolling and chess?

  • Comment posted by Dr_John - not a Doctor of medicine, at 22:09 29 May 2013

    How on earth is baseball on the list. Last time I visited NYC I went to a Yankees game, and it is without doubt the most tedious sport ever invented.

    They should be cutting back not increasing it. Turn it into a 10 day athletics meeting (plus the beach volleyball of course) and the McOlympics would be worth watching.

  • Comment posted by Raedwulf, at 22:31 29 May 2013

    39: Don't be daft. The vast majority of the 16 nations that have competed in Olympic baseball are US influenced / satellites. Of those that aren't, only Australia, with a solitary silver, have ever finished in the top half of the very limited 8 team Olympic tournament. There is no global strength in depth in the sport & that alone should bar it.

  • Comment posted by Dooter, at 22:36 29 May 2013

    I has to be squash. Baseball is just rounders in disguise and wrestling is dull as dishwater. Now if it were Sumo that would be a different matter! Or maybe gator rasslin' with southern belles in wet T-Shirts like Barbara Bach as Daisy Duke in Dukes of Hazzard. Well Dawgy!

  • Comment posted by User0280748307, at 21:41 29 May 2013

    Regarding which sport should get in, whilst I am fairly biased towards Squash out of these 3 sports I feel its case is by far the strongest. It's a worldwide sport, with a physical component matched only by a handful of sport in existence. The top athletes are fantastic role models and the respect between them is very high. It's also growing in many countries, especially with younger people.

  • Comment posted by User0280748307, at 21:31 29 May 2013

    @3 That's complete rubbish. By what criteria do you judge wrestling and baseball to be in the top 3 or 4 sports in the world? Certainly not participation figures, physical difficulty, healthiest sports, calories burnt - the list could go on and on.

    Comment 2 sums it up well really, whereas I have great respect for the tradition of wrestling I can fully see why it was thrown out.

  • Comment posted by Tlotoxl, at 21:51 29 May 2013

    Has to be Squash, much better, more accessible sport than the other 2. Personally I would like to see Rugby Union or T20 Cricket, certainly Cricket is a massively popular among the billions in the sub-continent who get little chance of medals in the Olympics.

  • Comment posted by von paulus, at 00:52 30 May 2013

    Squash seems perfectly reasonable. Not too overindulgent medals-wise. A few hundred events hacked off of swimming wouldn't go amiss. It's not like we have four different styles of running (three of them being a little bit rubbish) in the athletics. I've always thought it a bit obscene that individuals can potentially pick up 7 or more medals at a single Olympics!

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