The International Olympic Committee, at a general meeting in Mexico last week, discussed a proposal to drop three sports -- baseball, softball and the modern pentathlon -- from the 2008 Beijing Games, but in the end decided to postpone a decision until after the 2004 Games take place in Athens. IOC members who attended the meeting expressed dissatisfaction, saying that not enough time had been spent on proper discussions. They insisted that the reasons for the proposal -- for example, the popularity of those sports and the cost of building facilities -- were too vague and abstract.
The IOC's program committee only proposed dropping these sports in August, so its attempt to reach a conclusion in only three months was rather hasty. Because there was no serious questioning of the pros and cons of dropping those sports and in the end the matter was shelved, the leadership skills of IOC President Jacques Rogge have been called into question.
However, it is wrong to criticize Mr. Rogge for mismanagement simply on the basis of the outcome of this session. The Olympics are becoming bloated as the number of sports, events and participants continues to rise, and commercialism is now rampant. And then there is the logrolling displayed by IOC members, their lack of seriousness and the abominable scandal over the Salt Lake City bid.