Japanese
Olympic champion pitcher becomes latest BackSoftball
Ambassador
Plant
City, Florida (USA); June 4th
2009:
Softball’s
popularity across the globe has been further underlined by the appointment of
Japanese Olympic champion pitcher Yukiko Ueno as the latest BackSoftball Athlete
Ambassador.
Ms.
Ueno, whose inspired pitching helped Japan win the gold medal in a thrilling
Olympic grand final game against USA last August, has become a national hero
since her starring role at Fengtai Softball Field in
Beijing.
A
bronze medalist at the Athens Olympics in 2004 when she threw the first Olympic
softball perfect game, she also won a silver medal at both the 2006 & 2002
International Softball Federation Women's World
Championships.
Her
pitching at the Games in Beijing raised her profile to new levels, having
allowed only one run in seven innings in the gold medal game against the
Americans, after having pitched the equivalent of three games the day before in
extra innings decisions versus Australia (win) and USA
(loss).
Softball
is extremely popular in the newest Athlete Ambassador’s country, with
the
NHK-Japan Broadcasting Corporation having confirmed last September that its
ratings for the women’s Olympic softball gold medal game in Beijing were the
highest during the entire Olympics with the exception of the Opening
Ceremony.
BackSoftball
Task Force Co-Chair Donna de Varona, a two-time Olympic gold medalist herself
(swimming), said, “Yukiko's extraordinary
career has made her a household name in Japan and an Olympic hero. A revered role model in Asia, softball
has given Yukiko and her teammates a once in a lifetime opportunity to
compete on the world stage and also to nurture their skills in the flourishing
professional league in Japan. Yukiko first embraced the Olympic dream
while watching softball coverage on television. BackSoftball is focused on
continuing to build on the rapid growth and popularity of softball, and Yukiko's
participation will enhance this worldwide and passionate
effort.”
The
BackSoftball Athlete Ambassadors programme was launched just after last year’s
Olympic softball competition and includes representation from all five regions
(Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe, and Oceania). The softball players involved have been
extremely active, with three of them slated to be part of the ISF’s presentation
this month to the International Olympic Committee Executive
Board.
Softball
was first featured in the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and last
year’s competition in Beijing was hugely 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 Olympics since the sport’s debut on the
world’s stage 12 years earlier.
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
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