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October 13, 1986 witnessed a defining moment in the development of international Baseball. At the International Olympic Committee Session in Lausanne, Switzerland, Baseball was included in the official program of the Olympic Games. Four days later, the city of Barcelona, ESP, was designated the 1992 host city for the 25th Olympiad, where the first official Olympic Baseball Gold Medal would be played. This was the culmination of a long, hard road and the reward for the tremendous, generous efforts of many people from different origins and nationalities all with one common goal: to make Baseball an Olympic sport.
In 1988, the Baseball World Cup was held once again in Italy and the IBA Congress re-elected Robert E. Smith as President. Cuba won the Cup and in September of that same year, the United States won the last Olympic demonstration tournament at the Seoul Games.
Cuba’s winning run continued at the next two editions of the Baseball World Cup in Edmonton, CAN, in 1990, with 12 teams participating, and in Nicaragua in 1994, where they played the final against Korea. The Nicaragua Baseball World Cup brought together 16 countries and for the first time, participants emerged from continental qualifying tournaments: another significant step forward for the sport of Baseball.
Cuba also won the First Olympic Gold Medal for Baseball at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. The Silver went to Chinese Taipei and the Bronze to Japan.
Meanwhile, the Congress held in Rome in June 1993 saw the unanimous election as President of Aldo Notari of Italy, who immediately took steps towards making another crucial change - transferring IBA Headquarters to the Olympic capital in Lausanne, SUI. This was a key move favoring the definitive integration of Baseball into the Olympic Movement.
In 1996, the Olympic Baseball Tournament formed part of the Atlanta Games, where Baseball beat its own record with ticket sales totalling 1,134,203.
On September 21, 1996, the IBA Congress met in extraordinary session in Lausanne, to make the historic decision of allowing professionals to take part in international competition by a vote of 56 in favor, 7 against and 2 abstentions. This was a decisive change and a springboard to the future of international Baseball as a world sport.
At the 1997 Congress in Pamplona, ESP, Aldo Notari was re-elected IBA President.
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