Wrestling Dropped from Olympics

[Kermit]

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that wrestling has been dropped from the Olypmics, starting at the 2020 Games. The unexpected decision was made via secret ballot on Tuesday in Lausanne, Switzerland where officials were discussing ways to "streamline" the Olympics. Wrestling has roots in the ancient Greek games and has been part of the Olympics since 1896.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said, "This is a process of renewing and renovating the program for the Olympics. 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 (other) 25 core sports."

Now wrestling will have to face off with seven other sports that are fighting for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics.

The professional wrestling world is venting their frustrations on Twitter, with superstars expressing shock and Jim Ross calling the decision "ignorant."

1996 Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle tweeted:

"I'm Shocked. Will Do an Exclusive Interview Later today. Wrestling Will Stay in Olympics."
Read more at http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe...e_2020_Olympic_Games.html#hmHTRqBe5Qv1wYuC.99

This is pretty big news concerning the amateur wresting world. I am kind of interested to see where the Olympics go from here in terms of making it more "mainstream". I know that Golf will be added in 2016, and I wonder what other sports will come about in the coming years.

 

[ABMorales787]

Well that sucks. Jaime Espinal was interested in MMA and wrestling from what I heard.

 

[Fizzy]

Pretty amazing that they just up and expelled one of the original Olympic sports. One that's been around for thousands of years, and has been one of the most popular international sports for hundreds of years.

Meh, guess we need room for baseball and rugby

 

[Thriller Ant]

Meh, guess we need room for baseball and rugby

Baseball and softball have been out for a few years. They are actually competing against wrestling and a couple others to get into the 2020 Games. If I recall correctly, there are like 5 sports competing for 1 spot.

 

[BaconBits]

While it's a lame as fuck that they're getting rid of one of the OG Olympic sports, fans of mma and professional wrestling should actually be happy about it.

Because now, high level dudes and chicks coming straight out of college will go straight to mma or wrasslin' in their prime instead of chasing the Olympics for years.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't usually post in this section but this is something that got my attention. A big story in the world of sports today is that the International Olympic Committee has voted to drop wrestling from the Summer Olympics beginning in 2020.

Of course the wrestling that takes place at the Olympics isn't "professional wrestling" but I think it's a shame that this has come about. Wrestling has been a part of the modern Olympics since the games were reinstated back in 1896. Wrestling has been a competitive & accepted form of sports and competition since....well since civilization began. Thousands of years ago and continued on up through today in various cultures, wrestling is used as sort of a right of passage. Many western & eastern martial arts incorporate various holds & throws associated with wrestling.

At the same time, it doesn't come as much of a surprise. Like just about everything else in the world of sports, the Olympics are big business and wrestling is one of those sports in the Olympics that simply doesn't bring in big viewership numbers. Between 8 & 11 pm during the last Summer Olympic games, NBC made sure to feature certain sports that drew well like swimming, diving, volleyball, basketball and gymnastics. In the states, those are generally the sports that NBC spends much of its prime time schedule to cover. It makes me wonder how long other contact sports in the Olympics have.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

Olympic boxing is arguably the most boring thing they put on TV during the olympics. They might as well call it Olympic Sparring. They should have dropped it instead of wrestling.

Wrestling and Judo were pretty much the only two things I somewhat consistently watched during the Olympics.

Ah well, like BaconBits said, maybe MMA and Pro Wrestling will garner better athletes from this.

However without the Olympics more colleges might start cutting their wrestling programs. I know a lot of high schools have begun cutting it from the budget, and it's ending up similarly to soccer to where they can practice on the school property but they have no affiliation.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

They'll probably replace it with Olympic Golf and Olympic American Idol. It's pretty god damn sad when the Olympics, which should be solely about athletic merit, replaces one of its truly athletic events because it doesn't draw high enough ratings.

After doing a little bit of reading on it now the FILA heads are trying to figure out ways to make wrestling more "viewable" for a modern audience. They shouldn't change a damn thing, people just need to get in touch with a greater attention span. With the way people are now, in 20 years the Olympics will just be a 5 hour broadcast of recaps ala Sports Center.

 

[Fizzy]

Baseball and softball have been out for a few years. They are actually competing against wrestling and a couple others to get into the 2020 Games. If I recall correctly, there are like 5 sports competing for 1 spot.

No way Wrestling gets the spot so quickly after being expelled. The other sports competing include, what, competitive wall climbing, Wushu(whatever that is), and fucking roller sports? It's utterly mind boggling that wrestling has to complete with these jokes.

I hope Alexander Karelin comes in and slams whoever is responsible on their heads. Such bullshit that the staple Olympic sport has to compete for a spot.

