Golf Channel while covering the PGA Championship plans to also have full coverage of golf’s inclusion for the 2016 Olympics by speaking with several noted Olympians tonight. Check out the Golf Channel’s press release.
Olympic Greats Join Debate on Golf as Potential Pick for 2016 Games
Carl Lewis, Peter Ueberroth Offer Perspective on GOLF CHANNEL’s Live From the PGA Championship
CHASKA, Minn. (Aug. 13, 2009) – Golf came one step closer to becoming an Olympic sport today and GOLF CHANNEL’s Live From the PGA Championship covered the story with insight from track and field gold medalist Carl Lewis and former chairman of the United States Olympic Committee Peter Ueberroth.
Ty Votaw, executive vice president of international affairs and communications for the PGA TOUR and the executive coordinating the Olympic golf movement on behalf of The International Golf Federation, first joined Kelly Tilghman on the GOLF CHANNEL set at Hazeltine National Golf Club. He emphasized that while the announcement meant golf is one step closer to being reinstated as an Olympic sport, the process in not over.
“We feel very good about the story we have been able to tell to this point in the process. We feel very good about the fact the story resulted in us making the cut,” said Votaw. “If we are lucky enough to get the vote in October, obviously that will send a message to national Olympic committees that golf is a sport that they can become competitive. If they invest and allocate resources associated with that, it will be an enormous jumpstart to growing the game around the world.”
Golf Channel reporter Jim Gray, who has covered 10 Olympic Games, supported golf’s inclusion, saying that it would boost the game’s popularity worldwide. He noted that since professional basketball players have been included in the Games, the number of international players competing in the NBA has tripled.
Lewis agreed with the assumption that golf would benefit. “For a lot of people, golf is a new sport. It’s something that everyone can participate in, and I think it would be great for the sport and the Olympic movement. When you give people like Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods the opportunity to be in the Olympic movement, it definitely helps it.”
The International Olympic Committee’s final vote on whether to add as many as two sports will take place on Oct. 9 at the 121st IOC session in Copenhagen, Denmark. While the membership of the IOC is not obliged to follow the Executive Board’s recommendation, the Board’s decision is based on an extensive review process of seven candidate sports that has included formal presentations, the submission of a Detailed Questionnaire and responses to questions raised by both the IOC Program Commission and the IOC Executive Board. The IOC Executive Board announced its decision today following a meeting in Berlin, Germany.
“It’s 90 percent there. The executive board approved this sport and the rest of the members have always wanted it,” Ueberroth said in an interview with Gray. “It is a sport where every little country can have a competitor, virtually every country in the world. Singapore is going to have a great player and have a chance to medal. All of the flags that will represent the game of golf and the Olympic movement are going to be very special.”
Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Live From the PGA Championship, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member and former gold medalist Larry Bird is scheduled to share his opinion about golf in the Olympics.
I’m still not sure about having golf in the Olympics. Make it like the Ryder or Solheim Cup and I might get excited.
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