Rugby and golf take seats at the top table

OLYMPIC GAMES:GOLF AND rugby sevens have been added to the Olympic schedule from the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed yesterday. The two sports were added to the Summer Games line-up after a vote of members at the IOC session in Copenhagen.

Golf last featured in an Olympics in 1904 while rugby was taken off the Olympic schedule after the 1924 Games in Paris. They are guaranteed an appearance for two consecutive Games.

The IOC, eager to revamp its sports programme to attract younger viewers, voted to raise the number of sports to 28 for the Rio Olympics, including the fast-paced version of rugby played with seven players instead of 15 and men’s and women’s 72-hole strokeplay for golf.

The two sports were shortlisted in August from a group that also included karate, squash, baseball, softball and rollersports, all of which failed to make the cut.

“Time will show that your decision was very wise,” re-elected IOC President Jacques Rogge said after the vote. “The choice for Olympic sports is going to be very emotional. It really touches the heart of the members. But once in a while a sport may leave the Games because it is not modern any more and a new sport may come in.”

While rugby sevens breezed into the Olympics with 81 votes for and only eight against, golf earned 63 votes for inclusion and 27 against.

Rugby, which had among others New Zealander Jonah Lomu and former Argentina captain Agustin Pichot in its presentation team, was showered with praise by IOC members following their pitch.

Golf was forced to answer tough questions on expensive equipment, men’s only clubs and environmental concerns, despite taped messages of support from top players including Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, both speaking from the President’s Cup.

The two sports are guaranteed global expansion and cash with funding from the IOC, increased broadcast rights deals and, in some countries, automatic national funding as an Olympic sport.

Rugby will organise a four-day sevens tournament for 12 men’s and women’s teams. Golf will stage a 72-hole stroke-play tournament for men and women, with 60 men and 60 women in each field.

The top 15 qualify regardless of how many come from the same country and the remaining 45 will comprise the highest-ranked players from nations who do not already have two players.

George O’Grady, chief executive of the European Tour, welcomed the decision of the International Olympic Committee to admit golf into the Olympic Games in 2016 and 2020, and recognised the importance of the worldwide support that contributed to the dream becoming reality.

O’Grady said: “This is a proud and historic day for our sport. For golf to be associated again with the Olympic Games is a perfect fit in terms of honour and integrity, pride and passion, sportsmanship and goodwill. It is a positive decision which we warmly welcome.”

Colin Montgomerie, said, “I am so delighted to hear that golf has been approved to be in the Olympics in 2016. I am proud to have been a part of the process and it is a credit to everyone who has lent their support to this process.”

“I am so excited so I will have to speak in French,” International Rugby Board (IRB) president Bernard Lapasset said with a big smile. “It is an historic moment for rugby, it is the return to the Olympic family. We have constructed a family for rugby. We are proud how we built our candidacy.”

Rogge was re-elected unopposed as president of the IOC and will serve his final four years, taking him through the London 2012 Olympics, before stepping down in 2013. The IOC session in Copenhagen confirmed Rogge’s re-election by 88 votes to one.

Rogge, a 67-year-old heart surgeon who played rugby union for Belgium and was an Olympic yachtsman, was first elected in 2001, succeeding Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Craig Reedie became the first Briton to be elected onto the International Olympic Committee’s executive board for almost half a century. Reedie (67), from Stirling in Scotland, beat Patrick Hickey, president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, for a seat on the ruling board of the IOC. Reedie beat Hickey by 52 votes to 39 in the final round of voting. Hickey had been the favourite but the IOC have a tradition of electing one person from an Olympic host nation onto the board for the period covering the Games.

Golf changing face

DUBLINER PÁDRAIG Harrington, who was part of golf’s presentation team, admitted the elitist tag might have triggered the high number of votes against the sport.

“I do believe it (elitism) was a stumbling block,” the triple major winner said. “Our inclusion in the Games will help us get over that. Things have changed and this will help change things more.”

Harrington said he would work to be in Rio: “I have some unfinished business there after losing a tournament. I am very motivated to push on now. I want to be there.”

However Ryder Cup hero Darren Clarke said: “I’ve always been against it because I grew up watching the Olympics and to me they are an amateur event. I know things have changed with tennis in there and basketball and all that.

“I can see why they are doing it to grow the sport around the world, but personally I don’t think it should be in it. That’s just my opinion. It will help to make the game bigger and if I had the opportunity to play I probably would.”