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Norman Makes Pitch For Golf In Olympics
Shanghai, China - Former world No. 1 Greg Norman has called again for golf to be included in the Olympics, saying it would be due recognition of the sport's global appeal.
 | | "I had hoped to have played in the Olympics," Norman said Sunday after tying for 14th place at the BMW Asian Open.. |
The Australian and two-time British Open winner has long campaigned for the Olympic movement to embrace golf, and would like to see countries field teams made up of professionals and amateurs.
"I had hoped to have played in the Olympics. That is a long time past me but hopefully other players will have the chance to experience it," Norman, 53, said yesterday after tying for 14th place at the BMW Asian Open.
"The game of golf is truly played on a global basis. It is played by all races and it is played on every continent."
Norman said there are about 50 or 60 million people around the world who play golf.
"If you think about male and female professionals, as well as the amateurs, the game of golf canvases a lot of people," he said.
Other prominent people in the sport to have recently made similar comments are PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Billy Payne and world No. 2 Phil Mickelson.
Golf was one of five sports - along with karate, roller sports, squash, and rugby - that applied for one of two spots in the 2012 London Olympics after baseball and softball were voted out.
But International Olympic Committee voters rejected it in the third round of voting, instead sending karate and squash to the final stage of the process. But voters ultimately failed to give those sports the two-thirds majority needed for inclusion in the 2012 lineup.
Golf will be considered again for the 2016 Olympics, the IOC said last week.
The last time golf was in the Games was in 1904, when Canadian George Lyon won gold.
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