 

[Danger Burger]

I doubt wrestling would be able to win back its spot after losing a vote to have it removed in the first place. Politics, politics, politics.

Not shocked by this though... Just look at the image they used on my news source.

If thats not a smear campaign, I dont know what is.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

To me that screams the Olympic committee has their heads up their ass.

 

[Papa Pillman]

TNA's response...

On Tuesday the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced “25 Core Sports” for the 2020 Olympic Games dropping one of the original Olympic sports: wrestling. Wrestling will now have to fight to remain a part of the 2020 games. TNA IMPACT WRESTLING is home to 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle and is dedicated to change this decision.

The IOC stated reasoning for the decision, according to the report, was an analysis of "more than three dozen criteria, including television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global participation and popularity.” The IOC has decided to keep recreational sports such as badminton, handball and table tennis in the “25 Core Sports” category and to delete one of the oldest Olympic sport that premiered in the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896.

Kurt Angle is considered the best wrestler of all time to be in both amateur and professional wrestling and is gearing up to fight this decision and organize a battalion of like minds to save this Olympic sport.

“Wrestling is one of the most competitive sports in the world today,” stated TNA Superstar and 1996 Gold Medalist Kurt Angle. “Winning the gold for my country in one of the original Olympic sports was one of the greatest moments in my life.

“The wrestling community is in a state of shock with this decision– we can not sit back and allow this to happen. I will do whatever it takes and work with my company TNA WRESTLING and the competitive wrestling community to determine what we need to do to reverse this decision.”

“The news from the IOC is very disheartening to all of us at TNA as well as the tens of millions around the world who either participate in amateur wrestling or enjoy watching it in its entertainment form,” stated TNA President Dixie Carter. “We need to join together right now. We encourage our own IMPACT WRESTLING community, WWE and wrestling organizations worldwide as well as competitive amateur coaches and athletes to have a unified voice to make sure wrestling will be an Olympic sport in 2020.”

Very classy move by TNA to address this quickly, and to reach out to the WWE to also get behind the movement with them.

This is tragic. Hopefully it is corrected.

 

[New Hot Fed]

Wow those IOC fools come off like a bunch of out of touch tight-ass assholes. Why are they doing this?

Think of all the people that's going to be affected by this decision. If I was the US and Canada and so forth, I would threaten to not be part of the Olympics in 2020.

 

[Thriller Ant]

Wow those IOC fools come off like a bunch of out of touch tight-ass assholes. Why are they doing this?

Think of all the people that's going to be affected by this decision. If I was the US and Canada and so forth, I would threaten to not be part of the Olympics in 2020.

Why would the U.S. and Canada pull hundreds of athletes that have nothing to do with wrestling because of the one sport being eliminated? If the U.S. didn't do it for baseball and softball, sports that were basically guaranteed golds for them, they won't do it for wrestling.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Funny thing is those guaranteed gold medals in Olympic baseball came only once, in 2000. Cuba won 3 or 4 Olympic golds.

Wrestling can still exist, but it will be competing with Baseball/Softball, Wushu(a non contact martial art), karate, climbing, wakeboarding, squash, and roller sports.

Now I love baseball and would love if they brought it back, and honestly as long as karate doesn't become as watered down as boxing I wouldn't mind it, but Olympic wrestling was the first Olympic sport I was ever captivated by.

During the 2000 Olympics Rulon Gardner and his story pulled me in. You have this farm kid from Wyoming who had survived being shot by an arrow in the stomach as a child. He went undefeated up until the finals against Aleksandr Karelin. Karelin hadn't been beaten in 13 years, and hadn't given up a point in six years. Hell the guy has a suplex named after him, he was that good. Gardner ended up beating him 1-0 on points to win gold. My ten year old self went crazy. It was incredible.

 

[braveh]

Just to play devil's advocate: wrestling isn't a great tv-sport. It's difficult to comprehend the rules and what's happening, sometimes it just looks like two guys humping each other...from that perspective I can understand.

They definitely should not add golf. Look at the tennis tournament. Nobody cares! The olympic tennis tournament is a real B-tournament. Tennis players want to win the 4 major opens. Nobody cares for the olympics!

They could also get rid of the racewalking competitions...have you ever met someone who practice professional walking? I haven't and I was in the running team in school.

 

[I Heart Cena]

Now's their chance to add our kind of wrestling to their events.

JK, our wrestling shouldn't replace mat wrestling, but I do hope to see scripted wrestling become an Olympic sport, or just a sport in general someday.

How? By having matches judged by an esteemed panel, then the highest rated match wins the meet. For the Olympics, you can have 10 countries make matches featuring their best wrestlers. The country with the highest rated match/matches, wins the gold medal.