SOFTBALL

1996 :Softball made its first appearance as an official medal sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics. The competition was held at historic Golden Park in Columbus, Georgia, United States. Countries competing at the 1996Summer Olympics included the United States, China, Australia, Japan, Canada, Taiwan, the Netherlands and Puerto Rico.

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2000 :The Games were held in Sydney, Australia. Countries competing at the 2000 Summer Olympics included the United States, Japan, Australia, China, Italy, New Zealand, Cuba and Canada. The United States won the gold medal for the second time

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2004 :The Games were held in Athens, Greece. Countries competing at the 2004 Summer Olympics included the United States, Australia, Japan, China, Canada, Taiwan, Greece and Italy.Only one hitter at the 2004 game was able to score a run off the American team's pitchers. That hitter was Stacey Porter of Australia.The United States won the gold while Australia took silver and Japan the bronze.

 

2008 :The 2006 edition of the ISF Women's World Championship was very important as the Championships were used for Olympic qualifying, with the top four finishers going to the Olympic Games. In 2006, the fourth-place finishers automatically qualified to the Games because China was the Olympic Games based on that. Thus, there was a battle for fifth place between Canada and Italy for Olympic qualifications. In the match for fifth, Canada won 3–0 and earned their fourth consecutive trip to the Olympics. Japan won the 2008 Summer Olympics softball gold medal, with the United States taking home silver