International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said Friday the IOC sent letters to the world governing bodies of seven sports notifying them that they are on the list for consideration to be included in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
The sports under consideration are softball and baseball, which were cut from the 2012 Games, and golf, rugby, squash karate and roller sports. They will be voted on in 2009 at the IOC assembly in Copenhagen Denmark
Softball and baseball have been lobbying to return to the Games since being voted off in Singapore in 2005, but will be played at this summer’s Beijing Games.
There is a new formula which was approved last year. It will now take a simple majority for a sport to be voted on to the program. Previously a two-thirds majority was needed.
According to AP the sports program is fixed seven years in advance of each Olympics. The same 26 sports in the London program will be put forward for 2016 in Copenhagen. The IOC has set a ceiling of 28 sports which means there will be room for only one or two more.
Moreau said the IOC will send out questionnaires to the seven sports federations in December and replies are required by March 2009. The executive board will then submit proposals to the entire IOC in Copenhagen about which sports to include.
AP reports following criticism of arduous procedures at the IOC session in Singapore where members voted individually on each of the 28 sports, the procedure has been streamlined.
