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 didn't make it to the Olympics either; in the very next round, they were beaten 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 qualified, as did Cuba and the host country China.
Read more about this topic: Baseball At The 2004 Summer Olympics
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