What's this proposal all about from IOC Executive Board that wrestling not be an Olympic sport in the 2020 Games?

This true? Anyone know details?

This would be tragic to one of the world's oldest & most exciting sports. There is a long tradition of great wrestling stories in the history of the Olympic Games.

Am I misunderstanding this?

I just read this is the news as well...shocked! Sounded like wrestling was in fact officially removed from the Olympics for 2020, but could still win a wildcard bid to be a part of the Games. What a huge hit to our great sport if this happens!

Knowing the peoe involved in this sport at the Olympic level I can only imagine that they are already planning how to get back into the games.

I am still just floored that this was even an option. I just hope they find a way to keep speed walking. Not really.

IOC Drops Wrestling From 2020 Olympics - ABC News‏

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=18473870


IOC Drops Wrestling in Surprise Move


By STEPHEN WILSON AP Sports Writer

Feb 12, 2013, 8:22 AM


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."

One of the craziest things I have ever heard. Among many stupid decisions by the IOC, this is at the top of the list. Let's hope and pray that this can be, and will be reversed.

They are going to have a nother vote in Russia on a sport to add. Go to http://www.olympic.org/ioc scroll to the bottom of the page and press the FAQ at the bottom of the pop up window it lets you ask a question. Everyone needs to ask the board to vote for it during the Russia meeting. I'm sure a potition will be started soon but until then this is one way we can let the IOC know how much wrestling is wanted.

Wow, it hardly seems possible. If there was ever a time for the international wrestling community to come together, this would be it.

I sent in some feedback on that olympic site however there is going to need to be total backlash on this for it to drive change.

How can they get rid of a sport with such history and requires such commitment yet keep / add others like Trampolining, Syncronized Swimming, speedwalking or even Golf. Really?

This appears to be an attempt to soften the games. I thought it was just the US becoming soft, guess the IOC thinks the world is. I would really like to see the logic/reasoning behind this as currently it defies both.

Would someone be able to put together a request that we could copy and paste? This would give us a uniform response and make it that much easier for us to respond. Thoughts?

[quote=Joe Knecht]

How can they get rid of a sport with such history and requires such commitment yet keep / add others like Trampolining, Syncronized Swimming, speedwalking or even Golf. Really?

quote]

Joe, I'll ignore the comment about golf above...we'll have a discussion the next time I see you!

But there are facebook pages popping up. Sure Twitter has something too...One Facebook page has more than 4,000 likes just this morning. Social media is a huge global force...

Sharon - LOL, I figured you would like that. I actually LOVE playing golf but watching it is another story and do question it for the Olympics. When looking at the criteria they claim to use... even Golf doesn't seem to fit. =)

But OK, I'll give that to you... instead of Golf, pretend I said Equestrian Dressage. Really, THAT'S an Olympic sport? Also, it's odd they would allow both Judo & Taekwondo. To the most, I'd bet the difference between those two is slight at best. Dropping one of the worlds purest and oldest sport is criminal.

I'm hoping USA Wrestling, FILA and the other governing bodies from all wrestling countries come out in full force together with masses of individuals and work this problem collectively.

For those that don't know what Dressage is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dressage Seems like this is testing the horse more than anything. What's next? Fishing and canine cross and competition obedience (yes they're real)

http://www.flowrestling.org/speaker/151-...stling-Decision

If you don't get on flo you should. very good insight from John Smith

Please help us get wrestling reinstated as an official sport in the Olympics by going to http://wh.gov/dT8D and signing the petition.

The online petition at http://wh.gov/dT8D is very simple to complete; you just log onto the White House website, get your password emailed to you, then click on the “Sign the Petition” button.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petitio...s-2020/ClDPYshl

Not trying to throw another petition out there but this one has over 10k more signatures already.

Signature #6480

... of concern to me, is that the elimination on one style of wrestling was reported 4 years ago! It even brought brief responses on these very pages!

But it seems the PTB did not take the hint very serious! While some sports were lobbying heavily to be included or remain so ... we sat on our hands!

Is I suggested on our Facebook page, this reconsideration of this stance will need a world-wide effort!! We can no longer take the cavalier approach to our sport!

... and in my opinion, we don't need to bash other sports to make us appear better! To me, that is doing wrestling a tremendous dis-service!!

We have too many people that thought that wrestling was untouchable. He didn't take the suggestion of four years ago and do any marketing at all!! We need to keep our sport fresh and prominant in the Worlds eye!!

I second that, Randy! It's easy to get drawn into that, but I don't think it is doing wrestling any service to sling mud at other sports.

Feb. 12, 2013

STILLWATER--Oklahoma State wrestling coach and two-time Olympic gold medalist John Smith weighed in on the International Olympic Committee's decision to drop wrestling from the 2020 Olympic games, which was announced Tuesday morning. A video of the interview and transcript are below:

On what wrestling means to him
"Growing up in Del City and having a sport like wrestling kind of guided me. It gave me a lot of direction and no question, the opportunities I've had through the sport like traveling all over the world and being able to meet people of all ethnic backgrounds has been a true privilege. Also, having the opportunity to reach the highest level in our sport, which is the Olympic gold medal, and getting to do that twice. Looking back, I realize how lucky I was. The sport of wrestling gave me a lot of opportunities."

