<P> After a twenty - year hiatus, Olympic baseball (labelled an exhibition sport / event by the IOC) returned but with tournament formatting (1984 Los Angeles). At the 1988 Seoul games, it was termed a demonstration sport . Japan defeated the United States in the inaugural tournament finale in 1984 . However, in 1988, the United States won over Japan . </P> <P> Baseball became an official sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics, with the familiar eight team tournament . Players were required to be amateurs . The tournament consisted of a round - robin, in which teams played each of the other teams, followed by semifinals and finals . The format of the competition remained the same after that, with the only major change being that starting in 2000 players were not required to be amateurs . </P> <P> At the IOC meeting on July 7, 2005, baseball and softball were voted out of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, becoming the first sports voted out of the Olympics since polo was eliminated from the 1936 Olympics . The elimination excised 16 teams and more than 300 athletes from the 2012 Olympics . The two slots left available by the IOC's elimination were subsequently filled by golf and rugby sevens in 2016 . This decision was reaffirmed on February 9, 2006 . In the stands during the 2008 bronze medal game between the U.S. and Japan, IOC head Jacques Rogge was interviewed by MLB. com's Mark Newman and cited various criteria for baseball to earn its way back in: "To be on the Olympic program is an issue where you need universality as much as possible . You need to have a sport with a following, you need to have the best players and you need to be in strict compliance with WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). And these are the qualifications that have to be met . When you have all that, you have to win hearts . You can win the mind, but you still must win hearts ." It was officially decided in August 2009 at the IOC Board meeting in Berlin that baseball would also not be included in the 2016 Summer Olympics . </P> <P> On April 1, 2011, the IBAF and the International Softball Federation announced they were preparing a joint proposal to revive play of both sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics . </P>

Why was baseball removed from the pantheon of olympic sports
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