Golf could resume its rightful status [1] as an Olympic sport as of the 2016 games, depending on the outcome of a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in October.
The board will submit golf and rugby sevens — a faster-paced version of the standard 15-a-side game — for ratification by the full 106-member IOC assembly in Copenhagen in October.
The board also gave final approval to the inclusion of women’s boxing in the 2012 London Olympics. Boxing had been the only summer Olympic sport without women competitors.
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Golf was played at the 1900 Paris Olympics and 1904 St. Louis Games. The sport’s backers say bringing the game back into the Olympics would help it develop worldwide, noting many governments only fund Olympic sports.Tiger Woods and other top players have indicated they would play in the Olympics if golf gets the nod from the IOC.
“Golf is a truly global sport and it should have been in the Olympics a while ago,” Woods said Tuesday. “If it does get in, it would be great for golf and some of the other small countries that are now emerging in golf.”
Golf proposes a 72-hole stroke-play competition for men and women, with 60 players in each field. The world’s top 15 players would qualify automatically, and all major professional tours would alter tournament schedules to avoid a clash with the Olympics.
Rugby, which was played in four different Olympics between 1900 and 1924 in the full 15-a-side format, proposes the 7-a-side version for both men and women. The International Rugby Board would scrap its Sevens World Cup to ensure the Olympics is the sport’s top event.
Final approval of the two sports will require a simple majority vote by the full IOC in October. It’s unclear whether they will be voted on individually or together.
Rugby I care less about as an Olympic sport, but I do think it should probably be there.
Samuel