OLYMPICS TO DROP WRESTLING IN 2020?!

The modern Olympics began in 1896.  Those Games had wrestling with no weight classes and no time limit.  There was just one winner, but the sport was there.  In ancient Greece, wrestling was held starting with the 18^th Olympiad in 708 BC.^1,2

Now in its modern and telemyopic vision, the International Olympics Committee has dropped wrestling from the guaranteed lineup of sports to be included in the 2020 Games.  (I’m hoping the irony of a “shortsighted” decision for the “20-20” Games is not lost.)  The decision was based on three dozen criteria including “television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global popularity.³

Wrestling could be retained.  For now, it will be in a pool of eight sports vying for a single spot in those Games.  Only one from the group of wrestling, baseball/softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu.³

This decision will likely unite wrestlers from countries not always in agreement with each other.  While the U.S. has the most Olympic wrestling medals all-time (50 gold and 125 overall), the sport’s current force is Russia.  Japan, Turkey, Finland, South Korea, Iran and Cuba have all won dozens of medals.⁴

I’m a baseball fan if nothing else.  HOWEVER, even my beloved baseball should not be a possible replacement for a sport about 2,500 years older than it is.  And, to even consider other sports which many  world  sports aficionados would have to look up to find out what they are!

Ah, but television and short attention spans call the shots.⁵  That would make an ancient Olympic contemporary of wrestling, the discus,¹ vulnerable unless it can be held with the stadium lights off and LED’s implanted in the discus.  Also likely to fall off the bubble is the javelin.  If Jarts can be banned from the U.S. and Canada, then how can we justify endangering our young athletes…..

Certainly, there are far greater causes in life than lobbying for specific athletic contests.  But the absurdity is that the Games are to be a source of recreation, healthy competition and a break from the serious absurdities of the world brought on by political and ideological greed.  When people in charge can mess up sports, why are we surprised when they can’t handle difficult decisions?

 

¹ – Wikipedia
² – Biting was not permitted, but attacks such as breaking the opponent’s fingers were permissible. (www.perseus.tufts.edu)
³ – www.wqam.com
⁴ – Maggie Hendricks, www.sports.yahoo.com, 2/12/2013
⁵ – “An IOC spokesman last week said proponents for other sports, such as archery and fencing, have taken steps to make them more exciting.  The Summer Olympics have added newer, TV-friendly sports, such as beach volleyball and BMX cycling, in past years.  They plan to include golf in the 2016 Games.” (Stu Woo, “Iowa Grapples Wrestling Call,”The Wall Street Journal, 2/19/2013