Baseball at the Summer Olympics

Baseball first appeared in the Summer Olympics as an unofficial event at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. Later, it was shown as a demonstration sport at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. Baseball became an official Olympic sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and was played in every Olympics until 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

After a break, baseball returned for just one time at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It is planned to come back again at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The sport follows rules set by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.

History

Olympic baseball first appeared at the 1900 Paris Games. Twelve years later, in 1912, in Stockholm, a United States team played against host Sweden. Baseball became an official Olympic sport at the 1992 Barcelona Games, and was played at each Olympiad through the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The sport was then dropped from the Summer Olympic program, until being revived for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for a single appearance.

Many people supported baseball's inclusion in the Olympics, but some opposed it because they felt it was too linked to professional play. Over time, rules changed to allow more experienced players, but the best players still did not always compete. In 2005, baseball and softball were voted out of the 2012 London Olympics, with golf and rugby sevens added instead. Later, baseball was approved for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, though it will not be in the 2024 Paris Olympics. It is expected to return for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics because of its popularity in the United States.

Results

See also: List of Olympic medalists in baseball

Medal table

Qualification

The host nation always got a spot in the Olympic baseball tournament. From 1992 to 2008, seven spots were usually decided by tournaments in different parts of the world. For the 2008 Games, two spots went to teams from the Americas, one to Europe, and one to Asia.

The last three spots were given to the top three teams in a special eight-team tournament. Teams from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania competed in this tournament to earn those spots. This new tournament was started in 2008 after people said the old way was unfair. Before, only two teams from the Americas could qualify, even though most of the best baseball teams were from there. Europe, which had weaker teams, could send two teams.

Competition

Olympic baseball was very similar to the version played by professionals, but with a few special rules. For example, after 1996, players could not use aluminum bats. There was also a rule to end a game early if one team was far ahead — if a team was winning by 10 or more runs after seven innings, the game would stop, and that team would win.

The tournament started with every team playing against all the other teams. Only the top four teams moved on to the medals round. In this round, the first-place team played the fourth-place team, and the second-place team played the third-place team. The teams that lost these games played for the bronze medal, while the winners played for the gold medal.

In the 2008 games, a special rule was added for games that went into extra innings. If the game was still tied after the tenth inning, runners were automatically placed on first and second base to help make sure the game would end with a winner.

Participating nations

The following 18 nations have taken part in the baseball competition at the Summer Olympics. The numbers in the table show the final rank of each team in each tournament.