Baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics

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. Along with softball, baseball was rejected for inclusion in the 2016 Summer Olympics at the IOC's meeting in October 2009. However, following a 2016 IOC vote, baseball was again included for the 2020 Games.

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. South Korea won the gold medal in a 3–2 final victory against Cuba. The United States won bronze.

Venues Beijing Wukesong Baseball Main Field Wukesong Baseball Field 2 Capacity: 12,000 Capacity: 3,000

Medalists GoldSilverBronzeHyun-Jin RyuKi-Joo HanJin-Man ParkHyuk KwonTaek-Keun LeeDae-Ho LeeSeung-Hwan OhJung-Keun BongYoung-Min KoJong-Wook LeeKeun-Woo JeongMin-Jae KimKab-Yong JinJin-Young LeeWon-Sam JangSeung-Jun SongKwang-Hyun KimYong-Kyu LeeDong-Joo KimMin-Ho KangHyun-soo KimSeung-Yeop LeeTae-Hyon ChongSuk-Min YoonAriel PestanoYoandry UrgellésAlfredo DespaigneLuis RodríguezAlexei BellYadier PedrosoJonder MartínezAdiel PalmaLuis NavasGiorvis DuvergelAlexander MayetaEriel SánchezRolando MeriñoHéctor OliveraMichel EnríquezYuliesky GourrielVicyohandry OdelínPedro Luis LazoEduardo ParetNorberto GonzálezNorge Luis VeraFrederich CepedaElier SánchezMiguel La HeraBrett AndersonBlaine NealMatt BrownNate SchierholtzJeremy CummingsMichael KoploveTerry TiffeeKevin JepsenBrian DuensingDexter FowlerBrandon KnightMike HessmanCasey WeathersJason DonaldJayson NixTaylor TeagardenStephen StrasburgJake ArrietaLou MarsonMatt LaPortaTrevor CahillBrian BardenJohn GallJeff Stevens

Competition format Eight teams are competing in the Olympic baseball tournament, and the competition consists of two rounds. The preliminary round follows a round robin format, where each of the teams plays all the other teams once. Following this, the top four teams advance to a single elimination round culminating in the bronze and gold medal games.

Qualification

Event Date Location Vacancies Qualified Host nationAmerican Qualifying TournamentAug 25 – Sept 7, 2006 Havana2European ChampionshipSept 7 – Sept 16, 2007 Barcelona1Asian Baseball ChampionshipNov 27 – Dec 3, 2007 Taichung 1Final Qualifying TournamentMar 7 – Mar 14, 2008 Taichung and Douliou3 TOTAL 8

Chinese Taipei is the official IOC designation for the state officially referred to as the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan.

Team squad

Team Qualification criteria AppearanceCanada 1st place of Final Qualifying Tournament 2ndChina Automatic as host nation of the Olympics 1stChinese Taipei 3rd place of Final Qualifying Tournament 3rdCuba 2nd place of American Qualifying Tournament 5thJapan 1st place of Asian Baseball Championship 5thSouth Korea 2nd place of Final Qualifying Tournament 3rdNetherlands 1st place of European Championship 4thUnited States 1st place of American Qualifying Tournament 4th

Group stage All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

TeamGWLRSRAWIN%GBTiebreaker 7 7 0 41 22 1.000 – – 7 6 1 52 23 .857 1 – 7 5 2 40 22 .714 2 – 7 4 3 30 14 .571 3 – 7 2 5 29 33 .286 5 1–0 7 2 5 29 20 .286 5 0–1 7 1 6 9 50 .143 6 1–0 7 1 6 14 60 .143 6 0–1

August 13

August 14

August 15

August 16

August 17

August 18

August 19

August 20

Knockout stage

Semifinals

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

Final standings

PlaceTeam 45678

Notes

References IOC Baseball International Baseball Federation

NBC Olympics Schedule Stats from the 2008 Olympics: Baseball at SimCentral.NET

External links Baseball – Official Results Book