Major championship winners Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington have thrown their support behind a movement to include golf in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Golf is thought to be one of the sports that has the inside track on getting in when the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) 15-person executive board narrows the list of sports down to just two today.
Woods is pleased to see golf as a leading candidate and says reintroducing golf to the Olympics is long overdue.
“I think that golf is a truly global sport and I think it should have been in the Olympics a while ago,” Woods said. “If it does get in, I think it would be great for golf and especially some of the other smaller countries that are now emerging in golf. I think it’s a great way for them to compete and play and get the exposure that some of these countries aren’t getting.”
The final decision takes place on Oct. 9 in Copenhagen when the IOC’s 106-member assembly votes on the matter. The assembly can decide to take one or both sports in or reject them outright.
Woods said as long as he is still playing and healthy five years from now, he will take part.
“If I am not retired by then,” said Woods, who would be 40 years old then.
Other sports trying to make the Olympic lineup include rugby sevens, karate, squash, softball, baseball and roller sports.
Just the thought of being called an Olympian has three-time major champion Harrington excited.
“I would love to be an Olympian. Doesn’t that sound good?” he said. “Imagine us being Olympic athletes. I think it would be fantastic for golf. As a golfer, I would think we have all the credentials to be Olympians.
“It seems like it was always destined to be an Olympic sport. I’m sure there’s a lot of athletes out there that would never put golf as a sport, but trying to explain that to somebody that doesn’t play golf, they will never understand what goes into golf. Most golfers realize what goes into it and will see it as being a natural sport for the Olympics.”
Golf also fits the bill because high-profile athletes like Woods are recognizable around the world.
Golf has been in the Olympics twice, most recently in 1904 when Canada’s George Lyon won the gold medal.
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