The prospect of Tiger Woods competing for an Olympic gold medal could come closer to reality Thursday. Golf, along with rugby sevens, look to be the favorites among the sports being considered for inclusion in the 2016 Summer Games by the International Olympic Committee. The IOC executive board will select two sports from a proposed list of seven, which also includes baseball, softball, squash, karate and roller sports. The 15-member board will submit two sports for ratification in a vote of the full 106-member IOC assembly in Copenhagen in October. “It will be a long and difficult discussion,” IOC board member Gerhard Heiberg told The Associated Press. “I think there will be different opinions. We hope to be able to make a unanimous decision, but it will be hard to find a common denominator.” Leaders of the seven sports made presentations to the IOC board in June in Lausanne, Switzerland, and have continued to lobby extensively. A report by the IOC program commission detailing the attributes of each sport will be reviewed by the board on Thursday. Several IOC members and officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because no decision has been announced, said golf and rugby have the strongest chance of making the cut. Softball has been pushing hard and could still be in the running.Some executive board members said anything was possible. “I read and heard that golf and rugby were the favorites, but I've heard some reservations as well,” board member Denis Oswald said. “It's pretty open and difficult to predict.” The board will also rule on proposed changes for the 2012 London Olympics, including the addition of women's boxing, mixed doubles in tennis, 50-meter sprints in swimming, BMX freestyle events in cycling and a shortened format for modern pentathlon.
