Rugby: Making the case for 2016

Olympic fans might have to brush up on some new sports or they might rejoice at the return of some familiar ones as the International Olympic Committee's executive board meets this week in Berlin to analyze bids from seven sports vying for a spot on the docket at the 2016 Olympic Games.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said Friday in published reports that a review of seven sports --- baseball, golf, karate, rugby sevens, roller sports, softball and squash --- will take place Thursday at a board meeting before the opening ceremony at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin.

The IOC will vote on Oct. 9 for a maximum of two sports to be added to the Games at the 121^st IOC Session and XIII Olympic Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Softball and baseball had been part of the Olympic Games but were hit with a huge curveball in 2005 when the IOC voted to exclude the sports for the London 2012 Games. Both sports were part of the Olympic program last summer in Beijing. Golf was an Olympic sport once, back in 1904 in St. Louis.

Rugby sevens, squash, karate, golf and roller sports made bids to become Olympic sports back in 2005 but none of them earned required two-thirds majority vote. This time around, only a simple majority is required.

Today, we examine each of these sports as the vote for their inclusion approaches.

Rugby sevens has found its way into the Asian Games, Mediterranean Games, South Pacific Games and Commonwealth Games.

Now, the International Rugby Board is hoping for one more major step. The IRB is behind the push to get the sport-different from the more common rugby union-into the 2016 Olympic program.

Six other sports - baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, softball and squash-also have made formal presentations to be included in the 2016 Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee Executive Board is scheduled to recommend two of the sports Aug. 13 and the IOC membership will make the final decision when it votes October in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed," said Kevin Swiryn, the captain of the United States rugby sevens team. "I don't know if it's more about our hopes, but we feel like things are good. Most rugby people think, 'How can they not take us?' The sport is so popular worldwide and it's for men and women, but there are so many variables that are considered."

The IRB is banking on the faster, seven-player game as the best fit for the Olympic Games. Many believe rugby sevens is a more fan-friendly version of the sport and its short games would make it easier to fit the tournament into the Olympic schedule.

The more traditional form of rugby-rugby union-uses 15 players to a side and was included in the Olympic Games between 1900 and 1924. But longer games and more rest needed between games make that unmanageable as part of a multi-sport festival.

IRB president Bernard Lapasset and secretary general Mike Miller explained the choice of sevens over 15s while taking questions from the committee following their June presentation. They cited examples of how the game has fit into other multi-sport events and how it was well-received by live and television audiences.

According to a page on the IRB Web site addressing the subject, "the IRB believes that rugby sevens would add value to the Olympic Games by attracting a proven young international audience to a globally popular sport, which reflects all Olympic ideals."

U.S. coach Al Caravelli said the players are behind the idea.

"If you ask any athlete, his or her culmination, the biggest achievement would be the Olympics," Caravelli said. "With the possibility of winning a medal, I don't think you'd have any athlete not be available."

The Olympic Games are well-timed with the current international schedule for rugby sevens, which runs from late November to the end of May. The tour makes stops in eight countries. A typical 16-team event features 44 games in a two-day period.

"We're very fortunate that our offseason is summer in the northern hemisphere," Caravelli said. "It fits."

Just as the Olympic Games fit the rugby sevens schedule, Caravalli believes the rugby sevens style fits the Games.

By spreading a small number of players over the same sized field, rugby sevens packs more high-speed action into the open spaces during 14-minute games, compared to the 80-minute format for 15s.

"We've been getting crowds of anywhere from 28,000 to 52,000," Caravelli said. "It's a great spectator sport and, in 14 minutes, there's another game.

"The public likes it. There's a lot of scoring."

The open space serves to emphasize the athleticism of the athletes involved.

"It's easier to pick up rugby sevens," Caravelli said. "There's not as much strategy so experience is not as important. It's about athleticism. You can show your athleticism."

Caravelli said skilled athletes from track & field, football and even water polo are gravitating to rugby sevens, where they then need to pick up the skills unique to the game.

"It accentuates the core skills of passing, running, receiving of passes, tackling ability," he said, "all the skills inherent in rugby."

Caravelli said people in the sport are hopeful but uncertain after a near-miss in a bid to be added into the London 2012 Olympic Games. Karate and squash were selected as the two finalists, but they did not receive the two-thirds super majority from the IOC members. This time around, the sport needs a simple majority.

"We're cautiously optimistic, but last time the vote was through, we felt very confident, especially when they got rid of baseball and softball," Caravelli said. "We thought rugby was going to be in, but they didn't being any sports in."

Caravelli said he thinks the sport has been well received while observed by IOC members, and he points out that at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, only the opening and closing ceremonies drew more spectators than the second day of rugby sevens competition.

Swiryn, a former scholarship football player before St. Mary's College in California dropped the sport, said he has fallen in love with the sport and he thinks others will, too, if it gets exposure that the Olympic Games could provide.

"The hardest thing for me was the fitness," Swiryn said. "In football, you're such a power athlete and endurance is not as big a factor.

"Skill-wise, it took time to learn some of the passing. It's still taking time to master."

There are more skills for each player, according to Swiryn, who compared it to practicing the same steps over and over as a receiver to try to refine pass routes.

"In rugby, it's how do you catch it, run with it, kick it, pass it and how do you defend," he said.

Swiryn said current rugby players behind the push to be included in the Olympic Games want to keep attracting more top athletes to their game.

Caravelli and Swiryn are among those who think others will fall for the sport if given the chance to see it in the Olympics. According to the IRB, there are already about 3 million players involved in the sport in 116 countries. Fiji, Samoa, Argentina, South Africa, Kenya and New Zealand are among those who have shown the ability to compete for titles with countries more accustomed to world championships in other sports.

"If I never stepped on the field for the Olympic team, I could care less if I knew I was a part of the groundwork of getting it," Swiryn said. "It's about the future development of the sport.

"When you play a sport and fall in love with it, it's not about you, it's about the greater good."

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Tom Robinson is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.