BASEBALL AT THE 2004 SUMMER OLYMPICS

'Baseball at the 2004 Summer Olympics' was held on two separate diamonds within the Helliniko Olympic Complex, from August 15 to August 25. This was a male-only event.
The competition consisted of a preliminary round with each team playing all the other teams once, for a total of seven games. The top four teams at the end of this round advanced to the medals round. The medals round consisted of two semifinal games with the winners advancing to the gold medal game. The losing teams of the semifinals would play in the bronze medal game.

Contents
Medalists
Team squads
Controversy
Bracket
Results
Preliminary round
Semifinals
Bronze medal match
Final

Medalists


'Gold''Silver''Bronze'

Danny Betancourt
Luis Borroto
Frederich Cepeda
Yorelvis Charles
Michel Enríquez
Norberto González
Yulieski Gourriel
Pedro Luis Lazo
Roger Machado
Jonder Martínez
Danny Miranda
Frank Montieth
Vicyohandri Odelin
Adiel Palma
Eduardo Paret
Ariel Pestano
Alexei Ramírez
Eriel Sánchez
Antonio Scull
Carlos Tabares
Yoandri Urgelles
Osmani Urrutia
Manuel Vega
Norge Luis Vera
Manager: Higinio Vélez
Coaches: Carlos Cepero
Pedro Pérez
José Elosegui
Francisco Escaurrido

Craig Anderson
Thomas Brice
Adrian Burnside
Gavin Fingleson
Paul Gonzalez
Nick Kimpton
Brendan Kingman
Craig Lewis
Graeme Lloyd
David Nilsson
Trent Oeltjen
Wayne Ough
Chris Oxspring
Brett Roneberg
Ryan Rowland Smith
John Stephens
Phil Stockman
Brett Tamburrino
Dick Thompson
Andrew Utting
Ben Wigmore
Glenn Williams
Jeff Williams
Rodney van Buizen
Manager: Jon Deeble
Coaches: Tony Harris
Paul Elliott
Philip Dale

Ryoji Aikawa
Yuya Ando
Atsushi Fujimoto
Kosuke Fukudome
Hirotoshi Ishii
Hisashi Iwakuma
Hitoki Iwase
Kenji Jojima
Makoto Kaneko
Takuya Kimura
Masahide Kobayashi
Hiroki Kuroda
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Daisuke Miura
Shinya Miyamoto
Arihito Muramatsu
Norihiro Nakamura
Michihiro Ogasawara
Naoyuki Shimizu
Yoshinobu Takahashi
Yoshitomo Tani
Koji Uehara
Kazuhiro Wada
Tsuyoshi Wada
Manager: Kiyoshi Nakahata
Coaches: Yutaka Ono
Yutaka Takagi

Team squads


Main articles: Baseball at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Team squads

TeamQualification criteriaAppearance
Australia Winner of Oceania Champion vs Africa Champion (South Africa) 3rd
Canada Second place at Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Panama 1st
Chinese Taipei Second place at Asian Championship 2nd
Cuba First place at Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Panama 4th
Greece Automatic as host nation of the Olympics 1st
Italy First place at European Olympic Qualification Tournament 4th
Japan First place at Asian Championship 4th
Netherlands Second place at European Olympic Qualification Tournament 3rd

Controversy


Despite being the "home of baseball" and the defending gold medalists, the United States did not make it to Athens after losing a qualifying game to Mexico, 1-0. The Americas Tournament, which decided which two teams from North America, South America and the Caribbean went to Athens, was single-elimination, when almost all other baseball tournaments are double-elimination. (The Mexicans found this out in the next round when ''they'' were upset, by Canada.) Ironically, many Americans wound up playing in Athens anyway, as members of the nascent Greek team.
Others took issue with the fact that three of the eight slots in the Olympics (including the hosts) were European, while the Americas and Asia (with much stronger baseball nations) got only two slots apiece. The absence of such teams as the USA, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and South Korea led to disinterest in the Olympic tournament in those countries.
The 2008 tournament has changed the qualifying procedure; the United States has already qualified, as have Cuba and the host country China.

Bracket


Results


Preliminary round

The top four teams (Japan, Cuba, Canada and Australia) advanced to the semifinals. To determine the seed ranking of teams tied in the standings, the result of the two teams' game against each other was used. Japan therefore received first place due to the win over Cuba. In the semi-finals, Japan (#1) played Australia (#4) and Cuba (#2) played Canada (#3). The higher ranked team in each game was the home team.
'Preliminary standings'
TeamPldWLRFRAPct
7614920'.857'
7614117'.857'
7523917'.714'
7434930'.571'
7342428'.429'
7252955'.285'
7162449'.143'
7161958'.143'

;August 15




;August 16




;August 17




;August 18




;August 20




;August 21




;August 22




Semifinals

Bronze medal match

Final


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