Olympics will be without baseball, softball in 2024 Paris games

When the Paris Olympic Games open in 2024, the lineup of competition will look different than it did in the 2020 Toyko games. Breakdancing will join the Olympics field, as baseball and softball will be among the cuts from the 2024 lineup.

Why are baseball, softball being cut?

Host cities are now able to add sports to their Olympic programs, per USA Today’s Rachel Axon.

“IOC rules now allow host cities to add sports to their program, so karate made sense in the country it originated (Japan),” Axon wrote. “Baseball and softball, which have strong followings here, did too. But they’re less of a fit in 2024 and won’t be contested then.”

Sports being cut from the Olympic competition field is a tough pill to swallow for athletes that play these sports. Many young athletes grow up dreaming of wearing their country’s colors at the Olympics. Softball was a sport that was in the Olympic lineup from 1996 to 2008 before being cut. It was added back for the 2020 Tokyo games, but now is being cut again, which is disappointing to Team USA pitcher Cat Osterman.

“You have an entire six teams of people who thought this dream was never going to happen,” she said. “So every time you do that, there’s younger and younger girls whose dreams get killed from it. Obviously we’ve shown that it’s a competitive sport. There’s other sports that aren’t as competitive and they’re not voted out.”

Another Team USA softball player, Monica Abbott, is disappointed that her sport is being cut from the Olympics again.

“It hurts our sport that it’s going to be potentially another eight years, if not longer,” said Abbot. “Women thrive in this sport. You can be any age, size, shape, color in this sport. Softball does not discriminate and I think we deserve to be on the Olympic docket on a consistent basis.”

Team USA has great Olympic track record in baseball, softball

Baseball was initially added to Olympic competition in the 1992 Barcelona games. Team USA won its first baseball gold medal in the 2000 Sydney games, where it defeated Cuba. They also won a bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing games.

Softball was first introduced to the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996. Team USA won three consecutive gold medals in the first three Olympic competitions, bringing home gold in Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004). They won a silver medal in the 2008 Beijing games.

Team USA brought home a silver medal in both baseball and softball in the 2020 Tokyo games. Interestingly, both USA teams lost to Japan in the gold medal game by a score of 2-0.

After going to Paris in 2024, the Olympic games will be held in Los Angeles in 2028. Baseball and softball are both strong candidates to return to the Olympics field at that time.

Image courtesy of: Chesnot via Getty Images.