RUGBY sevens and golf will both be staged at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, following a vote of the full International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen

The last Olympic rugby event, a 15-man competition, was staged at the 1924 Olympics in Antwerp and was won by the United States, while golf has not appeared at the Olympics since the 1904 Games in St Louis, where Canada’s George Lyon took gold and the USA won the team event.

Both sports were quietly confident they would be adopted after they were controversially recommended from a seven-strong shortlist – which also included baseball, karate, roller sports, softball and squash – at the IOC’s executive board meeting in August.

However, they still required a majority of the IOC’s full membership to be formally adopted.

Golf won support from 63 members, while 27 voted against. Rugby’s support was more convincing – 81 in favour and eight against.

IOC president Jacques Rogge, who was earlier re-elected in serve another four-year term, had made no secret that he wanted both rugby and golf to be included.

And his members’ decision takes the number of sports staged at the summer Games back to 28, after both baseball and softball were dropped ahead of the 2012 Olympics in London.

However, some members voiced their concern that they had not been able to vote on all the shortlisted sports – with former IOC vice-president Dick Pound the most critical.

“We don’t know why the executive board has eliminated five of these seven sports,” said Canadian Pound. “These five sports should have had an opportunity to present to the IOC Session today.

“The Session was precluded. It was not allowed to consider the seven shortlisted sports and that is not what was intended. We’ve been asked to take it or leave it’.

“With greatest of respect, it is a mistake – it’s not fair and it’s not a transparent process. I urge you to reconsider and make sure that the other five sports are treated equally.”

However, Rogge hit back at Pound – his one-time rival for the IOC presidency – defending the right of the executive board to trim down the initial shortlist.

The decision to adopt both golf and rugby sevens was welcomed by Carlos Nuzman, chief executive of the Rio 2016 organising committee.

“Rio is ready to accept both these sports,” he told fellow IOC members. “We have the venues and we have the schedule. By adding golf and rugby sevens to the programme, you are causing us no problems at all.”

Rio 2016 officials are already investigating staging the first-ever sevens tournament at the 90,000 capacity Estádio do Maracana, which will also host the opening and closing ceremonies and football finals.

Officials from the International Rugby Board confirmed the 2016 Olympic competition would feature 12 men’s and women’s teams, featuring no more than 144 athletes, and that the competition would be completed over “two or three days”.

Meanwhile, IGF co-secretary Peter Dawson confirmed that 60 men and women would compete in a 72-hole strokeplay tournament – with the world’s top 15 players qualifying automatically, while below that no country will be allowed to enter more than two players. (Eurosport)