Olympics: Rugby makes the cut

Rugby Sevens is one step away from the Olympics. The IOC Executive announced this afternoon that it and golf will be recommended for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Programme - the final decision being made by the the full IOC in Copenhagen in October.

Rugby, in fact, stormed to selection on the second round of voting - in fact it almost won on the first ballot. Each sport needed a majority of committee members, and rugby picked up 7 of the 14 votes first time around (karate got 3, baseball 2, and golf and softball 1 each. Roller sports and squash got nothing). Golf eventually came through as well, but another five rounds of voting were needed to separate it from karate (golf seemed to be almost everyone's second choice). You can see the results of all the votes here.

There is no guarantee that rugby will get through in Copenhagen, but with such strong support behind it the chances look very good indeed. Golf may find things a bit harder.

Details of the proposed format of the Olympic Sevens have also been released, and its rather different to the Sevens World Cup - fewer teams for starters.

• It will last between two and four days.
• 12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams would be split into two pools of six.
• The two top teams in each pool would qualify for semi-finals.

At the World Cup there were 16 women's teams (and even more men's) so this format would require more (or tougher) qualification tournaments. However its also worth remembering that there would be one Great Britain team (assuming they qualify!) - not separate England, Scotland and Wales teams (as in all sports Northern Irish players could play for GB or Ireland).

And in related news, women's boxing looks like being part of the 2012 Olympics.