OLYMPIC REINSTATEMENT CAMPAIGN BRANDED
2007-06-27

ENSCHEDE, NETHERLANDS -- It is widely known that the International Softball Federation (ISF) has been working to get the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – at its Session in 2009 in Denmark – to reinstate women’s fast pitch softball to the programme of the 2016 Summer Games. At a press conference here today, those efforts got a formal campaign name, logo, and website.

ISF President Don Porter announced that “Back Softball” will be the name used over the next two-plus years leading up to the 2009 vote. The logo accompanying this article reflects the corresponding image, which contains the colors of the Olympic rings. In addition, Mr. Porter announced that www.BackSoftball.com has been set up to specifically highlight the ISF’s Olympic Softball reinstatement efforts.

The press conference came during the ISF’s VIII Jr. Women’s World Championship (19-and-under), which began here last Wednesday and concludes on Saturday.

The formal announcement from today’s proceedings can be found in the Press Releases portion of the Communications section of this website as well as on the new BackSoftball.com site.

The Support Olympic Softball category in the Message Board section of internationalsoftball.com remains available for our website visitors to post their words of support.

In July 2005 the IOC voted on the programme of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and dropped softball. The ISF sought a reconsideration vote, but when the IOC convened in February 2006 in conjunction with the Winter Games, they voted against having a re-vote on softball’s 2012 status.