Women give rugby hope for Olympics
Women give rugby hope for Olympics
Wayne Smith | March 09, 2009
Article from: The Australian
THIS might seem just a little self-serving, given who won what, but in the overall scheme of things the women's World Cup sevens in Dubai on the weekend was vastly more important than the parallel tournament for men.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact Australia won the women's World Cup and didn't come within cooee of winning the men's. Although, now that I mention it, what a fantastic performance from the Wallaroos in defeating pre-tournament favourite England in the quarter-finals, the Lady Boks in the semi-finals and arch-rival New Zealand in the extra-time final.
But it was not who won the women's tournament that was important, except of course to Australians. It was the fact that for the first time in history there was a women's World Cup sevens tournament. Had it been a men-only affair, then Dubai would have been a dead-end, instead of a vital stop on rugby's journey to Copenhagen in October.
Not a city that appears on too many rugby itineraries is the Danish capital, but to a very significant degree that's where it will be decided if rugby is to be or not to be a truly global sport. Because it will be in Copenhagen that the International Olympic Committee's congress will determine which two of seven candidate sports -- sevens rugby being one of them -- will be added to the existing list of 26 sports for the 2016 Games.
Rugby in its traditional form, 15-a-side, was never a chance for admission -- or rather, readmission, given it was dropped from the Olympic program in 1924. Gigantism is one of the curses of the Olympic movement and the last thing the IOC needs is a sport requiring 30-man squads and week-long intervals between matches.
Sevens rugby for men isn't a goer either. The IOC, for all its faults, is an equal opportunity organisation and, brick by brick, is breaking down the barrier to women competing in the Games.
In the original Olympics in Athens in 1896, there were 245 male competitors and, hmmm, let me count them, zero females.
By the 1956 Melbourne Games, there were 384 women (Dawn Fraser and Betty Cuthbert happily being two of them) to 2958 men. By Sydney, it was 4069 out of a total of 10,651 and in Beijing last August, the percentage of women had crept up to 42 per cent, 4746 out of 11,196. The graph, as they say, is trending upwards, and there is no way a sport that in any way discriminates against women stands a chance of finishing in the top two in the IOC ballot.
Actually, the word from Olympic insiders is that there really aren't two spots up for grabs at all. The IOC, having voted to dump softball from the program for the 2012 London Games, is planning to recall it for 2016. And so it should, with softball having proven itself one of the most exciting sports in Beijing.
Anyone who saw Australian Kerry Wyborn slug Japan's ultimate gold medal-winning pitcher Yukiko Ueno out of the ballpark on a 2-and-1 count with two out at 1-2 down at the top of the seventh (and last scheduled) inning in the Beijing semi-final would feel privileged to have witnessed a moment of rare Olympic greatness.
Australian team athlete liaison Steve Waugh rated it one of the greatest clutch plays he had seen, and given that he has been involved in one or two of them himself, it's an opinion worth heeding.
But if softball is going back to the plate, then rugby finds itself in a tricky six-way play-off with baseball -- the other sport dumped after Beijing -- golf, squash, karate and roller sports for the other vacancy. How the IOC will vote is anyone's guess.
At the 2005 IOC Congress in Singapore, it was the anti-George WBush lobby that brought about the demise of softball and baseball, both regarded as American sports. But America is no longer quite so on the nose, and it will be even less so if, as is now rumoured, President Barack Obama bobs up in Copenhagen in October to support his hometown, Chicago, in its bid for the 2016 Games. If he does, baseball could well ride the Obama slipstream all the way back into the Games, even if it has two strikes against it because of a series of drug scandals in the major leagues.
Golf and roller sports weren't treated seriously by the IOC in 2005 and were the first candidates eliminated. That probably will happen again, although golf's burgeoning popularity in Asia, and specifically in China, means it can no longer be discounted.
