Olympic Newsdesk -- Schiller Comments on Failed Baseball Bid; Badminton Worlds End Uneventfully

Schiller Laments IOC EB Decision

International Baseball Federation president Harvey Schiller says Major League Baseball’s inability to stop its season for the Olympics was a determining factor behind the sport being passed over for reinstatement to the Games in 2016. Schiller made the comments in an open letter released on Monday.

Schiller said that while Major League Baseball was supportive of baseball’s bid for re-inclusion, the league wasn’t able to find a way to bring a halt to its season. As a result, he said, the IOC was not convinced of baseball’s ability to attract its top players to the Games.

“We had unprecedented support from Major League Baseball, the Players Association and the Japanese League with regard to scheduling concessions and player availability and even submitted a list of statements from top players to the IOC in the last week with regard to player commitment,” Schiller said in the letter.

“The one thing MLB could not do was stop the season for the 2016 Olympics, especially without knowing which city was being selected as host. It is not a concession asked of soccer or tennis or other sports and we did everything possible to provide the best alternative plan that would include using top players for the five-day tournament. It is important to note that not one professional or top amateur player, when asked, said he would not participate in 2016 if his country qualified and he was selected. Not one.”

Schiller said the lack of support from countries it expected stronger backing from hurt the sport in the IOC vote.

“Of the countries where we thought we would have had 100 percent support – Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, Germany and Mexico especially – we never received more than two votes per round, meaning for some reason unknown to us, even those countries where the sport is strong, officials still didn’t think that baseball should be part of the Olympic program, despite all that we had done,” he said.

The IOC’s rejection of baseball twice in the last four years makes another attempt at reinstatement for 2020 unlikely, according to Schiller.

“At this point, we do not think that would be prudent for a number of reasons, the biggest of which is that baseball has now been rejected twice by the senior members of the IOC, which is a clear message that despite any changes we make, we are not part of their plan,” Schiller said.

Badminton Worlds End Without a Hitch

Threats of terrorism and swine flu never materialized as the world badminton championships came to an uneventful conclusion in Hyderabad, India, on Sunday.

“In the beginning, there were some problems of security and swine flu, but from the fourth day, there was no problem. The last three days of the tournament went on very well,” world badminton championships organizing secretary Punnaiah Choudhary told the Indo-Asian News Service.

Concerns about security dominated the early part of the tournament, with the entire English team and Austrian players Peter Zauner and Juergen Koch withdrawing. China and Denmark also threatened to drop out, due to anxiety over protection from possible terrorist attacks.

However, China and Denmark remained in the tournament and the 1,000 security personnel deployed by the Hyderabad police, including 45 armed guards trained in anti-terror operations, apparently kept the event secure.

“We are happy and satisfied with the security provided for the championships. The police took all necessary steps to allay any apprehensions among the participants after the pull-out by the English team,” BWF chief operating officer Thomas Lund told the Indo-Asian News Service.

Swine flu also threatened the badminton worlds as a Malaysian coach was quarantined with symptoms of the H1N1 virus earlier in the week. There was an outbreak of the illness in Andhra Pradesh state, which had reported 76 positive cases.

Swine flu concerns were alleviated when the Malaysian coach tested negative for H1N1 on Wednesday and the rest of the tournament proceeded without any incidents.

China, which was close to withdrawing earlier in the week, dominated the tournament with four gold medals in the five events contested. The Chinese won both gold and silver in the men’s and women’s singles and men’s doubles and gold in the women’s doubles. Denmark claimed the title in the mixed doubles competition.

Phelps Admits to Drinking Before Car Crash

Michael Phelps has admitted drinking before his accident last week in Baltimore, but police said he will be cited with only driving without a license and failure to establish residency in Maryland. This was Phelps’ second publicized driving incident involving alcohol.

Phelps told police he drank a beer more than an hour before the crash. Police did not administer a field sobriety because Phelps did not show any signs of being impaired.

Police said the accident was not Phelps’ fault. The other driver ran a red light and Phelps' Cadillac Escalade crashed into the side of her car, police said.

In 2004, Phelps pleaded guilty to drunken driving in Wicomico County Maryland after testing with.08 blood alcohol content – the legal limit in Maryland. He served 18 months of probation, paid a $250 fine and attended a victim impact meeting sponsored by Mother Against Drunk Driving.

... Briefs

... Jibril Rajoub, president of the Palestine Olympic Committee, was elected to the Fatah Central Committee last week. Rajoub, 56, was a security official under Yasser Arafat and served time in Israeli prison for attacking Israeli military vehicles. He is also president of the Palestine Football Association.

...Two-time Olympian swimmer Natalie Coughlin and Vancouver snowboarding hopeful Louie Vito will be appear on the television show "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC this fall. Coughlin is a two-time Olympian and has a total of 11 Olympic medals. Vito, a 21-year old Ohio native, turned pro in 2006. He is relatively short at 5 feet, 5 inches tall.

Written by Greg Oshust.