Published: March 20, 2009
After the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) 2005 decision to eliminate softball from the Olympic Games, the International Softball Federation created BACK Softball, an initiative with a goal of getting fast-pitch softball reinstated on the Olympic program in 2016. The BACK Softball campaign is actively promoting softball around the globe. As part of its plan to meet and exceed the IOC evaluation criteria, the campaign is focused on increasing youth softball participation from 8.4 million to 10.5 million. The campaign’s goals also include developing further programs and opportunities for people with disabilities to play softball on a regular basis and providing free softball equipment and coaching to regions of the world that are suffering due to man-made or natural disasters.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist, first president of the Women’s Sports Foundation and current Women’s Sports Foundation Government Relations Chair Donna de Varona also serves as co-chair of the BACK Softball campaign. de Varona, along with other members of the BACK Softball Task Force have already spent months attending key Olympic meetings and major sports events. The task force will continue to promote BACK Softball’s key messages of gender equity, inclusiveness, accessibility and the sport’s excellent anti-doping record.
Softball was first featured in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Last year’s competition in Beijing was won by Japan, and close to 180,000 attended softball games during those 2008 Games. Sports for the 2016 Olympic Games will be finalized at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark in October of 2009.
If you would like to see softball reinstated for the 2016 Olympic Games and learn more about the campaign, visit BACK Softball or the International Softball Federation.