No wrestling in 2020 Olympics

[jeremyp]

Wow a signature event from the original Greek games is now defunct! Wrestling has to be one of the earliest sports in the history of humanity, other than adultery. I think there will be a big blow back on this one, especially the middle east where it's practiced religously.

[guru]

Wow a signature event from the original Greek games is now defunct!

Not quite dead yet. Wrestling can(and one would assume, will) apply, along with several other sports, for the one "open" sport slot in the 2020 program.

[dbirds]

this is pitiful! Is there any way Wrestling can stay on the ballot in 2016? Can someone at the IOC overrule this? This is not about the best Olympic sports - this is about politics and it sucks!

[guru]

this is pitiful! Is there any way Wrestling can stay on the ballot in 2016?

Wrestling is fine for 2016. The change, if it happens, would not go into effect until 2020

[Blues]

Wow a signature event from the original Greek games is now defunct! Wrestling has to be one of the earliest sports in the history of humanity, other than adultery. I think there will be a big blow back on this one, especially the middle east where it's practiced religously.

So the "powers that be" have decided to eliminate wrestling from the Olympics to keep more admirable sports like ping pong, badminton, rugby, modern pentathlon, golf, synchronized swimming, and others?

This was from an article discussing the matter prior to the decision to eliminate wrestling:



"The executive board will review a report from the IOC program commission assessing each of the sports contested at last summer's London Olympics.

The report analyzes more than three dozen criteria, including television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global participation and popularity. With no official rankings or recommendations contained in the report, the final decision by the 15-member executive board will likely be influenced by political, emotional and sentimental factors.

Among the sports considered the most vulnerable is modern pentathlon, which was created for the Olympics by French baron Pierre de Coubertin. It has been on the program since the 1912 Stockholm Games, where George S. Patton — the future U.S. Army general — finished fifth.

Modern pentathlon combines fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting — the five skills required of a 19th century cavalry officer. The sport's governing body, the UIPM, has been lobbying hard to protect its Olympic status.

UIPM President Klaus Schormann said his sport has broadened its appeal with a one-day format while also upholding the traditions of the past and the legacy of De Coubertin.

Taekwondo, the Korean martial art that has been in the Olympics since 2000, has also been mentioned as being among the sports in potential danger. The sport introduced a new scoring system in London to eliminate judging controversies and the gold medals, previously dominated by South Koreans, were spread among eight different nations.

The future of wrestling, badminton and table tennis have also been the subject of speculation.

The last sports removed from the Olympics were baseball and softball, voted out by the IOC in 2005 and off the program since the 2008 Beijing Games. Joining the program at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro will be golf and rugby."



http://sports.ndtv.com/othersports/badm ... ay-be-axed

[Blues]

Wow a signature event from the original Greek games is now defunct! Wrestling has to be one of the earliest sports in the history of humanity, other than adultery. I think there will be a big blow back on this one, especially the middle east where it's practiced religously.

I have several good Iranian friends... Their interest in the Olympics and associated sense of athletic-based national pride has always been very strong, primarily (if not solely) because of wrestling and weightlifting. This has to be unhappy news for that country athletic-wise.

[18.99s]

[j-a-m]

So the "powers that be" have decided to eliminate wrestling from the Olympics to keep more admirable sports like ping pong, badminton, rugby, modern pentathlon, golf, synchronized swimming, and others?

yeah what a joke. this decision is just pathetic; so-called "sports" like golf, modern p. and synchronized swimming included, but wrestling left out.

[j-a-m]

Yeah I agreed in the other thread that this decision is just pathetic, I agree here as well. What a joke.

[Conor Dary]

Why is anyone surprised. The IOC is an entertainment enterprise with the power of the Vatican the morals of the Mafia.

[Marlow]

So the "powers that be" have decided to eliminate wrestling from the Olympics to keep more admirable sports like ping pong, badminton, modern pentathlon, synchronized swimming

Someone's sacred ox had to get gored, but yeah, this is a head-scratcher compared to the ones I left in the quote above.

[18.99s]

Upcoming announcement:

Skiing to be eliminated from the Winter Olympics, to be replaced by synchronized snowmobiles, ice-skating basketball, or ice cube juggling.

[gh]

this is pitiful! Is there any way Wrestling can stay on the ballot in 2016? Can someone at the IOC overrule this? This is not about the best Olympic sports - this is about politics and it sucks!

The decision to keep Modern Pentathlon is certainly a political decision, but my guess is that Ping pong, etc, draw better TV numbers than does wrestling, and that's the bottom line these days.

