IOC drops wrestling from 2020 Olympics

• like_that

  

  http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/11/3228038/ioc-set-to-cut-1-sport-from-program.html
  
  This is just sickening. Synchronized swimming, trampoline, the modern pentathlon and equestrian are still involved with the Olympics over one off the oldest Olympic sports? The IOC board members can go to hell.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  Wow. Retarded.
• USMCdevil2005

  

  Man I was sick to my stomach when I saw this on the morning news at 6 am at one of ky stops on ky route! I can't believe this. ***** a$$ basketball gets tovstay and the other sports listed above but one of the oldest sports in the world and one with the most glory has to go. Sickening! The devil is on a rampage now! Watch out
• cruiser_96

  

  I'm not one to cuss, but this stinks.
• Bitterrunner-up

  This is an awful thing for our sport. If it ends up happening I will be crushed. I posted this on Yappi as well:
  
  This sport has been a huge part of my life since I was eight years old. It taught me lessons about self discipline and self reliance, about perseverance and responsibility. It's the reason I went to college. It's made me a better teacher, husband and father. You're not going to find too many people that love the sport more than me.
  
  That being said, bashing other sports isn't the answer. The people who make the Olympic teams in some of the sports being trashed above are fulfilling life-long dreams and their appearance at the Olympics is the culmination of a life's work. Don't belittle their efforts or their sports because you don't understand them or ther culture. That's what people do to wrestling and we hate it.
• Gblock

  Of all the sports that should not be cut i would think it would be wrestling which in my understanding is one of the oldest competitve sports and surely one of the oldest in the olympics smh
  certainly wrestling should be in before taekwondo.
• Shoot and Sprawl

  Simply unbelievable that the I.O.C. would turn its back on their own history.
  We as a community must do a better job of marketing our sport to the masses and becoming commercially viable.
• Dust_E_Roads

  Wrestling put on par with wakeboarding and "roller sports"?!?! Really? Really?
• nykc

  

  Well one could always start a petition - the wrestling community cannot let this happen or we will be having more and more discussions about Canoeing and Synchronized Tactical Diving in the near future.
• lowsingle174

  Bitterrunner-up;1387346 wrote:This is an awful thing for our sport. If it ends up happening I will be crushed. I posted this on Yappi as well:
  
  This sport has been a huge part of my life since I was eight years old. It taught me lessons about self discipline and self reliance, about perseverance and responsibility. It's the reason I went to college. It's made me a better teacher, husband and father. You're not going to find too many people that love the sport more than me.
  
  That being said, bashing other sports isn't the answer. The people who make the Olympic teams in some of the sports being trashed above are fulfilling life-long dreams and their appearance at the Olympics is the culmination of a life's work. Don't belittle their efforts or their sports because you don't understand them or ther culture. That's what people do to wrestling and we hate it.

  This^^
• rassler

  Bitter/Shoot and Sprawl, very good posts.
  
  This will have a rippling effect. College programs have been saved in the past primarily because wrestling is "an olympic sport". Now we are even more defenseless against Title IX cuts than ever before. IOC will add a sport to replace wrestling as one of 25 "core" sports. Baseball/Softball, Rugby and Golf reportedly being considered.
• Dust_E_Roads

  Bitterrunner-up;1387346 wrote:That being said, bashing other sports isn't the answer. The people who make the Olympic teams in some of the sports being trashed above are fulfilling life-long dreams and their appearance at the Olympics is the culmination of a life's work. Don't belittle their efforts or their sports because you don't understand them or ther culture. That's what people do to wrestling and we hate it.

  I appreciate your reasoned and tempered respoonse. I will, however, disagree with you on a not insignificant item.
  
  "Wakeboarders" and "Roller-skaters" could not possibly have had "life long dreams" of competing for Olympic glory because no rational person could have ever believed that these would become Olympic sports. I will not now, nor ever, put "wakeboarding" or "rollerblading" on par with a wrestling. This isn't due to any failure to understand or appreciate their "sports". Let them have the X games.
• like_that

  

  Not familiar with international law, but is there a chance that FILA lawyers up and appeals this moronic decision?
• justincredible

  

  The IOC can go find themselves. This is absolutely asinine.
• It is what it is

  Wrestling will surely be petitioned to be the "1" sport added back in 2020 competing against the likes of baseball/softball, taekwondo, and some of the other above metioned "sports". Let's hope the wrestling community bans together to make sure wrestling gets that spot; hard to imagine the Olympics not having one of its original events?!!
• Fab1b

