When baseball was officially granted Olympic medal status in 1992, Team USA secured their first official baseball medal in the 1996 Atlanta Games, defeating Nicaragua for the bronze. Team USA defeated two-time defending Olympic Champion Cuba to capture the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The United States won gold at both the 2007 and 2009 IBAF Baseball World Cups, and finished 4th in 2011. They have finished 2nd in the past four editions of the Pan-American Games. The 2006 World Baseball Classic was the first time American Major League players had an opportunity to compete in an international tournament. Team USA advanced out of Round One by going 2-1 including a 17-run victory over of South Africa. They were knocked out in Round Two, but not before earning a dramatic win over eventual champion Japan, in which Alex Rodriguez drove the winning run on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 9th inning. In the 2009 World Baseball Classic, David Wright drove in the winning run on a walk-off single to reach the Semi-Finals where they were knocked out of the tournament in by eventual champion Japan.
