BACKSOFTBALL CAMPAIGN UNITES

HUGO CHAVEZ AND WHITE HOUSE

Rojas - “It’s an honor that President Chavez is so supportive of the BackSoftball campaign”

Plant City, Florida (USA); 29^th June 2009: BackSoftball Athlete Ambassadors and Olympians Rubilena Rojas (Venezuela) and Jessica Mendoza (USA) have done what international diplomacy has so far failed to achieve – provoked agreement between Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and the White House.

Rojas, who was part of the International Softball Federation delegation that traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland, for a presentation that was made to the International Olympic Committee Executive Board two weeks ago today, recently met President Chavez at a softball workshop in Venezuela.

The 2008 Olympian is busy promoting softball around South America and is also the Head Coach of the Orange Coast College softball program in the USA (California).

She said, “President Chavez is a sincere supporter of softball and asked me how our presentation went in Lausanne.  He asked me what he could do to help our campaign and said he wanted to help us get softball back into the Olympics.  It’s an honor that President Chavez is so supportive of the BackSoftball campaign.”

Two-time Olympic softball medalist Mendoza (silver 2008, gold 2004) and BackSoftball Task Force Co-Chair Donna de Varona attended a function last week at the White House to celebrate the 37^th anniversary of Title IX, otherwise known as the Equal Opportunity in Education Act.

During the visit, which fell on Olympic Day, Mendoza explained what Title IX has done for her sporting career and how softball is playing a vital role in promoting sport among young women in the U.S. and across the world.

She also talked about the campaign to get the sport reinstated to the Olympic Programme and how softball’s clean anti-doping record at the elite level makes it a perfect sport for the young women of the world.

Mendoza said: “Being able to talk to senior politicians about our Olympic reinstatement campaign was a great moment for the BackSoftball Task Force and I was encouraged by their positive response.  I am confident that we are doing everything to communicate the great developments softball has made and how it adheres to the Olympic values that the IOC holds so dearly.”

Like Rojas, both Mendoza and de Varona were also in Lausanne two weeks ago when the softball presentation was made to the IOC Executive Board.

The ISF is committed to growing the sport worldwide in a bid to target new players at every level, with particular focus on women and youth.

Softball’s exemplary anti-doping record in top level competition is further reason why softball is becoming so popular throughout the world.

Softball was first featured in the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and last year’s competition in Beijing was very successful with a total attendance close to 180,000 and a continuation of the sport’s excellent record of no positive doping tests at any of the (four) Olympics where the sport has been played.

A final decision on which sports will be added to the current roster of 26 at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be made at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October this year.

Further information is available in the OTHER DOCUMENTS section of the campaign website, www.BackSoftball.com.

For more information please contact ISF Director of Communications Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@internationalsoftball.com, +1 813 864 0100 or +1 813 453 8762 or David Alexander at David.Alexander@Calacus.com, or +44 7802 412424.