Softball at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Softball
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
VenueGolden Park
DatesJuly 21–30, 1996
Teams8
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  China
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Australia
2000 →

Women's softball made its first appearance as an official medal sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics. The competition was held at historic Golden Park in Columbus, Georgia, United States. Final results for the Softball competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics:

Medalists

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Women's tournament  United States (USA)
Laura Berg
Gillian Boxx
Sheila Cornell
Lisa Fernandez
Michele Granger
Lori Harrigan
Dionna Harris
Kim Maher
Leah O'Brien
Dot Richardson
Julie Smith
Michele Smith
Shelly Stokes
Danielle Tyler
Christa Lee Williams
 China (CHN)
An Zhongxin
Chen Hong
He Liping
Lei Li
Liu Xuqing
Liu Yaju
Ma Ying
Ou Jingbai
Tao Hua
Wang Lihong
Wang Ying
Wei Qiang
Xu Jian
Yan Fang
Zhang Chunfang
 Australia (AUS)
Joanne Brown
Kim Cooper
Carolyn Crudgington
Kerry Dienelt
Peta Edebone
Tanya Harding
Jennifer Holliday
Joyce Lester
Sally McDermid
Francine McRae
Haylea Petrie
Nicole Richardson
Melanie Roche
Natalie Ward
Brooke Wilkins

Participants

Competition format

Eight teams competed in the Olympic softball tournament, and the competition consisted of two rounds. The preliminary round followed a round robin format, where each of the teams played all the other teams once. Following this, the top four teams advanced to a Page playoff system round consisting of two semifinal games, and finally the bronze and gold medal games.

Group stage

Qualified for the semifinals
Eliminated

The top four teams advanced to the semifinal round.

Team W L RS RA WIN% GB Tiebreaker
 United States 6 1 37 7 .857 - -
 China 5 2 29 9 .714 1 3 RA vs. AUS/JPN
 Australia 5 2 22 11 .714 1 6 RA vs. CHN/JPN
 Japan 5 2 24 18 .714 1 10 RA vs. CHN/AUS
 Canada 3 4 15 17 .429 3 -
 Chinese Taipei 2 5 19 19 .286 4 -
 Netherlands 1 6 4 32 .143 5 1–0 vs. PUR
 Puerto Rico 1 6 5 44 .143 5 0–1 vs. NED
July 21
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E
 Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3
 United States 2 0 3 0 0 5 10 13 0
WP: Granger (1–0)   LP: Martinez (0–1)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
 Chinese Taipei 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 1
 Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 8 3
WP: Sippel (1–0)   LP: Tu HP (0–1)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 China 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 6 6 0
 Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
WP: Wang L (1–0)   LP: Roche (0–1)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 7 0
 Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
WP: Takayama (1–0)   LP: Mels (0–1)

July 22
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Australia 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 4 7 0
 Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
WP: Harding (1–0)   LP: Han (0–1)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
 Japan 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 5 1
WP: T Watanabe (1–0)   LP: Wang L (1–1)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
 Canada 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 4 0
WP: Snelgrove (1–0)   LP: Echevarría (0–1)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3
 United States 0 5 0 3 1 0 9 10 1
WP: Williams (1–0)   LP: Knol (0–1)

July 23
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 China 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 1
 Canada 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 2
WP: Wang L (2–1)   LP: Sippel (1–1)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 7 12 0
 Netherlands 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 6 1
WP: Tu HM (1–0)   LP: Mels (0–2)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Japan 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 1
 United States 3 0 0 0 0 3 6 10 0
WP: M Smith (1–0)   LP: Kobayashi (0–1)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
 Puerto Rico 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 1
WP: Echevarría (1–1)   LP: Wilkins (0–1)

July 24
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4
 United States 1 1 2 0 0 0 4 5 1
WP: Harrigan (1–0)   LP: Tu HM (1–1)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 R H E
 China 0 5 1 4 0 10 11 0
 Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5
WP: Ma (1–0)   LP: Mize (0–1)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E
 Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 0
 Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
WP: Holliday (1–0)   LP: Mels (0–3)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
 Japan 1 0 0 3 0 0 4 9 1
WP: Takayama (2–0)   LP: Sonnenberg (0–1)

July 25
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
 China 2 0 0 3 2 1 8 13 1
WP: He (1–0)   LP: Pannen (0–1)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Australia 0 0 0 0 4 0 6 10 11 0
 Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2
WP: Roche (1–1)   LP: T Watanabe (1–1)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Puerto Rico 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0
 Chinese Taipei 0 1 0 0 9 0 10 11 1
WP: Tu HM (2–1)   LP: Echevarría (1–2)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 United States 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 4 4 1
 Canada 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 6 5
WP: Williams (2–0)   LP: Snelgrove (1–1)

July 26
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Japan 0 0 1 4 0 2 1 8 12 1
 Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 0
WP: Takayama (3–0)   LP: Martinez (0–2)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
 United States 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 0
 Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 2
WP: Harding (2–0)   LP: Fernandez (0–1)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Netherlands 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 4
 Canada 0 0 2 1 0 1 4 5 1
WP: Sippel (2–1)   LP: Mels (0–4)   Sv: Debbie Sonnenberg (1)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 China 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 2
 Chinese Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
WP: Wang L (3–1)   LP: Tu HM (1–2)

July 27
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Canada 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 4 0
 Australia 2 0 0 0 3 0 5 9 3
WP: Roche (2–1)   LP: Snelgrove (1–2)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Netherlands 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 8 1
 Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
WP: Mels (1–4)   LP: Echevarría (1–3)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 China 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 5 0
 United States 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 8 1
WP: M Smith (2–0)   LP: Wang L (3–2)


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Japan 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 5 10 0
 Chinese Taipei 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 0
WP: Kobayashi (1–1)   LP: Han (0–1)

Medal round

The loser of 1&2 seed game played the winner of the 3&4 seed game in the bronze medal match. The loser of the bronze medal match won the bronze medal while the winner went on to play the winner of the 1&2 seed game for the gold medal in the gold medal match.

SemifinalsBronze medal gameGold medal game
1 United States11 United States3
2 China02 China1
2 China4
3 Australia2
3 Australia3
4 Japan0

Semi finals

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
 China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
 United States 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 10 0
WP: Fernandez (1-1)   LP: Wang L (3-2)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 Australia 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 9 0
 Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
WP: Tanya Harding (3-0)   LP: Takayama (3-1)

Bronze medal match

Winner advanced to gold medal match. Loser won bronze medal.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 China 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 4 5 2
 Australia 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 2
WP: Wang L (4-2)   LP: Roche (2-2)

Gold medal match

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
 China 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 2
 United States 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 4 0
WP: Michele Granger (2-0)   LP: Liu Y (0-1)   Sv: Fernandez (1)

Final team standings

Rank Team Games Wins Losses
 United States (USA) 9 8 1
 China (CHN) 10 6 4
 Australia (AUS) 9 6 3
4  Japan (JPN) 8 5 3
5  Canada (CAN) 7 3 4
6  Chinese Taipei (TPE) 7 2 5
7  Netherlands (NED) 7 1 6
8  Puerto Rico (PUR) 7 1 6

References

  • Official Olympic Report
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Qualifications
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