On the significance of the International Olympic Committee's recommendation to drop wrestling from the 2020 Olympics
"I think the disappointing thing from this morning is that the IOC recommended eliminating wrestling from the 2020 Olympics. It's just devastating. There's no one in the sport of wrestling in the world that had any idea that this was going to happen. There had been talk about a lot of sports over the last eight years. We were caught off guard with this. What was disappointing was that we really didn't have any representation [on the committee] to fight for ourselves. It was a judgment that didn't have any credentials behind it. That's what was disappointing."

On who is most affected
"When you're talking about who's most affected by it, you're looking across the country and across the world. Our sport is diversified. We have almost 200 countries that participate in wrestling. Comparing that with the other core sports in the Olympics, it's one of the highest. We meet the IOC's criteria of being an Olympic sport. We're up at the top in several of those categories. That's diversity and participation throughout the world. We have over a million wrestlers just in the United States. There's not a million athletes in some of the sports that are participating in the Olympics. The recommendation that came down of eliminating wrestling in 2020 is not justified."

On the 2012 Olympics
"This past Olympics at London in 2012, there were over 70 countries that participated in wrestling. When you compare that to other sports, again, wrestling is very high on the list. That has always been what the Olympic movement has been about, which is country's participating in all the sports. Our international governing body has always moved to develop wrestling throughout the world...When you talk about participation, it's a number that is staggering. It's well represented and it meets every criteria [the IOC] is looking for."

On why he believes the decision was not justified
"One of the most disappointing things that I've learned today is that this decision came down among the executive committee of the IOC, and we had no representation from the United States on the executive committee. How can you vote on a sport that [the United States] has dominated throughout time in the Olympics with [the United States'] medal count has been one of the highest of any sport and have no representation? The United States won the medal count and there's no representation for our sport or our governing body in a vote. Nor did we have any idea that wrestling had a real threat of being dropped. There was no voice for wrestling in the decision making of the IOC.

"When you look at the criteria of the IOC and everything their movement is about, wrestling shouldn't even be considered on the chopping block. Of the last three sports that were recommended, two of them were two of our best sports: baseball and softball. Now, it's wrestling. Those three sports, traditionally, from the United States have done extremely well. You're wondering what's going on and what's wrong with this problem. Wrestling meets everything they're looking for, especially the participation throughout the world and the diversity. Although we have a million wrestlers in the United States, that's a small number compared to some of the countries. The fight is just starting. It was a recommendation from the IOC that wrestling would not be allowed in the 2020 Olympics. There will be additional meetings from this point forward, one in May and the final decision September of 2013. I can tell you the wrestling world will come together. It will unite. The fight has just begun."

On the ramifications on American folkstyle wrestling
"Remember that Olympic wrestling and high school, college and youth wrestling are two different worlds. You're talking about it affecting just a few. The sport, the training and the wrestling is totally different. In high school wrestling, we've grown over this last decade by 40,000 plus athletes. We've added 95 college programs in all divisions over the last 10 to 12 years. Wrestling throughout the United States is very strong. I think it's for those few young men at the age of 10 or 12 that have a dream, and it's what gives them the stability in their life and the discipline and the courage to chase that dream. It's personal. The state of Oklahoma, since 1924, has won Olympic gold medals in the sport of wrestling. It's probably our most successful sport in the Olympics for the state. I'm fighting for that 12-year-old kid in Oklahoma. I'm fighting for that kid that has that dream. Everything that the criteria that the IOC has for who is going to be in the Olympics and who is not, is being met by wrestling and it's setting the standards in a lot of the criteria to determine what sport is in and what sport is out."

On his first reaction to the news of the IOC's recommendation
"My first reaction this morning was emotional. It was a tough, tough 15 minutes because I didn't know at the time that there was an opportunity to fight back. I didn't know at the time that we can win this battle. It just made me sick to think that the opportunity for 14, 15, 16-year-old kids who have thoughts about being an Olympic champion is erased. We may only be talking about a handful of kids. It made me sick. As the day went on, I got stronger. I was on the phone a lot today with not just people in this country but all over the world. We're all ready to stand together."

On the next step
"We recognize that we have until May, the first meeting. The final decision is in September. We have some great leaders right now that are working on where we go from here. I can tell you that for countries like India, one of the few medals they won was in wrestling. One of the strongest sports is wrestling. All throughout Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, the Japanese, who dominated and one of their best Olympics in wrestling, and all the republics of the old Soviet Union- it's one of their key sports and one of the only medals they get. It's not just us. It's not just Oklahoma State or John Smith that has passion for wrestling. It's all over this world and there are a lot of numbers behind it. With those numbers is how we get things changed."

On what he has to say to youth wrestlers
"To any young kid who hears there's not going to be wrestling in the Olympics, keep fighting. Keep working. Keep training. I'm going to fight for you. There's only one option with this decision and that's to get it overturned. I'm going to live every day to make a difference in that final decision."

Ways you can help.

http://keepwrestlingintheolympics.com/