International Olympic Committee Cuts Wrestling from 2020 Olympics

[RyFo18]

This is stupid if you ask me. 90% of the people on here probably don't care. But you have an event where people ride around on horses telling them to do stupid shit (Dressing) and you cut wrestling?

Source

IOC Drops Wrestling From 2020 Olympics
By STEPHEN WILSON
LAUSANNE, Switzerland
abcnews.go.com


International Olympic Committee drops wrestling from the 2020 Olympic program

The Associated Press

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."

Adams said the decision was made by secret ballot over several rounds, with members voting each time on which sport should not be included in the core group. IOC President Jacques Rogge did not vote.

Wrestling was voted out from a final group that also included modern pentathlon, taekwondo and field hockey, officials familiar with the vote told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the voting details were not made public.

The board voted after reviewing a report by the IOC program commission report that analyzed 39 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 board was also subject to political, emotional and sentimental factors.

The international wrestling federation, known by the French acronym FILA, is headed by Raphael Martinetti and is based in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. Calls to the federation for comment were not immediately returned.

Wrestling featured 344 athletes competing in 11 medal events in freestyle and seven in Greco-Roman at last year's London Olympics. Women's wrestling was added to the Olympics at the 2004 Athens Games.

Wrestling will now join seven other sports in applying for inclusion in 2020. The others are a combined bid from baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu. They will be vying for a single opening in 2020.

The IOC executive board will meet in May in St. Petersburg, Russia, to decide which sport or sports to propose for 2020 inclusion. The final vote will be made at the IOC session, or general assembly, in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

It is extremely unlikely that wrestling would be voted back in so soon after being removed by the executive board.

"Today's decision is not final," Adams said. "The session is sovereign and the session will make the final decision."

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. Golf and rugby will be joining the program at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Previously considered under the closest scrutiny was modern pentathlon, which has been on the Olympic program since the 1912 Stockholm Games. It was created by French baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, and combines fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting.

Klaus Schormann, president of governing body UIPM, lobbied hard to protect his sport's Olympic status and it paid off in the end.

"We have promised things and we have delivered," he said after Tuesday's decision. "That gives me a great feeling. It also gives me new energy to develop our sport further and never give up."

Modern pentathlon also benefited from the work of Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., the son of the former IOC president who is a UIPM vice president and member of the IOC board.

"We were considered weak in some of the scores in the program commission report but strong in others," Samaranch told the AP. "We played our cards to the best of our ability and stressed the positives. Tradition is one of our strongest assets, but we are also a multi-sport discipline that produces very complete people."

[Sorter]

Such a boring sport.

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Wrestling is going to die in the U.S.

[Iowanian]

And yet they'll still have F'ing ribbons....and water polo......

[GloryDayz]

Wow, the Olympics have created one MORE reason to not watch! ****ing stupid!

[alnorth]

At first I thought "well hell, if thats how they voted, there's nothing that can be done, even if it seems insane." However, after some research I am now convinced that this decision will not stand.

The IOC did not do this, it was a recommendation from the executive board that would still have to be ratified in September. And no, China did not do this, China only has 3 members in the entire IOC, I'm now convinced that this was the result of idiot groupthink from a small group isolated from reality. A lot of members of the IOC were equally shocked by this. There are about 120 members of the IOC, and I'd bet a lot of money that this decision will be overruled in September.

There are just 15 members of the executive board, so you only need 8 votes for modern pentathlon over wrestling. Sounds insane, but with that few people, perhaps you could get 8 stupid people.

After doing some research I found out where they came from:

Belgium
Singapore
Germany (x2)
Morocco
Great Britain
Australia
South Africa
Sweden
Taiwan
Switzerland
Ireland
Spain
Ukraine
Guatamala

One of those 15 members is like one of the lead people of modern pentathlon, too, so I'm sure he was yammering on about how his sport should be saved over drinks to the other 14. When you look at that list, I see a lot of potentially fruity Europeans who might not care about Wrestling.

Never mind the USA, we only won the 3rd-most wrestling medals last time around. Russia is absolutely pissed. Iran is outraged, India and Japan are angry, then there are a whole hell of a lot of former soviet and middle east countries who basically only do wrestling and almost nothing else. This thing is going to build into an enormous backlash which I can only presume that these 15 fools had no idea would occur. If they could do it over again, I bet they would come up with a different decision.

I'm not really concerned that wrestling will be dropped, I am pissed off because I wanted to see Karate make it in, and now they probably wont because Wrestling will have to be saved and that utterly reeruned horse-jumping/swimmin/sword whatever sport stays on.

[Iowanian]

At least there is Equestrian....where the animal does the work......

Don't forget Synchronized swimming..............

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf

Well I'm glad that the measure of something being lame or not is your uninformed opinion. I guess if it was up to you the Olympics would be nothing but the "cool" sports like equestrian, field hockey, and pentathlon. Wrestling is a sport that dates back to the original Olympics a couple thousand years ago, but we don't need that in the Olympics because people who have never competed in the sport or taken the time to learn about it think it's lame.

Is the "Prison" in your username silent?

I really don't have a strong opinion on a sport I've never spent one seco d watching. Course, that's the problem for the Olympics: how to get people to tune in. They will get a few rural folks in Iowa and Oklahoma to tune in. I guess.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

I really don't have a strong opinion on a sport I've never spent one seco d watching. Course, that's the problem for the Olympics: how to get people to tune in. They will get a few rural folks in Iowa and Oklahoma to tune in. I guess.

That argument doesn't wash either, wrestling is extremely popular around the world, especially compared to the alternatives. Russia and India, two enormously populated countries, watch it and its the national sport of several nations.

It does not make sense even from a "who cares about tradition", cold analytical point of view. Modern Pentathlon is garbage, but got saved by fruity Europeans and nepotism.

[LoneWolf]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

I really don't have a strong opinion on a sport I've never spent one seco d watching.

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Watching two guys wrestle bores me to tears. Lame.

You really need to shut the **** up about this subject.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

It is preposterous, especially given amateur wrestling's international popularity and historical roots.

I never wrestled, but I had several close friends in high school who did. The passion of wrestlers for their sport surpassed any other sport I've seen, and it continues to do so.

[007]

there is tons of shit that should be cut from the olympics. Wrestling is NOT one of them. Wow.

[Chiefaholic]

Coming from a former high school wrestler, this pisses me off. Those of you who are lame ass b**ches who call the sport boring have no ****ing clue how much work and dedication wrestling takes. To watch it and understand it keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire match. This is a sport where one guy can totally destroy his opponent the majority of the match and lose with just one simple screw up. Dominant wrestlers have to have speed, strength, agility, quick actions and reactions, and YEARS of training to have a minute chance of achieving an opportunity to make the Olympics. But nooooo.... Let's pass up tradition and more passionate fans than many of the other lame ass reasons NOT to watch the Olympics.

[Brock]

This is mind boggling. And yet olympic bmx lives.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

I really don't have a strong opinion on a sport I've never spent one seco d watching. Course, that's the problem for the Olympics: how to get people to tune in. They will get a few rural folks in Iowa and Oklahoma to tune in. I guess.

LOL, most schools across America have a wrestling program in them. I'm not sure how you get to your conclusion. I'm not saying it's the biggest sport in the world, but it's sure one that most US schools support.

[CrazyPhuD]

The Hulkster is not amused!