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Baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics

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See also: Baseball at the Summer Olympics and 2000 Summer Olympics

Baseball
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
VenuesSydney Baseball Stadium
Blacktown Olympic Park
Dates17–27 September 2000
Teams8
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Cuba
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  South Korea
← 1996
2004 →

Baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics was the third time an Olympic baseball tournament had been held as a full medal sport, and the ninth time it had been part of the Summer Olympic Games in any capacity. It was held in Sydney, Australia from 17 September through to the bronze and gold medal games on 27 September. Two venues were used for the Games: the Sydney Baseball Stadium and Blacktown Olympic Park. For the first time in Olympic competition, professional baseball players were eligible to participate, though no active players from Major League Baseball were available.[1][2][3]

In the gold medal game known as the "Miracle on Grass",[4] the United States became Olympic Champions for the first time in its baseball history by defeating Cuba 4–0.[5][6] Since becoming a medal sport, it was the first time Cuba had not won the gold medal. The gold medal game was also only the second game Cuba had lost in Olympic baseball, having lost to the Netherlands earlier in the tournament.[1] South Korea won their first Olympic baseball medal, beating Japan in the bronze medal match 3–1.[6]

Format

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The main tournament featured eight teams. These teams were selected from a series of continental qualifying tournaments, with the exception of Australia who qualified automatically as hosts. As had been the case at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, two teams each qualified from the Americas via the 1999 Pan American Games, Asia via the 1999 Asian Baseball Championship, and Europe via the 1999 European Baseball Championship. The final spot went to the winner of a deciding series between the African and Oceania champions, as determined by the 1999 All-Africa Games and the 1999 Oceania Baseball Championship respectively. This playoff was won by South Africa, who swept Guam in a best-of-five series in Johannesburg in December 1999.

The eight teams met in a round-robin series, facing each other once. The top four teams from this then met in the finals, with the first and fourth placed teams playing against each other in one semi final, and the second and third placed teams in the other. The losers of these semi finals competed in the bronze medal game, while the winners met in the gold medal game.[1]

Teams

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Team Qualification method

Australia 		Host nation

Cuba 		1999 Pan American Games

Italy 		1999 European Baseball Championship

Japan 		1999 Asian Baseball Championship

Netherlands 		1999 European Baseball Championship

South Africa 		1999 All-Africa Games, then defeated Guam
in Africa Champion v Oceania Champion playoff

South Korea 		1999 Asian Baseball Championship

United States 		1999 Pan American Games

Results

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Preliminary round

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Pos Team Pld W L RF RA RD PCT GB Qualification
1  Cuba 7 6 1 50 17 +33 .857[a] — Advance to knockout round
2  United States 7 6 1 42 14 +28 .857[a] —
3  South Korea 7 4 3 40 26 +14 .571[b] 2
4  Japan 7 4 3 41 23 +18 .571[b] 2
5  Netherlands 7 3 4 19 29 −10 .429 3
6  Italy 7 2 5 33 43 −10 .286[c] 4
7  Australia (H) 7 2 5 30 41 −11 .286[c] 4
8  South Africa 7 1 6 11 73 −62 .143 5
Source: [citation needed]
(H) Hosts
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Cuba defeated the United States 6–1.
  2. ^ a b South Korea defeated Japan 7–6.
  3. ^ a b Italy defeated Australia 8–7.


17 September Cuba  16–0 (F/7)  South Africa Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,082
Boxscore
17 September United States  4–2 (F/13)  Japan Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 13,404
Boxscore
17 September Italy  2–10  South Korea Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 2,951
Boxscore
17 September Australia  4–6  Netherlands Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 13,762
Boxscore
18 September Cuba  13–5  Italy Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 2,424
Boxscore
18 September South Korea  3–5  Australia Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 13,281
Boxscore
18 September United States  11–1 (F/7)  South Africa Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,474
Boxscore
18 September Japan  10–2  Netherlands Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 11,360
Boxscore
19 September South Africa  0–13 (F/7)  Italy Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 2,511
Boxscore
19 September Australia  3–7  Japan Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 13,093
Boxscore
19 September Netherlands  2–6  United States Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,352
Boxscore
19 September South Korea  5–6  Cuba Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 13,565
Boxscore
20 September Italy  1–6  Japan Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,245
Boxscore
20 September Netherlands  4–2  Cuba Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 12,450
Boxscore
20 September South Africa  4–10  Australia Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,459
Boxscore
20 September United States  4–0  South Korea Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 13,818
Boxscore
22 September South Korea  2–0  Netherlands Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,350
Boxscore
22 September Cuba  1–0  Australia Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 14,036
Boxscore
22 September South Africa  0–8  Japan Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,512
Boxscore
22 September United States  4–2  Italy Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 13,912
Boxscore
23 September Netherlands  2–3 (F/10)  South Africa Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,484
Boxscore
23 September Japan  6–7 (F/10)  South Korea Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 13,970
Boxscore
23 September Australia  7–8 (F/12)  Italy Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,562
Boxscore
23 September Cuba  6–1  United States Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 14,010
Boxscore
24 September Italy  2–3  Netherlands Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,439
Boxscore
24 September South Korea  13–3 (F/8)  South Africa Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 13,864
Boxscore
24 September Japan  2–6  Cuba Blacktown Olympic Park
Attendance: 3,479
Boxscore
24 September Australia  1–12 (F/7)  United States Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 14,018
Boxscore

Final round

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Semi-finals Gold medal match
      
1  Cuba 3
4  Japan 0
W1  Cuba
0
W2  United States
4
3  United States 3
2  South Korea 2 Bronze medal match
L2  South Korea
3
L1  Japan 1

Semi-finals

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26 September Cuba  3–0  Japan Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 13,727
26 September United States  3–2  South Korea Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 14,002

Bronze medal game

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27 September South Korea  3 – 1  Japan Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 14,058

Gold medal game

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27 September Cuba  0 – 4  United States Sydney Baseball Stadium
Attendance: 14,107

Final standings

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (2001). Official Report of the XXVII Olympiad (PDF). Vol. 2: Celebrating the Games. Canberra, Australia: Paragon Printers Australasia. pp. 176–9. ISBN 0-9579616-0-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  2. ^ "The Olympic Team No Dream". CBS News. Associated Press. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  3. ^ OlympicTalk (8 January 2021). "Tommy Lasorda, only manager of World Series, Olympic champions, dies at 93 - OlympicTalk | NBC Sports". Olympics.nbcsports.com.
  4. ^ "Oral history: Team USA wins gold at 2000 Olympics". MLB.com.
  5. ^ "On This Date: September 27, 2000 – USA vs. Cuba (Sydney Olympic Games) | USA Baseball". www.usabaseball.com. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  6. ^ a b Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (2001). Official Report of the XXVII Olympiad: Baseball (PDF). Vol. 3: Results. Canberra, Australia: Paragon Printers Australasia. ISBN 0-9579616-1-8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
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