[GHM]

To: IOC President (the new guy)

Sir,

Please remove athletics, swimming, cycling, and boxing from Olympics as well. These four sports are dull and not innovative and should be replaced by new and more watched sports. Who wants to see people running round and a round or jumping into water and swim funny (butterfly)? Also, cycling due to use of drug and boxing due to being horrendous in judging should go.

I suggest replacing them with;

1. Women jello wrestling. Man vs Women jello wresting. Tag team (yes) jello wresting.
2. Drive by shooting similar to Biathlon in winter sport (using live targets adds to the audience)
3. Hotdog eating contest
4. Texting

[Marlow]

I suggest replacing them with;
4. Texting

C'mon, use your imagination, man - that's at least 4 different sports

a. Texting in class without getting caught
b. Texting in city traffic
c. two-thumb texting
d. one-hand texting

[Pego]

Ditto.

[eldanielfire]

I'm quite shocked at this news. Sure Wrestling will be in there but I though the sports with overt associations with the ancient games and been in the program since the start of the modern games wouldn't ever be treated like this and it is disgraceful it is. We have f#####g Golf on the program now and Wresting has to compete with Baseball?!???

What I don't get is why sports have to be dropped for more to enter? Sure you can't have infinite sports but I can't imagine why there can only be a one in and one out policy.

[Bruce Kritzler]

When the sport that really deserves to be eliminated is road cycling.
Did all those Tour guys suddenly get clean?

[tandfman]

Olympic writer Alan Abrahamson weighs in:

http://www.3wiresports.com/2013/02/12/i ... o-the-mat/

[TN1965]

Wrestling had 344 athletes in London. Modern pentathlon had 72 and Taekwondo had 129.

If IOC's objective for eliminating a sport is to limit the number of total athletes, then eliminating the one with more athletes is a logical choice.

And "ping pong" is what you play in the backyard or basement. They play "table tennis" in the Olympics. Both table tennis and badminton have huge spectator following in Asia, and the top players are serious athletes. And winning the Olympic gold medal is the pinnacle of one's career in both sports. On the other hand, golf should not be in the Olympics unless the top players consider the gold medal more important than the British Open.

[eldanielfire]

When the sport that really deserves to be eliminated is road cycling.
Did all those Tour guys suddenly get clean?

To be fair, if we point the finger at road cycling, can Track and Field middle distance events really say it is much better at the moment? Or look at the top of women's sprinting from the late 90's to the early-mid 2000's

[GDAWG]

Wrestling is not like golf, tennis, Ice hockey, basketball, soccer, skiing, snowboarding or Rugby Sevens. Those sports can survive if removed from the IOC programme.

[26mi235]

When the sport that really deserves to be eliminated is road cycling.
Did all those Tour guys suddenly get clean?

To be fair, if we point the finger at road cycling, can Track and Field middle distance events really say it is much better at the moment? Or look at the top of women's sprinting from the late 90's to the early-mid 2000's

It is quite likely that a number of professional sports have more drug use than cycling does at this point and do less to police their use and abuse; both are important, which is illustrated by the tests for EPO and blood that, while that do not catch the users, they would if the users utilized very high levels, and those higher levels are the ones that are dangerous. Of those sports that people have been pointing figures at are: ice hockey; tennis; soccer; basketball -- all IOC sports and most of them do not test the athletes much except at or near the Games.

I suspect that Wrestling has been tagged because of PEDs issues, and it gives the IOC the opportunity to hold a dagger over the heads of the sporting bodies to clean up more than was been the case a bit back.

[Pego]

I suspect that Wrestling has been tagged because of PEDs issues, and it gives the IOC the opportunity to hold a dagger over the heads of the sporting bodies to clean up more than was been the case a bit back.

If that were a case, would they not have kicked weight-lifting out eons ago?

[cullman]

I guess the International Wrestling Federation (FILA) sat on their collective suplexes and didn't bribe the right people.

[Cooter Brown]

The remaining NCAA wrestling programs are probably about to get the axe since it's no longer an Olympic sport to support.

But, we still have horse dancing in the Olympics, right? At least that's safe.

[doug5321]

The remaining NCAA wrestling programs are probably about to get the axe since it's no longer an Olympic sport to support.

But, we still have horse dancing in the Olympics, right? At least that's safe.

oklahoma state, oklahoma, iowa, iowa state, minnesota, and most of the big 10 schools and the military academies and a few other schools will continue to have wrestling, no matter what, but yes most of the schools will want to cut wrestling, could be like mens water polo, mens gymnastics, mens volleyball etc. very few schools will have it.

