Softball

Softball began in the 1890s as a variant of baseball, usually played by women. It was originally called mushball, kittenball, or indoor baseball, but acquired the name softball by the 1920s. In the United States, the sport became organized with the formation of the Amateur Softball Association in 1933. Several variants of the sport exist in the United States, including fast-pitch, modified fast-pitch, and slow-pitch.

The sport’s international organization started by being the International Softball Federation (ISF), which was formed in 1952. When the IOC classified softball and baseball as disciplines within one sport, the ISF merged with the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) to become the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) on 14 April 2013, in Tokyo, Japan. As of January 2026, the WBSC has 192 national federations (185 full members and seven provisional members) and 15 associated members in 142 countries and territories.

Men’s and women’s softball were featured at the inaugural edition of the World Games in 1981, and the 1985 edition included a women’s tournament as well. Softball (fast-pitch) made its début as a full-medal sport for women at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. It was one of the few sports on the Olympic Programme open only to women, also including artistic swimming (then synchronized swimming) and rhythmic gymnastics.

In 2009, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to remove softball, alongside baseball, from the Olympic Programme, although it noted the sport could re-apply for 2016. In that same year, softball would return to the World Games, repeating its presence in 2013, but both times just as an invitational sport.

The sport worked hard to be added back to the Olympic Games and, on 3 August 2016, at the IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro, it was voted back on the Olympic Programme for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, along with baseball.

Softball then failed to be a part of the Olympic Programme for Paris 2024 but, in August 2022, the Los Angeles 2028 Organizing Committee shortlisted nine proposed sports for consideration as optional events for those Olympics, with one of those sports being baseball/softball. Also in 2022, women’s softball returned to the World Games as an official sport.

At the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai, India, in 2023, the IOC approved baseball/softball as an optional sport for the 2028 Olympics, along with four other sports. In 2025, softball repeated its presence in the World Games as an official sport for the second time in a row, and also including a men’s tournament.

The United States leads the Olympic medal table, with five medals and three golds. There are four players with three gold medals (all from the United States), and four players with a total of four medals (including three Australians), but only American Laura Berg is on both lists.