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From Pirate Irwin in Berlin, Germany
August 13, 2009 The 2016 Olympic Games will almost certainly feature Sevens rugby and golf after the International Olympic Olympic Committee executive board voted for their inclusion in Berlin on Thursday.
But the decision, made by secret ballot, is not binding as it has to be rubber-stamped by the entire IOC membership in a vote in Copenhagen in October.
The 2016 Games will feature 28 sports if golf and Sevens are included.
Rugby had always been a front-runner, as rugby powerbrokers, after failing in their bid for inclusion in the 2012 Games in London, mounted an aggressive and effective campaign.
International Rugby Board president Bernard Lapasset had made the sport's Olympic inclusion the priority of his first term of office.
Golf, meanwhile, attracted a certain amount of scepticism, even from golf lovers, as it was considered "too elitist".
Also, as Australian golfer Geoff Ogilvy declared at one point, players "are not members of a team, we are individuals and we decide where we play".
Softball produced a passionate campaign led by Korean War veteran Don Porter, who was stunned when the sport was voted out of the Games in Singapore in 2005.
Agence France-Presse
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23218,00.html