Two-time Olympic medallist Kelly Kretschman is amazed with the positive changes in women’s softball since she made her Olympic debut in 2004.
With the announcement of softball’s return to the Olympic programme at the Los Angeles Olympic Games after previous featuring at the Olympic Games from Atlanta 1996 to Beijing 2008, the former USA softball star is more than thrilled to see her favourite sport to be played again in the quadrennial and on her home soil.
“Softball has changed so much. There are so many countries that play the sport now, which is just really exciting because that’s what we want. We want the sport to grow not just in the United States or Japan, we want it to grow internationally,” the 44-year-old said.
“The number of teams seen at the U-15 World Cup is so amazing to see and us, just being in the Olympics, just amplifies that. For every country, even more, to get involved sooner at an earlier age.”
Kretschman, who followed her Olympic gold medal in 2004 with a silver in 2008, underlined the significance of softball’s return in rekindling the Olympic dream.
“I’m super excited now. All these girls that can do what I did and dream about being in the Olympics again. It just brings back all the memories that I had when I was a little kid wanting to be an Olympian. Now I’m just grateful for all those young women that have an opportunity now to dream about the same thing that I got to dream about,” she said. “This has a huge positive impact as it helps build every country’s younger age group who want to play internationally and develop at a younger age to possibly play in the Olympics.”
The 2007 world champion and 2005 World Cup silver medallist likewise shared her excitement for the young women who competed at the WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup, a tournament Kretschman attended as a US delegation member, and the prospect of them playing at LA28.
“It’s crazy to think about that these girls might have an opportunity to play at the 2028 Olympics in LA. That’s five years from now, so some of these girls will be about 20-years-old- young-women. Many of their dreams are starting right here, and what a cool place to start those dreams here in Tokyo,” she said.
“I just hope these girls remember that softball is something
that we enjoy doing and now that it’s back in the 2028 Olympics, my advice for
them is to keep dreaming, keep playing and keep working hard.”
Meanwhile, the former professional All-Star said she will be rooting for defending champions USA at the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Finals in Italy later his year and the LA28 Games in 2028.
“Being an American, we expect to win all the time, so I
would expect nothing less from the US. We lost the last two gold medals, so
it’s even more of an added chip on our shoulder that we need to win that gold
medal back.
“It’s going to be an amazing Olympic Games. We still have to
qualify for that but just knowing how much the world is changing now in
softball and everyone’s getting better, I think it’s going to be a really
exciting event.
“The Women’s World Cup is going to be like a mini-Olympics, so there’s going to be so many great teams there. I expect it to be USA and Japan in the final, although I know Canada might have something to say about that, Australia and other teams that are going to be there.”