  

  This is sickening!
• HorseShoe289

  

  Although heartbreaking on many levels, this is mere adversity. As I sit here thinking about this, and how utterly devastating it could be, I find comfort in this reality: This news, this decision, was put in the face of WRESTLERS. And wrestlers will act exactly like they know how. The wrestling community and its leaders will put into practice exactly what we preach to our young wrestlers everyday: wrestling better prepares us to handle adversity in life. There are some great wrestling leaders out there, men and women, in positions to change this decision, or, if it cannot be changed, they will offer solutions that will overcome it in a way that will actually improve our sport. Now seems to be the time where wrestlers will do what they do: they will issue the beat-down on those making this decision...not with their bodies an brawn, but rather with that iron will, with their minds, their willingness to prepare, and outwork their opponents.
• Falcons53

  Brutal. An Olympic original event being cut like this. A sport with international appeal. It isn't like the U.S. has dominated it. I could understand if we did since everyone in the world now hates us. That is a different discussion though.
  
  Wrestling is a sport that should always be in the olympics. Next I guess they will cut the Marathon.
• Cthelites

  Wow unbelievable!
  Not only an original olympic sport but THE oldest known sport in this planet's history.
  
  Ballroom dancing????
• like_that

  

  Be sure to voice your displeasure to the USOC... [email protected]
• Bitterrunner-up

  Dust_E_Roads;1387399 wrote:I appreciate your reasoned and tempered respoonse. I will, however, disagree with you on a not insignificant item.
  
  "Wakeboarders" and "Roller-skaters" could not possibly have had "life long dreams" of competing for Olympic glory because no rational person could have ever believed that these would become Olympic sports. I will not now, nor ever, put "wakeboarding" or "rollerblading" on par with a wrestling. This isn't due to any failure to understand or appreciate their "sports". Let them have the X games.

  While I agree that wakeboarders and roller skaters probably don't have life-long Olympic dreams, too often we act as if other sports are lesser than ours. Those sports have a culture all their own that is just as important to their participants as our culture is to us. That's the point I was trying to make.
  
  The point HorseShoe makes is a good one. Wrestlers are leaders and people who get things done in all walks of life. I'd like to hear Congressmen Jim Jordan's take on this subject.
• Fab1b

  

  My only thought is that MMA could see a brighter future and wrestlers have an avenue to make money with their craft. However I am just so ticked off about this news!
• Heretic

  

  Very horrible and moronic decision by the IOC.
  
  Which is about the same as saying that the sun rose today, but it's still disgusting.
• 1prouddad

  Bitterrunner-up;1387346 wrote:.........That being said, bashing other sports isn't the answer. The people who make the Olympic teams in some of the sports being trashed above are fulfilling life-long dreams and their appearance at the Olympics is the culmination of a life's work. Don't belittle their efforts or their sports because you don't understand them or ther culture. That's what people do to wrestling and we hate it.

  Very well put - we shouldn't bash the other sports - they are just as important to those athletes and fans as wrestling is to us. We should however bash the IOC as they are allowing something other than tradition and history steer the Olympics - my guess is that something is "ratings".
  
  I am already seeing tweets from "WrestlingBelongs2020" and I'm sure there will be more petitions, websites etc. coming out that will provide us with a means of being heard. We (Wrestling fans, parents, coaches, athletes etc.) can't sit by and let this happen - every chance we get to be heard - through petitions, twitter, whatever, we need to speak up and keep speaking up! This is totally unacceptable!
  
  And yes - Wrestling I believe is one of the oldest sports - as my signature line attests.
• snugglyhippo

  Change of period duration every 8-10 years. Significant rules changes every 2-3. The ball grab to determine choice. Referees decisions influenced by politics. The "clinch" ot. You can't gut wrench repeatedly...oh, no wait you can...oh, no wait, you can if you do something else first. These and other foolish actions by FILA over the past 30 years have eroded the worldwide interest of wrestling and the ability (or willingness) of the casual fan to pay attention or to even care. Can you imagine if basketball or hockey made such drastic changes? They might be gone from the olympics too. All of that being said, if there is no more wrestling in the olympics, I will never watch them again, summer or winter.