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Softball was introduced as a World Games sport at the 1981 World Games in Santa Clara and discontinued after the 1985 games in London. It was reintroduced as a women's invitational sport in 2009 in Kaohsiung after it had been removed from the Olympic Games programme, and from 2022 it was again part of the official programme.
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 Santa Clara |  United States (USA) | United States (USA) |  Canada (CAN) |
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 Santa Clara | United States (USA) | Canada (CAN) |  Bahamas (BAH) |
| 1985 London | United States (USA) |  Chinese Taipei (TPE) |  Netherlands (NED) |
| 2009 Kaohsiung |  Japan (JPN) | Chinese Taipei (TPE) |  South Korea (KOR) |
| 2013 Cali |  Cuba (CUB) |  Venezuela (VEN) |  Colombia (COL) |
| 2022 Birmingham | United States (USA) | Japan (JPN) | Chinese Taipei (TPE) |
Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing body, namely an International Federation (IF).
The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) is the former worldwide governing body of baseball. It has since been superseded by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and continues to exist as the WBSC's baseball division.
A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events.
Wrestling at the Olympic Games first appeared at the first modern Olympics, in the form of Greco-Roman wrestling, held in Athens in 1896. Wrestling would appear at every Summer Olympics held since then, with the exception of the 1900 Summer Olympics when wrestling did not appear on the program. Freestyle wrestling and weight classes both made their first appearance at the 1904 Summer Olympics. Women's freestyle wrestling competition was first held at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Softball was on the Olympic program from 1996 to 2008. It was introduced at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was removed from the program for 2012 and 2016, but was added for a one-off appearance, along with baseball, for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
The 1981 World Games were the first World Games, an international multi-sport event, and were held in Santa Clara, California, United States. The games featured sports that were not included in the Olympics, including tug-of-war, racquetball, baseball and softball, artistic roller skating, roller hockey, roller speed skating, finswimming, karate, women's water polo, bowling, bodybuilding, waterskiing, casting, badminton, trampoline, powerlifting and taekwondo. Best estimates for attendance figures were that about 80,000 spectators witnessed the first World Games.
Softball in Australia is played in Australia.
The Women's Softball World Cup is a fastpitch softball tournament for women's national teams held historically every four years, now every two years, by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The tournament, originally known as the ISF Women's World Championship, was sanctioned by the International Softball Federation (ISF) until that body's 2013 merger with the International Baseball Federation to create the WBSC. The number of teams in the tournament began at five in its inaugural event in 1965, went to a high of 28 for the 1994 edition, and now the WBSC Code legislates that the maximum number of teams that may participate is 16. There are qualifying tournaments that determine which countries will play at the World Cup.
Fastpitch softball, or simply fastpitch, is a form of softball played by both women and men. While the teams are most often segregated by sex, coed fast-pitch leagues also exist.
Estonia first competed as a nation at the 1920 Summer Olympics, two years after the country declared independence from the then warring Russian and German Empires in 1918. The Estonian National Olympic Committee was established in 1923. The first Winter Olympics for independent Estonia were the 1928 Winter Olympics. Estonian athletes took part in the Olympic Games until the country was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. The 1980 Summer Olympics sailing regatta was held in Tallinn, Soviet-occupied Estonia. Since the end of the Soviet occupation in 1991, Estonia has participated in all Olympics. Estonia has won most of its medals in wrestling (11), weightlifting (7), cross-country skiing (7) and athletics (6).
The Australia women's national softball team, also known as the Aussie Spirit, is the national softball team of Australia. It is governed by Softball Australia and takes part in international softball competitions. They are one of Australia's most successful women's sporting teams on the world stage, and they have achieved outstanding results over the last 3 decades. Alongside the USA team, the Aussie Spirit are the only other team to medal at all 4 Olympics that softball was included as a sport in the Olympics program. At the inaugural Women's Softball World Championship held in Melbourne, 1965. Australia claimed the first ever title, winning Gold and stamped themselves as a pioneer in the sport.
Canada's Senior Women's National Softball Team represents Canada in international softball. They are overseen by Softball Canada, the governing body of softball in Canada.
Netball has never been played at the Summer Olympics, but its federation has been recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), since 1995 after a twenty-year period of lobbying. The netball community sees netball's absence at the Olympic Games as a hindrance to the global growth of the game, depriving it of media attention and funding. The IOC requires a high geographical scope for inclusion in the Olympics, but netball is mostly played in Commonwealth countries. When the IOC recognized netball's federation, it opened up sources of funds that the global netball community had not been able to access before, including the (IOC), national Olympic committees and sports organisations, and state and federal governments.
The Pan American Games sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer Olympic Games. In addition, traditional and popular sports throughout the Americas which are not contested at the Olympic Games are also contested such as bowling and baseball. As of 2015, the Pan American Games included 36 sports with 51 disciplines and 364 events. The number and kinds of events may change slightly from one Pan American Games to another.
Softball is played in the Australian state of Victoria.
The World Games sports comprise all the sports contested in The World Games.
World Baseball Softball Confederation is the world governing body for the sports of baseball, softball, and Baseball5. It was established in 2013 by the merger of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and International Softball Federation (ISF), the former world governing bodies for baseball and softball, respectively. Under WBSC's organizational structure, IBAF and ISF now serve as the Baseball Division and Softball Division of WBSC. Each division is governed by an executive committee, while the WBSC is governed by an executive board.
The 2022 World Games were an international multi-sport event held from July 7 to 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. They were the 11th World Games, a multi-sport event featuring disciplines of Olympic sports and other competitions that are not currently contested at the Olympic Games; the Games featured 3,600 athletes competing in 206 medal events over 30 sports.
The rate of participation of women in the Olympic Games has been increasing since their first participation in 1900. Some sports are uniquely for women, others are contested by both sexes, while some older sports remain for men only. Studies of media coverage of the Olympics consistently show differences in the ways in which women and men are described and the ways in which their performances are discussed. The representation of women on the International Olympic Committee has run well behind the rate of female participation, and it continues to miss its target of a 20% minimum presence of women on their committee.
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