Olympics drop wrestling...

[Risen Star]

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — IOC leaders dropped wrestling from the Olympic program on Tuesday, a surprise decision that removes one of the oldest Olympic sports from the 2020 Games.

The IOC executive board decided to retain modern pentathlon — the event considered most at risk — and remove wrestling instead from its list of 25 "core sports."

The IOC board acted after reviewing the 26 sports on the current Olympic program. Eliminating one sport allows the International Olympic Committee to add a new sport to the program later this year.

Wrestling, which combines freestyle and Greco-Roman events, goes back to the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896.

"This is a process of renewing and renovating the program for the Olympics," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. "In the view of the executive board, this was the best program for the Olympic Games in 2020. It's not a case of what's wrong with wrestling, it is what's right with the 25 core sports."

http://aol.sportingnews.com/sport/s...eliminated-olympics-ioc-tokyo-madrid-istanbul

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Seems like you should not keep some stuff while getting rid of one of the main sports that was around from the beginning.

Oh well...does not hurt me, just seems odd.

 

[reddyuta]

I feel like this is purely network(read NBC) and ratings driven move,to take wrestling out of olympics is a mockery of the olympic and human spirit.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I feel like this is purely network(read NBC) and ratings driven move,to take wrestling out of olympics is a mockery of the olympic and human spirit.

Yup.

Disappointed. Wrestling and the Olympics is really about as pure as it gets.





YR

 

[Chocolate Lab]

What? That's terrible. So field hockey makes it, but one of the oldest sports in the world doesn't? For that matter, I'm a huge golf fan and I don't think it belongs in the Olympics, especially not over wrestling.

I've never wrestled and don't know much about the sport, but from afar I think it's great. I was always a little jealous of Oklahoma for having a developed wrestling program, which we don't do in Texas.

Very bad decision. Like reddy said, it feels like the Olympics are becoming more and more of an NBC TV event, not the pure sporting event that it used to be.

 

[burmafrd]

Badmitton stays and wrestling goes. talk about stupid

 

[Risen Star]

Yup.

Disappointed. Wrestling and the Olympics is really about as pure as it gets.





YR

I agree. This is one of the worst decisions I've ever seen in sports.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Makes you wonder how the IOC stays in power.

Eventually, this will probably impact College and HS Wrestling as well. I would not be surprised to see the sport vanish all together, which is a real shame.

This pretty much sucks IMO.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Makes you wonder how the IOC stays in power.

Eventually, this will probably impact College and HS Wrestling as well. I would not be surprised to see the sport vanish all together, which is a real shame.

This pretty much sucks IMO.

I agree it might be the dumbest decision they've ever made and they've made some really, really stupid ones in the past.

Wrestling will remain popular as long as MMA remains popular. Many UFC fighters are college wrestlers. I had a college roommate make the Olympic team. I'd bet that if MMA was big then, he may have opted to chase the money.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Olympic wrassling is always fun to watch. Golf in the Olympics is simply put ********.

 

[Future]

Makes you wonder how the IOC stays in power.

Eventually, this will probably impact College and HS Wrestling as well. I would not be surprised to see the sport vanish all together, which is a real shame.

This pretty much sucks IMO.

It's possible. Title IX restrictions make programs like wrestling difficult for colleges to keep, especially because they are costly. And with other sports - particularly lacrosse - growing for both men and women, don't be surprised to see a lot of college wrestling programs fold in the coming years.

It's unfortunate, but I think wrestling is a bit of a dying sport.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

It's possible. Title IX restrictions make programs like wrestling difficult for colleges to keep, especially because they are costly. And with other sports - particularly lacrosse - growing for both men and women, don't be surprised to see a lot of college wrestling programs fold in the coming years.

It's unfortunate, but I think wrestling is a bit of a dying sport.

Maybe where you live but not around here. Midwest and Southwest, it's alive and well. Lots of guys wrestle out here.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Maybe where you live but not around here. Midwest and Southwest, it's alive and well. Lots of guys wrestle out here.

A lot of the rust belt states are struggling with participation across all sports. So many families with a strong work ethic followed the jobs south. Where once kids were in three sports, football then wrestling/basketball then track, you find schools struggling to get enough kids interested in one sport to field a team.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

A lot of the rust belt states are struggling with participation across all sports. So many families with a strong work ethic followed the jobs south. Where once kids were in three sports, football then wrestling/basketball then track, you find schools struggling to get enough kids interested in one sport to field a team.

more like ones who needed a job, not that they had a strong work ethic

 

[MapleLeaf]

...we have seen the IOC fool around with Curling, Ballroom Dancing, Lawn Bowling all as Olympic demonstration sports. For goodness sakes we even have ping pong at the Olympics.

To drop wrestling is a travesty. One of the "core" sports of the ancient Olympic Games and still viable today not only as its own sport, but a feeder discipline to the very popular MMA.

They are pursuing the TV ratings far too much.

In 2035 look for speed texting as the next demonstration sport. Athletes in the speed texting world will sport thumbs the size of your forearm with finger tips like needles.

We will have new TV commentary metrics like strokes per second. Look at the speed of that texter from the Netherlands. Its a new world record rate of 5 strokes a minute.

Welcome to the brave new world.

 

[dogberry]

Is Field Hockey more widespread than Wrestling?

 

[Stryker44]

Badmitton stays and wrestling goes. talk about stupid

The Chinaman would rebel if their dear badminton was taken...that's how they win half their golds along with table tennis.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

more like ones who needed a job, not that they had a strong work ethic

No, the people with work ethic followed the jobs....those without simply stayed and formed a generation of welfare dependant lazy bones.

The "coal region" of Pennsylvania produced NFL HOFer after HOFer once upon a time. Then the jobs ran out and they aren't even producing DI football players. Similar things are happening in Ohio, Michigan and Upstate New York.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Is Field Hockey more widespread than Wrestling?

yeah probably

 

[Future]

Maybe where you live but not around here. Midwest and Southwest, it's alive and well. Lots of guys wrestle out here.

Schools like Ohio St and Michigan both talked about cutting Olympic sports, and adding lacrosse.

I guess what I originally meant that newer sports are being considered, and older ones might be pushed out at a lot of schools. I didn't mean to be entirely specific with wrestling and lacrosse, although those are 2 of the biggies.