| Baseball at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Pictogram used to identify baseball at the 2008 Games | ||||||||||
| Venue | Wukesong Baseball Field | |||||||||
| Dates | August 13–23, 2008 | |||||||||
| Teams | 8 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held from August 13 to August 23. All games were played at Wukesong Baseball Field, a temporary venue constructed at the Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center. For the third time in Olympic competition, professional baseball players were eligible to participate, though no active players from Major League Baseball were available.
This was the last Olympic baseball tournament before the International Olympic Committee voted to remove baseball from the program in the 2012 Olympics.[1] Along with softball, baseball was rejected for inclusion in the 2016 Summer Olympics at the IOC's meeting in October 2009.[2] However, following a 2016 IOC vote, baseball was again included for the 2020 Games.[3]
This was also the first time that the IBAF's new extra-innings rule was officially in effect, allowing each team to start with two base runners from the 11th inning on.[4] South Korea won the gold medal in a 3–2 final victory against Cuba. The United States won bronze.
- ^ Michaelis, Vicki (2005-07-08). "Baseball, softball bumped from Olympics". USA Today. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
- ^ "Olympic Leaders Approve Golf and Rugby for 2016 Summer Games". Fox News. Associated Press. August 13, 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
- ^ Victor Mather (August 3, 2016). "Baseball and Softball Returning to Olympics in 2020". The New York Times.
- ^ "IBAF changes rules for extra-inning games in time for Beijing". ESPN. Associated Press. 2008-07-25. Archived from the original on 1 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-31.