Softball was played at the Olympics in the period between 1996 and 2008. Then it was removed and the efforts to be brought back in 2020 may not be successful. However, there has been 4 tournaments within the period.
The first appearance of Softball in the Olympics was in 1996. The tournament was held at Golden Park, Columbus, Georgia (USA). 8 teams took part in the competition (the USA, China, Australia, Japan, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Holland and Puerto Rico). The competition was pretty predictable, as the US team won the golden medals. The US players lost only 1 game and won 8, becoming the first softball Olympics champions.
Then, the US national softball team performed at the same top level again in the next two Olympic games (Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004) and eventually won again the golden medals. And the Americans were expected to do it again in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
The United States finished unbeaten in the preliminary group. They recorded 7 victories of 7 matches. Then, again, everything looked ok in the semi-finals, beating 4-1 Japan. But Japanese players had another chance to qualify for the final. They just had to win against Australia and they did it (4-3). So, Japanese players had another chance to win the tournament.
US team beat Japan twice in the tournament before the final match. But, the big underdogs made something special and took the golden medals. Japan put an end of the three consecutive successes for the United States at the Olympics. Can you imagine a team like Japan, which has lost twice (0-7 and 1-4) from the United States, becoming the champion? Well, maybe they have learned from their mistakes in the beginning of the competition.
So, the balance of the all 4 softball tournaments at the Olympics is: 13 nations have ever taken part in such a tournament. The USA national team won 3 golden and 1 silver medals. The Japanese players won 1 golden and 1 silver medal. Australia set a record in the competition for the bronze medals, retaining them on 3 occasions. The Aussies won also the second place in 2004.
We are looking forward to see what will be the decision for the 2020 Olympics, but maybe Wrestling is going to be on the programme instead of softball and baseball, which is so sad for such enjoyable sports.