[Fortius19]

I'm disappointed wrestling got cut. But, I'm glad Modern Pent is still in.

[Per Andersen]

Ditto.

Yeah, hello wake boarding, kite boarding (Wind surfing is gone too) climbing and roller blades.

What kind of climbing are they talking about?

We live in restless times. Instant sports. Gone are the days when it took years to perfect your sport. Well, we still have Track & Field!!!
But really, when they can take wrestling, could weight lifting be next? Archery is still in. I don't know anybody who follows that sport.

[Brian]

Absolute bullshit.

The sport is elemental. Long before I ever ran an organized race I was wrestling with other 4-year-old boys on the playground.
.

[Conor Dary]

Absolute bullshit.

The sport is elemental. Long before I ever ran an organized race I was wrestling with other 4-year-old boys on the playground.
.

Yes, but you are talking about sports, which is not what the IOC really cares about, unless it is one they have an interest in.

The problem is the places where wrestling is most popular — Iran, Russia and several other republics of the former Soviet Union — have no clout on the IOC executive board. Neither does the country with the most Olympic wrestling medals, the United States.

None of the executive board's 15 members is from those countries. Eight are from Western Europe. Several have blatant conflicts of interest because they are past or present top officials of the international federations that govern sports under consideration Tuesday, most notably Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. of Spain.

Samaranch, son of the late former IOC president, is a vice president of the International Modern Pentathlon Union. Yet IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Samaranch and all other executive board members were allowed to participate in the discussions and vote on which sports would remain in the Olympics.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct ... ull.column

[eldanielfire]

Ditto.

Yeah, hello wake boarding, kite boarding (Wind surfing is gone too) climbing and roller blades.

What kind of climbing are they talking about?

We live in restless times. Instant sports. Gone are the days when it took years to perfect your sport. Well, we still have Track & Field!!!
But really, when they can take wrestling, could weight lifting be next? Archery is still in. I don't know anybody who follows that sport.

I think Windsurfing survived in the end somehow.

Those complaining about dancing horses should really understand equestarian sports has as much right o the Olympics as Wresting, but date back to the acient greek games and start of the modern games which in my opinion should mean they should be untouchable at the Olympics.

[TN1965]

What kind of climbing are they talking about?
...

But really, when they can take wrestling, could weight lifting be next? Archery is still in. I don't know anybody who follows that sport.

Apparently, this is the kind of climbing they are talking about.

http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/ ... asics.html

Weight lifting and archery don't suffer from the same problem that wrestling does. Wrestling has 10 weight classes each in Greco-Roman and Freestyle for men, but only four Freestyle weight classes (and no Greco-Roman) for women. (Of course, far more men participate in competitive wrestling than women.) IOC does not want a sport that is so male-dominated.

Weigh lifting has eight classes for men and seven for women. Archery has the same number of events for men and women.

[DrJay]

What kind of climbing are they talking about?
...

But really, when they can take wrestling, could weight lifting be next? Archery is still in. I don't know anybody who follows that sport.

Apparently, this is the kind of climbing they are talking about.

http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/ ... asics.html

Yes. Indoor climbing on artifical walls with artificial holds bolted on, routes "set" by one or two world class rock climbers who have a lot of experience route-setting for competitions. Probably a couple of sequential qualifying rounds leading to a final round, with increasingly difficult routes. Climber who gets highest wins. I saw Boulder, CO's first climbing comp in person in about 1990. It was fun to watch, as was the first true international comp at Snowbird, UT (saw that on TV) in 1988, and even though I started climbing in 1980 and love it (though hardly get out anymore) I really don't think it belongs in the Olympics. Too contrived (but then, maybe the pole vault is as well), too X-Game-ish. I'm all for the traditional OG sports, like wrestling.

[DrJay]

Google "sport climbing competition" or "sport climbing world cup" or such and you can find videos.

I think wrestling is a great sport, one of my XC teammates was a wrestler first, runner second, and I thought of going out for it. Man those guys work HARD in practice. Bobby said hands down wrestling practice was harder than any XC practice he ever did, but also that an XC race was harder than a wrestling match. Rudy Chapa was a wrestler who went out for XC to get fit.

Sad to see it potentially out of the Olympics. Ridiculous, absurd. If I had to rank sports in order of "Olympicness" (whatever the hell I mean by that) I'd go something like:

1. Track and field
2. Swimming
3. Gymnastics
4. Wrestling
5. Basketball
6. Weightlifting
7. Boxing
8. Volleyball
etc