Relive Beijing's glory at Dodger Stadium?

 As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) predicts the return of baseball and softball as official Olympic sports, expectations in the domestic baseball community are also growing. Attention is being paid to whether Moon Dong-ju and Yoon Dong-hee, who left a deep impression at the Hangzhou Asian Games, will be able to hit the ball at Dodger Stadium. 

The IOC announced on its official website on the 10th (Korean time) that the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympic Organizing Committee proposed the temporary adoption of 5 additional sports in addition to the existing 28 core sports. There are five sports in total: cricket, flag football, lacrosse, squash, baseball, and softball.

The sports mentioned this time must undergo IOC review. The IOC's Olympic Program Committee will deliver a recommendation to the Executive Committee, and if this recommendation is accepted, it will be decided on whether to adopt it as an official event at the 141st IOC General Assembly to be held in Mumbai, India this month.

Casey Wasserman, chairman of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, said, "The sports proposed this time are ones that can be played in backyards, playgrounds, community centers, stadiums and parks in the United States and around the world." He added, "Through these sports, we will attract a diverse fan base and attract new athletes." “By participating in the Olympics, the presence of the game will increase,” he expressed his expectation.

As the IOC faced difficulties in selecting the host country, it opened the way for the events desired by the host country to become official events only for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics in order to ensure success for the host country.

In the 2024 Paris Olympics, in addition to the core sports included in each competition, such as track and field, swimming, and gymnastics, breakdancing, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding were added as official sports. Previously, five sports were held at the Tokyo Olympics, including baseball, softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing.

It was unclear whether baseball would re-enter the Olympics, but in the case of the 2028 LA Games, it is interpreted that the organizing committee is trying to re-enter baseball into the Olympics, considering that the host country, the United States, is the 'baseball country'. If baseball becomes an official sport again without any problems, it is expected to appear on the Olympic stage for the first time in seven years since the Tokyo Olympics.

LA stands out even more because it was the first place where baseball entered the Olympics. Baseball first became an official sport at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and was held as a demonstration sport at the 1984 LA Olympics and the 1988 Seoul Olympics, with eight countries each participating.

In particular, when baseball was first invited to the Olympics 39 years ago, the place where the players played was Dodger Stadium. At that time, all 16 games, including 12 group stage games, semifinals, finals, and 3rd and 4th place matches, were held at Dodger Stadium.

Baseball has not yet been confirmed as an official sport in 2028, so there are no stadium candidates put forward by the LA Olympic organizing committee, and there is a stadium used by the LA Angels of the same major league, but considering symbolism, there is a possibility that baseball will be played at Dodger Stadium in the Olympics five years from now. This can be said to be big.

Since it is not a core sport, there is a limit on entries, so like the Tokyo Olympics, six countries will participate and it is expected to be held in about a week.

Baseball was associated with the Olympics as a demonstration sport at the 1984 LA Games and the 1988 Seoul Games, and was then adopted as an official sport at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Baseball was held at every event until the 2008 Beijing Games, but was left out ahead of the 2012 London Olympics and was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The competition could not be held.

Afterwards, it became an official sport again at the Tokyo Games held in Japan, where baseball enthusiasm is high.

Korea was eliminated from the Asian qualifiers at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where baseball was first adopted as an official sport, but participated in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and came in last place. Then, at the 2000 Sydney Games, a large number of professional players came out to win bronze medals and enjoy the joy of being their first Olympic medalist.

At the 2004 Athens Games, they experienced the bitter taste of being eliminated from the preliminaries by Japan and Taiwan, but at the 2008 Beijing Games, young players such as Ryu Hyun-jin, Kim Gwang-hyun, and Kim Hyun-soo showed great success, writing the 'gold medal in 9 games' legend and entering their heyday.

Afterwards, baseball suffered the pain of being excluded from the core sports due to the absence of major league players and the rapid rise of other sports, but was revived under the condition of participation by six countries at the Tokyo Olympics. Korea also participated in the 2019 Premier 12 with the best performance in Asia other than Japan (the host country of the Tokyo Olympics), but failed to win a medal after losing to the Dominican Republic in the 3rd and 4th place match.

The baseball world has expectations that if baseball is revived as an official sport at the LA Olympics, a team centered on young players who won the Hangzhou Asian Games will be able to achieve good results.

Korean baseball took second place in the 2009 WBC, when the semifinals and finals were held at Dodger Stadium.

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