Olympics

Softball was granted Olympic status in Atlanta in 1996, without ever being a demonstration sport.

The United States won gold in 1996, 2000 and 2004 but were pipped for the top of the podium by Japan at Beijing in 2008.

At the IOC meeting in July 7, 2005, baseball and softball were voted out of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, becoming the first sports voted out of the Olympics since polo was eliminated from the 1936 Olympics.

In late 2013, the International Olympic Committee voted to reinstate wrestling at the Tokyo 2020 Games, defeating the combined baseball-softball bid.

Over a year later in Monaco, the IOC voted and agreed that the Tokyo 2020 organising committee could resurrect baseball and softball onto the Olympic program.

In September 2015, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee announced that along with four other sports, the reintroduction of Softball/Baseball would be recommended to the IOC.

Finally, on August 3, 2016, the International Olympic Committee approved the return of baseball and softball to the Olympic program for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Baseball / Softball was dropped from the Olympic Program for Paris 2024, but during October 2023 the IOC announced that six sports would be added to the LA 2028 program. Baseball / Softball was announced alongside Cricket, Lacrosse, Squash and Flag Football.