Softball at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Women's softball made its first appearance as an official medal sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics. The competition was held at historic Golden Park in Columbus, Georgia, United States. Final results for the Softball competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics:

Softball
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
VenueGolden Park
DatesJuly 21–30, 1996
Teams8
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  China
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Australia
2000 →

Medalists

edit
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Women's tournament   United States (USA)
Laura Berg
Gillian Boxx
Sheila Cornell
Lisa Fernandez
Michele Granger
Lori Harrigan
Dionna Harris
Kim Maher
Leah O'Brien
Dot Richardson
Julie Smith
Michele Smith
Shelly Stokes
Danielle Tyler
Christa Lee Williams
  China (CHN)
An Zhongxin
Chen Hong
He Liping
Lei Li
Liu Xuqing
Liu Yaju
Ma Ying
Ou Jingbai
Tao Hua
Wang Lihong
Wang Ying
Wei Qiang
Xu Jian
Yan Fang
Zhang Chunfang
  Australia (AUS)
Joanne Brown
Kim Cooper
Carolyn Crudgington
Kerry Dienelt
Peta Edebone
Tanya Harding
Jennifer Holliday
Joyce Lester
Sally McDermid
Francine McRae
Haylea Petrie
Nicole Richardson
Melanie Roche
Natalie Ward
Brooke Wilkins

Participants

edit

Competition format

edit

Eight teams competed in the Olympic softball tournament, and the competition consisted of two rounds. The preliminary round followed a round robin format, where each of the teams played all the other teams once. Following this, the top four teams advanced to a Page playoff system round consisting of two semifinal games, and finally the bronze and gold medal games.

Group stage

edit
Qualified for the semifinals
Eliminated

The top four teams advanced to the semifinal round.

Team W L RS RA WIN% GB Tiebreaker
  United States 6 1 37 7 .857 - -
  China 5 2 29 9 .714 1 3 RA vs. AUS/JPN
  Australia 5 2 22 11 .714 1 6 RA vs. CHN/JPN
  Japan 5 2 24 18 .714 1 10 RA vs. CHN/AUS
  Canada 3 4 15 17 .429 3 -
  Chinese Taipei 2 5 19 19 .286 4 -
  Netherlands 1 6 4 32 .143 5 1–0 vs. PUR
  Puerto Rico 1 6 5 44 .143 5 0–1 vs. NED
July 21
July 22
July 23
July 24
July 25
July 26
July 27

Medal round

edit

The loser of 1&2 seed game played the winner of the 3&4 seed game in the bronze medal match. The loser of the bronze medal match won the bronze medal while the winner went on to play the winner of the 1&2 seed game for the gold medal in the gold medal match.

SemifinalsBronze medal gameGold medal game
1  United States11  United States3
2  China02  China1
2  China4
3  Australia2
3  Australia3
4  Japan0

Semi finals

edit

Bronze medal match

edit

Winner advanced to gold medal match. Loser won bronze medal.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
  China 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 4 5 2
  Australia 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 2
WP: Wang L (4-2)   LP: Roche (2-2)

Gold medal match

edit
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
  China 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 2
  United States 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 4 0
WP: Michele Granger (2-0)   LP: Liu Y (0-1)   Sv: Fernandez (1)

Final team standings

edit
Rank Team Games Wins Losses
    United States (USA) 9 8 1
    China (CHN) 10 6 4
    Australia (AUS) 9 6 3
4   Japan (JPN) 8 5 3
5   Canada (CAN) 7 3 4
6   Chinese Taipei (TPE) 7 2 5
7   Netherlands (NED) 7 1 6
8   Puerto Rico (PUR) 7 1 6

References

edit