FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 25, 2003

TEST EVENT PARTICIPANTS SET
Teams Will Test Venue That Will Host
Olympic Softball Competition Next Year

The four teams that will play in the Olympic Sport Test Event in March were announced today by International Softball Federation (ISF) President Don Porter. The competition will take place at the Hellenikon Olympic Park, the softball venue for the competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics. The teams were selected by the ISF in conjunction with the Athens Organizing Committee (ATHOC).

The Czech Republic, Great Britain, Greece, and Russia will compete March 24-28 at the facility, at the site of the old airport of Hellenikon. In Athens earlier this week, Mr. Porter and ISF Secretary General Andrew Loechner saw the progress of the venue and said that it is approximately 80% complete. The event will be conducted to test the venue facilities and technology to be used in the Games in August, as well as the grounds and other workings of the venue. Each sport holds a “test event” to assess the readiness of their particular venue. Some of these events have already taken place.

Of the four competing teams next March, only the host team will be back on that same field in August for the Olympic competition. With the aid of the ISF, the team, led by Head Coach Linda Wells, has been put together over the span of just the last couple years. The Czech Republic were the runners-up at the European Olympic Qualifier in Italy this past June. Great Britain finished fifth at this year's European Championships but was extremely competitive, with six of their eight round robin games being decided by three runs or less (in the other two – both wins – they scored a combined total of 17 runs). Russia lost to Italy in the Final to finish second at the same event. The Czech Republic and Russia were also 2002 ISF Women’s World Championship participants.

The test event prior to the 2000 Olympic softball competition was called the International Fastpitch Softball Cup, and took place at the end of April (2000) in Blacktown, Australia. The following teams (listed in order of finish) participated: Australia, Japan, China, New Zealand, and Canada. In August 1995, “Superball,” the test event held prior to softball’s Olympic debut (1996), took place in Atlanta, Georgia (USA). The final standings (including round robin) were: USA (5-1), Australia (5-1), China (4-2), Chinese Taipei (2-4), Japan (1-4), Puerto Rico (0-5). A crowd of more than 7,000 was on-hand for the event’s Final.

The International Softball Federation is the world governing body of the sport as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF). Softball (women's fast pitch) made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. There are 124 affiliated countries in the ISF and millions of participants in the sport worldwide.

For more information, please contact ISF Director of Communications Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@internationalsoftball.com or (813) 864-0100, ext. 229.