if anyone has ever seen an actual rugby match, those players are ATHLETES. this would be so fun.

I'm so bored by golf, and aren't there already a million national and international tournaments? But rugby would be awesome.

rugby rugby rugby ra ra ra!

south africa needs to win SOME gold

Rugby truly is an Olympic sport. The athletic prowess of those players is unreal. Good decision, International Olympic Committee!

I am just dissapointed that squash didn't get in. I think it requires much more physical prowess than golf does. Rugby is a great addition, but squash has been overlooked and as a squash player, it's upsetting.

Rugby is a great athletic and competitive sport and would be a great addition. Golf already has numerous international tournmanets and it doesn't seem like it needs yet another venue. Since rugby isn't as huge in the states as it is in other countures, it would be great to see more of it, besides it seems like a sport that the fans would really get behind.

It bothers me that they took away softball from the Olympics, but now they want to add these sports? I don't understand what motivates the Olympic Committee to add and/or remove sports other than money!

Rugby, most definitely! That is a sport that takes some serious athletic ability and doesn't get enough exposure, especially in the US. I've never really considered golf to be an athletic sport and I'm pretty surprised that it beat out karate and squash. You'd think they'd want to pick sports that involve some action in the lineup so people would want to watch.

Yay Rugby! Boo Golf!

I think they are both good additions. I think a lot of the golf haters have probably never tried the sport. It is extremely difficult. I agree that it's not your typical endurance/strength sport, but it takes a whole lot of skill, accuracy and commitment.

I think they should bring croquet back to the olympics..since it was the first sport to allow women into the olympics

good old 1900s...

I think golf is a physically challenging sport, but there's already so many chances for international competition with it.

It should say boxing was the only WINTER sport that did not include female athletes. Females are still not allowed to do ski jumping at the winter olympics, despite a strong push for it to be included in Vancouver.

These are fine, but at least rugby would likely be a male-focused sport. Until softball comes back, I think that's bogus.

I don't think voting in October is just considered a formality. The committee suggested adding karate and squash to the 2012 Olympics but the IOC Assembly voted that down. I think golf and rugby have a better chance of reaching the 2016 games with Tiger Woods saying he'll compete but you never know what might happen.

In order to be passed through by the committee, a sport had to receive a majority of votes. Rugby garnered 7 votes in the first round of voting, while golf managed 1. It took 4 rounds of voting for golf to pass karate. It seems very unlikely that most of the professional golfers would consider the Olympics the pinnacle of their sporting career, which is something that is supposed to factor in when considering the inclusion of a sport. While I don't feel the arguement would stand for baseball, for all of the other sports that were up for inclusion into the Olympics (softball, rugby sevens, karate, squash, roller sports), I think that the Olympics offers a venue that will be the highest achievable. Congratulations to rugby sevens for passing the passing the initial benchmark, and here's hoping the IOC gets things right for these other sports next time the oppurtunity arises.