SOFTBALL: UEBERROTH CHALLENGES IOC.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne Staff Writer

Peter Ueberroth, the man who brought the Olympics to Los Angeles in 1984, wants softball reinstated for the 2012 London Summer Games.

Calling the decision to drop softball, ``unfair,'' Ueberroth said the United States Olympic Committee he heads is exploring plans to appeal the ruling.

``Women's softball has been unfairly eliminated and we're going to seek to have the decision overturned,'' Ueberroth said. ``We're going to do that in a respectful way and we don't have the plans totally formulated yet. ... But (softball) is certainly not dead.''

Last week, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge tried to dissuade such an appeal, telling reporters in Singapore, ``the decision we've taken in the session is final,'' after several IOC members raised the possibility of keeping softball and baseball alive for 2012.

Rogge said baseball and softball could re-apply in 2009 to be included in the 2016 Olympics. The U.S. softball team has won all three gold medals since the sport was added to the Summer Games in 1996.

Ueberroth met with the United States national softball team Tuesday afternoon in Irvine to discuss the situation and the USOC's options for an appeal. He doesn't think softball should have to wait that long.

``Peter has always been supportive of softball and he's been extremely supportive in trying to turn this around,'' said Don Porter, president of the International Softball Federation, who lobbied for the sport at the meeting in Singapore. ``He wants to take up the charge on this here and we're grateful for his support. ... We don't want to let this go.''

Porter said he has received several phone calls from IOC members who said they were shocked by the decision and urged him to press on with an appeal.

``I've had so many IOC members talk to me since Singapore saying the problem was our association with baseball,'' Porter said. ``I think we got tied in with baseball and the IOC was inclined to take baseball out of the program and a lot of the IOC members think that we're women's baseball.''

Porter said the ISF sent a letter to Rogge on Monday requesting the vote count of the secret ballot from Singapore. It took only a simple majority to eliminate a sport.

Rogge, who has pushed for the ouster of softball and baseball since 2002, has said softball was hurt by its lack of ``universality.''

Softball has 126 Member National Federations, of which 113 correspond to one of the 202 National Olympic Committees. The continent with the highest number of national federations was Europe (36), compared to 32 in North America.

Softball sold 83 percent of its allotted tickets at the 2000 Sydney Games but only 51 percent of its allotted tickets in the 2004 Athens Games.

Ramona Shelburne, [phone]

ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

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PETER UEBERROTH

U.S. Olympic Committee leader wants softball reinstated for 2012 Olympics.