Sevens misses the Olympic cut

IOC rejects rugby

Sevens has failed in its bid to be included on the roster for the London Olympics of 2012.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have decided to ditch baseball and softball from the Olympic programme, but will not be replacing them with other disciplines.

Sevens - along with karate, golf, squash and roller hockey - all failed to win inclusion in a vote by the IOC in Singapore on Friday.

The IOC members went through seven rounds of voting to decide which two of the five sports should be put up for a vote to give them Olympic status.

Squash and karate were selected, before members overwhelmingly rejected their bids to join the Olympic programme.

The news comes as blow to the International Rugby Board (IRB) who lobbied hard for the inclusion of the abbreviated form of the game, and to the Rugby Football Union (RFU) who were in line to stage the Olympic competition.

The IRB had argued that Sevens would bring in more spectators, more viewers and more commercial revenue than the majority of the existing Olympic disciplines.

"There has been much talk in the sporting world about the need for the Olympic Games to move with the times and be relevant to todays youth, athletes and society," said IRB president Syd Millar after the vote.

"The world around us is evolving at a rapid pace and the Olympic sports programme should reflect this.

"The IRB put forward a strong case that Rugby Sevens reflects the future. It is a fast, colourful and exciting sport that has a well-established and hugely popular following.

"Rugby is played by three million people around the world including talented athletes from the all the continents of the world.

"In terms of broadcast, commercial and ticket sales opportunities it has been demonstrated through the IOCs own evaluation process that Rugby Sevens is among the top five in most categories in comparison to the existing Olympic sports.

"In the last 12 months 86 countries have competed at IRB Sevens events, the Rugby World Cup Sevens in March at Hong Kong was played in front of 120,000 spectators and was broadcast to 300 million homes with a potential audience of 700 million in 153 territories."

RFU boss Francis Baron said: The RFU is disappointed that Rugby Sevens has not been included in the 2012 Olympic Games. We believe it would have contributed greatly to the London and subsequent Games and we fully supported the International Rugby Board in their bid.

However, we respect the decision of the IOC and we will continue to assist the IRB with their efforts to expand Rugby Sevens and the wider sport across the globe.

The ruling means that the United States will remain the Olympic rugby champions for the forseeable future.

Rugby was introduced to the Olympic Games in 1900 and France beat Germany to win gold at the Paris Games.

Only two sides competed in 1908 when Australia beat Great Britain to claim gold.

It was not played at Stockholm in 1912 but returned after World War One and the USA beat France in 1920 and 1924 to win gold at both Games.

Four years later the IOC turned down the request for rugby to be staged at the Amsterdam Games and it has not returned since.

But it is a thriving Commonwealth Games sport and will also feature in this year's Asian Games.

Baseball and softball, the first sports to be cut from the Olympics since polo in 1936, will remain on the Olympic programme for Beijing 2008.