USA Baseball organizes various teams comprised of High School, College, and Professional baseball players competing nationally and internationally. In the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, baseball was a demonstration sport, but Team USA captured a silver and gold respectively. During the 1996 games in Atlanta, the team won the bronze medal. In 2000, for the first time ever, the team was comprised of minor league players. Guided by Tommy Lasorda, the team defeated two-time champion Cuba to capture the gold medal. However, the team failed to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics as they lost a qualifying tournament that saw them lose to Mexico in an elimination game during the quarter-final round. Many believe that Team USA's absence may have been one of the reasons the International Olympic Committee