The competition exists out of two different phases. The first phase is a group of six, in which teams play each other once. The top two teams with the most number of wins play each other in the final, with the numbers three and four playing each other for the bronze medal.
Preview[]
Six teams qualified for the event which returned to the Olympic Games after thirteen years, with world number one United States and defending Olympic champions Japan as the big favorites for the gold medal. However, with only six teams, the margin of error is very low, especially with world number three Canada and Australia among the big teams to contend for a medal. The field was completed with Italy and Mexico, with the latter being a team that rose through the world rankings in recent years.
The event made an Olympic return with Alexia Lacatena and Giulia Koutsoyanopulos representing Italy and Miu Goto from the home team as the three athletes born in the 21st century. Italy also competed with a relatively inexperienced team, and was the only of six teams to lack players with Olympic experience, with the last appearance of Italy in the softball tournament having had been in 2004. In the entire field of 90 players, only ten had played at the softball tournament in 2008, and half of them had also played in 2004: Stacey Porter for Australia, Lauren Regula for Canada, Yukiko Ueno and Eri Yamada for Japan, and Cat Osterman for the United States. However, the most experienced of the field was Leah Parry, who would be making her Olympic debut at the age of 41, after not having been selected in 2004 and having been cut from the definitive selection for 2008. She was a year older than Regula, and in the next years Ueno, Porter, Osterman, and Yamada followed.
Japan successfully "defended" the Olympic title they won in 2008, once again by beating the United States in the final. Yukiyo Mine, Yukiko Ueno, and Eri Yamada won their second Olympic gold medals, with Ueno and Yamada also adding to their bronze medal of 2004. Of the American silver medalists, Monica Abbott and Cat Osterman won their second silver medals, with Osterman as the only remaining Olympic champion of 2004. Canada and Mexico battled for the bronze medal, which would be the first Olympic medal in softball for either team, with the Canadians coming out on top. Australia left the event without a medal for the first time ever, after having won three bronze medals and a silver medal in the previous four editions, and Italy completed the rankings.
Australia
Japan
Italy
United States
Mexico
Canada
