Two spots in the Baseball at the 2004 Summer Olympics were available to baseball teams of the Pan American Baseball Confederation. To decide which teams would qualify, a tournament was held in 2003 in Panama, from October 30 to November 10. The tournament was won by Cuba, with Canada also qualifying for the Olympics.

Notably, the United States team did not qualify, after losing to Mexico in the quarterfinals. This elicited shock in the American media[1] as the USA was the previous gold medal winner, and was the first country to play baseball and is the country where baseball has the largest following. The major reason for defeat was the scheduling of the tournament, which meant the Americans could not even use minor league players.

Withdrawals

Although the tournament was originally scheduled to include 13 teams, four withdrew before their first game: Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Aruba and the Bahamas. As the Bahamas were a last-minute withdrawal, the tournament structure was left unbalanced, with one pool larger than the other.

Pool Play

Pool A

Team Pld W L PCT RS RA
 Cuba 3301.000168
 Canada 3210.6671814
 Puerto Rico 3120.3331213
 Mexico 3030.000718
Winner Result Loser
 Canada 8-5  Puerto Rico
 Puerto Rico 5-1  Mexico
 Cuba 4-2  Puerto Rico
 Cuba 5-4  Mexico
 Canada 8-2  Mexico
 Cuba 7-2  Canada

Pool B

Team Pld W L PCT RS RA
 United States 3301.000200
 Panama 4310.750289
 Colombia 4220.5001123
 Brazil 3120.333816
 Nicaragua 4040.000827
Winner Result Loser
 Panama 6-0  Colombia
 United States 7-0  Nicaragua
 Panama 11-5  Nicaragua
 Colombia 5-4  Brazil
 Panama 11-1  Brazil
 United States 10-0  Colombia
 Brazil 3-0  Nicaragua
 Colombia 6-3  Nicaragua
 United States 3-0  Panama

The game between the  United States and  Brazil was delayed due to weather. Before it could be played it became irrelevant to the standings, and was therefore cancelled.

Elimination

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
A1  Cuba 5
B4  Brazil 0
A1  Cuba 10
A3  Puerto Rico 0
B2  Panama 3
A3  Puerto Rico 5
A1  Cuba 5
A2  Canada 0
B1  United States 1
A4  Mexico 2
A4  Mexico 1
A2  Canada 11
A2  Canada 14
B3  Colombia 6

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.