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Arguments are being made for which sports should be included as part of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Today, the International Baseball Federation made its pitch to the Olympic committee about being re-included in the Olympics. Baseball and softball were decided to not be included in the 2012 Olympics in London.

Some of the sports hoping for a place in the 2016 Olympics are:

• Baseball
• Softball
• Golf
• Karate
• Rugby
• Roller Sports
• Squash

Which of these sports deserve to be an Olympic sport? Which of these should remain out of the Olympics?

If you watch the Olympics gymnastics this year, you may be confused by the new scoring system which will let athletes score 14, 17, or even higher. The new rules are “heavy on math” and employ two panels of judges: one for technical difficulty, which adds points up from a score of zero; the other for execution and technique, which starts at 10.0 and subtracts for errors. The two numbers are then combined for the final score. As one judge put it, “The system rewards difficulty. But the mistakes are also more costly.” The new rules were adopted after South Korea protested a scoring at the 2004 Olympics.

Softball has only been played at the Summer Olympics three times: 1996, 2000, 2004. This year’s Olympic Games will mark the fourth time the sport has appeared at the Olympics. Because of a lack of world-wide interest, softball will not be played in the 2012 Olympics. The United States has won gold at all three previous Olympic Games.

Medal count
United States: 3 Golds
Australia: 1 Silver, 2 Bronze
Japan: 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
China: 1 Silver

2004 Medalists
United States: Gold
Australia: Silver
Japan: Bronze

Appearances at all 4 Olympic Games (including 2008)
Australia, Canada, China, USA, Japan
Chinese Taipei has appeared at 2 previous Olympic Games and will appear in Beijing.

See also: Wikipedia for 2008 Softball Schedule.

Here are a few statistics about Baseball at the Olympics:
2004 Olympic Medalists
Gold: Cuba
Silver: Australia
Bronze: Japan

2000 Olympic Medalists
Gold: USA
Silver: Cuba
Bronze: Korea

All-time medal leaders
Cuba (3 Gold, 1 Silver)
USA (1 Gold, 1 Bronze)
Japan (1 Silver, 2 Bronze)

And some background information from Wikipedia:

Baseball became an official sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics, with the familiar eight team tournament. Players were required to be amateurs. The tournament consisted of a round-robin, in which teams played each of the other teams, followed by semifinals and finals. The format of the competition has remained the same since then, with the only major change being that starting in 2000 players were not required to be amateurs.

Participate in my little competition by picking the teams that will go gold:
(This form will only be open until August 6th)