Olympic Changes Possible

The International Olympic Committee’s ruling executive board will hear a report today that calls for the elimination of some sports on the Olympic program, including softball, and their possible replacement by other sports.

Meantime, the new president of the winter Olympic sports federation dropped an unmistakable signal that the Olympic ice hockey tournament at the next Winter Games--in Turin, Italy, in 2006--may not include NHL players.

The IOC program has been the focus of study in recent months by an internal committee. Some within the IOC are known, for instance, to be intrigued by the prospect of including the world’s best golfers at the Games.

Baseball, softball, modern pentathlon and triathlon have each been under pressure in recent months. With the exception of softball, it was not clear late Tuesday which of those sports, if any, might be targeted. Influential IOC member Franco Carraro of Italy, who heads the internal study commission, could not be reached late Tuesday for comment.

Don Porter, president of the International Softball Federation, confirmed that softball is on the IOC’s list. He said in a telephone interview that he was “totally devastated,” adding, “It took us 30 years to get on the program. Now they want to throw us out?”

Any decision would take effect, at the soonest, at the 2008 Games in Beijing. Softball was first contested at the Games in Atlanta in 1996; the U.S. team won gold in Atlanta and in Sydney in 2000.

Olympic softball is played exclusively by women, and the IOC has shown significant interest in recent years in increasing the percentage of female athletes at the Games.

Dot Richardson, a star on both U.S. teams, said, “Fast-pitch softball is an avenue where women can stand between the lines and show the gifts God has given them in athletics. Just to even think that the talk is going on is so disappointing, and outrageous.”

Meantime, Rene Fasel, head of the International Ice Hockey Federation and newly elected chief of the association of winter Olympic sports, said the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics would “have a great tournament anyway” should the NHL and NHL Players Assn. decide against participating in the hockey competition.

The NHL suspended play to allow players to represent their homelands in the 1998 Nagano Games and again last February at the Salt Lake City Games. Both experiences produced mixed results. The league and players received beneficial international exposure, but some owners objected to the mid-season break and the prolongation of the season.

NHL spokesman Frank Brown said the league has made no commitment regarding players’ participation in the 2006 Olympics and said no decision is likely until the NHL and the union reach a new collective bargaining agreement. The current agreement expires Sept. 15, 2004.

Abrahamson reported from Chicago, Elliott from Los Angeles.