Thread: IOC cuts wrestling from the 2020 Olympics

In a shocking move, the International Olympic Committee voted to drop wrestling from its schedule for the 2020 Games. The unexpected decision was made via secret ballot during a Tuesday meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland where officials were discussing ways to "streamline" the Olympics.
Though many assumed modern pentathlon would get the boot, the committee instead decided to eliminate wrestling, which has roots in the ancient Greece games and has been a part of every modern Olympics since they began in 1896. The vote was completed over several rounds and the final totals were not released to the public.

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Now wrestling will have to face off with seven other sports that are fighting for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics. The list includes includes baseball and softball, which were dropped from the Olympics after Beijing in 2008 and sports trying to make the Olympics for the first time, including karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing,wake boarding and wushu. The Associated Press said it is "extremely unlikely" that wrestling would be brought back so soon after the committee voted to eliminate it.
Wrestling has been an Olympic sport since the ancient origins of the games in Greece. The United States is the most successful active nation, with 50 all-time gold medals and 125 overall. The US team won two gold medals in the 2012 Games in London. Russia currently dominates the sport, but wrestlers from Japan, Turkey, Finland, South Korea, Iran and Cuba have all won their country dozens of medals.

The rest of the Yahoo piece is pretty stupid. Y! SPORTS

I would have preferred boxing to be taken out. Oh well.

Originally Posted by IS1296

Also, any athletes who aspire to become gold medalists and essentially the best in the world in this field can never be (or at least very unlikely now).

They'll still have world championships. Keep in mind that most sports aren't in the Olympics.

It's complete and utter BS wrestling gets more popular every day. It's probably the most popular its ever been in the Modern world! There's hundreds of wrestling clubs for 5-14 year olds then there's high school wrestling too!

Meh. For the most part, wrestling has been eclipsed by the monolith that is "professional" wrestling. This is not a surprising move, things shouldn't get kept for nostalgia purposes if they are underperforming.

Originally Posted by No Prophet

Meh. For the most part, wrestling has been eclipsed by the monolith that is "professional" wrestling. This is not a surprising move, things shouldn't get kept for nostalgia purposes if they are underperforming.

Olympic sports in general don't have mainstream popularity. I'm not particularly aware of how popular wrestling is compared to other Olympic sports though.

This is incredibly sad news.

I was a wrestler in high school (as well as middle school) and it was a sport that taught me some of the most important life lessons I have ever learned. Dedication, unity, sacrifice, courage, commitment... these are all traits that I personally (as well as many of my teammates and kids I have coached) have developed from their days on the mat.

And this isn't even getting into the international facts about wrestling. Wrestling is a sport that doesn't require money. It's a sport that any person can succeed in if they're willing to put in the work. It's a sport that nations all over the world participate in and excel in. In fact, wrestling is the most diverse sport in terms of medals won in Olympic history.

And there's an image from last year's Olympics, one that defines the Olympic spirit.



On the left is Jordan Burroughs, a two-time national champion wrestler at the University of Nebraska. On the right is Sadegh Goudarzi of Iran. This embrace is on the podium, minutes after Burroughs defeated Goudarzi in an incredibly hard (and well fought) bout by both men. Now I don't need to get into the political relationship between the home countries of these two men, but this picture says it all. Two men at the top of their game, leaving it all out on the mat and then the show of respect for one another. Respect for one another that was born on the mat, that transcends international politics and fighting.

Wrestling is the oldest sport on the globe, a sport that is the essence of man. It should have never gotten to this point, where the sport of the ancients is gone from the greatest of global athletic competitions.

What kind of backwards ass motherfucking corruption is behind this? I mean, of all the sports they decide to remove, they remove the one that's the most associated with the Olympic games, I mean hello its THE olympic event, instead of one of the many swimming events or horse dancing. Next your gonna tell me this was done so motor sports can have some space...

Well so much for my dream of going to the olympics for wrestling one day. sigh.

Originally Posted by Chespin

What kind of backwards ass motherfucking corruption is behind this? I mean, of all the sports they decide to remove, they remove the one that's the most associated with the Olympic games, I mean hello its THE olympic event, instead of one of the many swimming events or horse dancing. Next your gonna tell me this was done so motor sports can have some space...

Golf actually, if I recall correctly.

Originally Posted by Lyrebird

Originally Posted by Chespin

What kind of backwards ass motherfucking corruption is behind this? I mean, of all the sports they decide to remove, they remove the one that's the most associated with the Olympic games, I mean hello its THE olympic event, instead of one of the many swimming events or horse dancing. Next your gonna tell me this was done so motor sports can have some space...

Sorry what? The Marathon is most associated.

Sports come and go, it is not like it is dropped anyway, they just have to re-apply for 2020.

Actually the original Olympic sport was the Stadion, which was a sprint across the length of the stadium, between 180 and 240 meters. So if there is a 200 meter race then that would be the closest thing. The Olympics actually started in 776 BC whereas the Battle of Marathon didn't take place until 490 BC.

Originally Posted by BlackGroudon

Well so much for my dream of going to the olympics for wrestling one day. sigh.

Dropping the event from one set of Games does not necessarily mean it's gone forever.

Really motor"sports"? yeah they may take a lot of work and what not but really? why? it doesn't nearly as much physical activity as wrestling, hell wrestling is probably the most intense sport there is compared to the length of time there is in a match or sport even ping pong can be more physically intense than motor"sports"