Golf, rugby prepare final Olympic sales pitch ahead of IOC votes on inclusion in 2016 games

Rugby, golf prepare final Olympic sales pitch

COPENHAGEN — After years of sales pitches and lobbying, the officials backing golf and rugby are days away from finding out whether those sports will return to the Olympic program.

The IOC executive board has recommended the sports’ inclusion in the 2016 Olympics — awarded last Friday to Rio de Janeiro — but they still need majority approval in separate votes by the full IOC assembly of 106 members.

Each sport will make a 20-minute presentation Friday before the vote. Golf is proposing a 72-hole stroke-play competition for men and women, with 60 players in each field. Rugby has proposed a four-day Sevens tournament — rather than the traditional 15-a-side competition— for 12 men’s and women’s teams.

“I think we’re very hopeful about the outcome on Friday, but we’re by no means complacent,” said Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal & Ancient club at St. Andrews and one of the driving forces behind golf’s Olympic bid.

Some of golf’s biggest stars will take part in the presentation.

Michelle Wie is scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen on Wednesday, and Friday’s pitch will include a videotaped message from Tiger Woods and other top pros competing in this week’s President’s Cup.

Woods has previously indicated he would play in the 2016 Olympics if golf was added, and his star power was a major selling point.

“Golf is a big sport, with some very big-name players,” Dawson said. “The Olympics is without doubt the biggest stage in sport in the world, and I think the two marry well from that standpoint.”

Golf was played at the 1900 Paris Olympics and 1904 St. Louis Games, while rugby appeared in four Olympics between 1900 and 1924 in the full 15-a-side format.

Golf officials consider the Olympics a way to spread the game to developing countries and increase its popularity in South America and Africa. Rugby officials are also looking to increase the fan base, and both sports will benefit from better sponsorship deals and government funding in countries that only give public support to Olympic sports.

New Zealand great Jonah Lomu and Cheryl Soon, the captain of Australia’s World Cup-winning women’s sevens team, are among those pushing rugby’s case.

Rugby is touting its sevens format as fast and TV friendly, with a huge following of young, passionate fans who are willing to travel to big competitions and fill the stands. It also would give some smaller nations like Fiji and Samoa a rare chance at Olympic medals, International Rugby Board secretary general Mike Miller said.

“Rugby Sevens is great sport, but it’s also a great party,” Miller said. “Rugby and Rio together — great sport, great party. I mean, we’re made for each other, really.”

For the players, Friday’s vote could be life-changing.

“From a female perspective, we’re amateurs,” Soon said. “So if this was included in the Olympics, we’d most likely be looking at becoming semiprofessional for women. For us to be paid to do something that we love, to train on a full-time basis rather than work on a full-time basis is just phenomenal.”

Both camps are spending this week rehearsing their presentations and talking with as many IOC members as possible, trying to ease any possible concerns.

“If there are any people who are wavering, hopefully on Friday we’ll convince those who have not quite made their mind up yet,” Miller said.

Some IOC members have been unhappy with the selection process, with the executive board narrowing the list from seven to two at a meeting in Berlin in August.

Softball and baseball — which were dropped in 2005 from the London 2012 program — squash, karate and roller sports all failed to make the final cut.

There has been speculation that some members will vote against the proposals to show their disapproval.

“Some may well do, but I would guess the executive board will easily get the necessary majority,” Swedish IOC member Arne Ljungqvist said.

Guatemalan IOC member Willi Kaltschmitt is among those who would’ve liked baseball to be voted on by the entire committee.

“My feeling was that baseball had some problems, (but) that baseball should have stayed in the Olympics,” Kaltschmitt said. “I would have loved to have more choice, yes, of course. In the end, it was the executive board that decided. It’s done.”

AP Sports Writer John Leicester contributed to this report.