Absence of Golf's Top Competitors in Rio "Disappointing," Olympian Rojas says

Exactly 30 days from now (August 6th) will be the first full day of competition in Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympics, which will mark the return of golf to the Games programme. However, with that sport’s world #1 ranked player recently having become the latest to say that he too will not participate in the competition in Brazil, Olympian Ruby Rojas has issued the following statement.

"When I competed in the Olympics, the best softball players in the world were always participating in the Summer Games," she said. "And that’s the way it remains today. Putting softball back in the Olympics for 2020 in Japan would return the sport’s top players to the world’s stage. I can see why some of the top golfers are choosing to not go to this year’s Games, but it’s unfortunate because golf was a sport that was able to get onto the Summer Games programme only when softball was dropped from the Olympics. So, to go from a sport that was sending its best players to the Games every four years to one that won’t have top competitors from its sport in Rio is disappointing."

Rojas competed in 2008 at the Games in Beijing, playing for Venezuela’s Olympic softball team. She was also highly visible as an athlete ambassador under the International Softball Federation’s then BackSoftball campaign aimed at Olympic reinstatement. In that role Rojas, among other initiatives, appeared before the International Olympic Committee to speak on behalf of her sport.

A female empowerment champion and resident of California, Rojas has also been very visible as an envoy for the U.S. State Department, who has sent her abroad through their Empowering Women and Girls Through Sport Initiative. Through that programme she has traveled to the likes of Colombia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, making such an impact on the latter that they have since named an academy for her in Managua. (More information available at www.RubyRojas.com.)

Women’s fast pitch softball is being considered for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. A vote on that Games programme will be held during the IOC Session next month in Rio.

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