The most likely scenario, however, is that rugby again will find itself going head to head with squash and karate. The other two sports surprisingly relegated it to third place in Singapore but could not quite muster the two-thirds majority of votes needed to gain entry to the Olympic program.
Since then, the rules have been changed. Now a simple majority is sufficient to be voted on, but in the meantime rugby has seen the light, discovered women, and surged back into the lead -- at least, that's what some insiders are saying.
That's why Dubai was so important. A string of IOC observers attended the tournament and would easily have been convinced by the quality of play from the Wallaroos, and just about all other teams, that women's rugby is a legitimate sport well worth watching.
And as ARU chief executive John O'Neill pointed out from Dubai yesterday, the eight semi-finalists in the women's and men's tournaments were from eight different countries -- Australia, NZ, South Africa and the US in the women's; Kenya, Argentina, Wales and Samoa in the men's. In terms of IOC zones, everywhere but Asia was represented.
"It presented the universality of the game," O'Neill said.
The trouble is that while the game is becoming universal, rugby is meaningfully funded only in about a dozen countries.
But if rugby is brought into the ranks of the 28 Olympic sports, then suddenly it is in the funding mainstream.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html
Sevens bound for Olympics
Rugby has hit the jackpot in Dubai this week with the man charged with deciding the game's Olympic future waxing lyrical about the Sevens World Cup as he prepares to pen his report for his bosses in Switzerland.
High-ranking Olympic delegate Bob Elphinston has been charged with reporting back to the International Olympic Committee on rugby’s bid for entry into the Olympics in time for the 2016 Games.
And last night, in his only interview, Elphinston raved about what he’d seen unfold in Dubai as Gordon Tietjens’ New Zealand side stormed into the final phase of the tournament.
"It's fair to say I've been very impressed with the organisation, very impressed with the professionalism and passion from the IRB, and very impressed with the tournament," said Elphinston, the president of basketball's world body FIBA.
"As a sport it seems very well suited to the Olympics."
Sevens is competing with golf, baseball, softball, squash, karate and roller sports for two places in the 2016 Olympics.
And while the final decision will come down to an October vote of Olympic delegates in Lausanne, they will be heavily guided by the report from Elphinston, and one other delegate, on the sevens.
And Sunday News can reveal their document similar to a bid city report will emphasise sevens' attraction to the world's youth market, a critical point of strength for the bid for an Olympic movement under seige from the X-Games generation.
Olympic bosses have been successful in sexing up the Games with events like beach volleyball.
And Elphinston knows sevens' knack of inspiring party atmospheres at venues like Wellington and Hong Kong will help attract a younger TV demographic to the 2016 broadcasts.
"One of the great things about sevens is the tournament can be run over two days. It's spectacular and high scoring and it's an easy game to understand.
"I think it would prove popular and attractive to young people.
"The crowds are one of the striking elements of sevens. Today there was something like 35,000 people in the stadium (in Dubai).
"And they're having fun too. It's exhilarating to see. And, remember, Dubai is hardly a rugby stronghold."
Another key point Elphinston will focus on in the report will be the ability to spread the Olympic ideal to countries that normally would have no presence at the Games in team events.
Unlike rugby's professional ranks which are dominated by Sanzar and Six Nations teams and Argentina sevens allows less developed rugby countries to shine.
In the men's tournament, Zimbabwe, Georgia, Tunisia and Kenya have had their moments at the World Cup in Dubai while China and Thailand have become more competitive in the women's event.
"That's a massive strength for a sevens bid," said Elphinston. "When you look at the likes also of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga these are countries that wouldn't normally have a profile in team sports at the Olympics."
The IRB's initial Olympic bid for the 2012 London Games was for men only but IRB boss Bernard Lapasset's bold move to demand women be included, could pay enormous dividends.
The Olympic movement are determined to see the number of women competing match that of the men.
"The initial proposal was just for men so to see women included is another plus," Elphinston said.
Sunday News
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/2078760...d-for-Olympics
