Softball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing took place over a ten day period starting August 12 and culminating in the medal finals on August 21. All games were played at the Fengtai Softball Field. Olympic softball is a women only competition, with men competing in the similar sport of baseball. The International Olympic Committee has voted to remove softball from the program for the 2012 Olympics. Many theories abound, but the most common one is that the U.S. teams are simply too dominant in the sport, having won gold in the previous three Olympics and winning them convincingly. 2008... was the last time that softball will be contested at the Olympics unless it is reinstated at a future date. The IOC declined to include softball in the 2016 Summer Olympics at its October 2009 meeting. In one of the major upsets of the 2008 Summer Olympics, Japan defeated U.S. 3-1 to win the gold medal. The Americans have won gold and dominated their opponents in the previous three Olympics. This is the only Olympic Softball Gold Medal that the U.S. has not won. Their dominance was cited as one of the reasons why the IOC voted to drop the sport from the 2012 Olympics.
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August 12, 2008 - August 21, 2008
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