Softball had been an Olympic sport from 1996-2008 and was then dropped, along with baseball, which had been on the Olympic Program from 1992-2008. They were both off the Olympic Program in 2012 and 2016, but they had since merged their International Federations into the World Baseball and Softball Confederation in an effort to get the sports back on the Olympics Program, which was successful.
The events were both held at Yokohama Sutajiamu in Yokohama and at Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium in Fukushima, with the women sadly playing on a modified baseball field to avoid the Tokyo Organizing Committee having to build a new facility.
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