we need to fight to keep this sport alive. the international olympic committee is dropping the sport of wrestling in 2020. somehow we need to keep this sport alive.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/02/13/sports/olympics/ap-oly-jim-litke-021313.html?_r=1&
Column: Swifter, Higher, Stronger? Or Just Dumber?
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: February 13, 2013 at 3:45 AM ET
The motto of "swifter, higher, stronger" says little about the Olympics these days and everything about the lengths to which the clueless fuddy-duddies at the IOC will go in pursuit of the almighty buck. At this pace, "The Bachelor" and "The Voice" will be locks for the 2020 Games.
Not so wrestling, which the IOC executive committee dropped in a secret vote Tuesday, opting to keep modern pentathlon and field hockey instead among the Summer Olympics' "core" sports at the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Games.
If the members of that august body weren't so otherwise out of touch, the temptation to believe cronyism was involved would be even greater, since Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., the son of former IOC president and strongman Juan Antonio Samaranch, also happens to be a vice president of the International Modern Pentathlon Union and a member of the IOC board.
A simple "tale of the tape" between the two sports, applying the IOC's own criteria, illustrates what a wrong-headed choice the swells made. Wrestling is more popular by just about any measure. It generates twice the TV audience worldwide, both in terms of maximum (58.5 million vs. 33.5 million) and average viewership (23 million vs. 12.5 million). Its international federation — known by the acronym FILA — counts 177 member nations vs. 108 for modern pentathlon. And don't even ask about participation numbers, since one of the five disciplines that make up the pentathlon requires a horse.
What wrestling doesn't have, though, is enough clout on the executive committee. Seven of the 15 members hail from Western Europe — eight if current IOC president Jacques Rogge, a Belgian, casts a vote — while wrestling draws most of its support from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States.
"The motivation of every member is never based on a single reason. There are always several reasons," said IOC vice president Thomas Bach of Germany. "It was a secret vote. There will always be criticism, but I think the great majority will understand that we took a decision based on facts and for the modernization of the Olympic Games."
Right. Because nothing says hip like field hockey and the pentathlon (which helpfully includes the word "modern" in its title).

ut the point here is not to exclude those two sports, because like wrestling, the Olympics provide their only real turn on a global stage. Rather, it's the way the IOC tries to cash in by piggy-backing on formerly taboo pro sports and pandering to whatever demographic holds sway at the moment. That's why the Winter Olympics look more and more like the "X Games," and why basketball, soccer and tennis — with golf and rugby on the way — are now "core" sports, even though they're chockfull with paid mercenaries and boast championships way more prestigious than anything the Olympics could offer.

There's a handful of other sports whose inclusion is just as hard to justify. A few are the exclusive province of the rich, such as equestrian and sailing, and others are just downright silly, such as synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics. Like wrestling, even fans of those sports don't know all the rules and the scoring is hard to follow. But the same could be said about figure skating, for that matter. Apparently all of them, save wrestling, have enough friends in high places.

In the coming months, we'll find out how many friends wrestling can pull together in a bid to convince the IOC to reverse course. The executive board meets in May to make a final proposal on which sports should be included in 2020, with a final vote scheduled for September. Wrestling now joins seven other sports, including roller blading, wakeboarding and wushu — a martial art — vying for a spot. Olympics observers doubt wrestling has a chance to get back in, but judging by the angry reaction that bounced from one side of the world to the other, it won't head for the exits without a fight.

"If we don't fight, we're going to die," said Rulon Gardner, the U.S. gold medal heavyweight whose victory over previously unbeaten Russian Alexander Karelin, dubbed "The Miracle on the Mat," provided one of the Games' most memorable moments ever. "At this point, it's time for everybody to man up and support the program."

___

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org and follow him on Twitter.com/JimLitke.

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.

I said it on the other topic, but I think it's worth saying again. Obama is not the answer to this problem. In addition to what 8th grade social studies tells us, am I the only one that remembers the failed attempt by Chicago to host an upcoming summer games? Obama and his Chicago cronies pulled out all the stops, including going all the way to Denmark to lobby for Chicago. They they turned him down flat. See this link:

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-10-02/politics/denmark.olympics.obama_1_michelle-obama-senior-adviser-david-axelrod-white-house?_s=PM:POLITICS

The president of the U.S. has little/if any power to affect a decision like this. To think he does is one reason we are in our current predicament in this country.

Other than a symbolic gesture to show our displeasure, which I agree does have some merit, signing this petition will have almost no effect. Surely the higher-ups with wrestling can find a web-site or real petition that the actual decision makers have to pay attention to. Surely we can do better than get a reference to the "complaint box" at the White House.

So rather than do or at least attempt something significant and meaningful, you'd rather use this unfortunate situation to tear down the sitting president yet again.

It's pretty much beyond pathetic.

Here is an idea for you. Perhaps the people who have signed these petitions or are going to sign them actually believe they will have some impact no matter how small that might be and thus they have done at least something, whereas you in your sadly partisan hackery have created an account on this website and in 13 posts have managed to add NOTHING to any discussion that you have managed to post in.

Either do something constructive or shut up.

I did do something significant, meaningful, and constructive. I informed people that the source being recommended will have little effect. I did not want the wrestling community to believe they have made a difference. I did not want people that might have an influence to think they did what they can do and stop reaching out because they already made an effort.

In my opinion this is a wasted effort and I want others to know the petition would likely have little effect. I am sure there are real sources that can make a difference and those need to be contacted.

As for your other recommendations and commentary about my posts, first, you can rest assured I will not be looking up your previous posts. Second, I guess I could just tell you to shut up. But that would only show an inability to form a coherent argument.

Again Forum reader you did NOTHING, except post a bunch of crap about President Obama, and then talked about "real" sources, of which you couldn't/didn't bother to even name whom these "real" sources are, so either you don't know or you chose not to mention them and thus your post was worthless just like I originally stated.

Signing a petition no matter how small it's impact might be is far more action than telling people to focus their attention on "real" sources whom you can't even name. This wasn't about what you want for wrestling, this was about you finding a rather pathetic way to voice your displeasure with the president, on a wrestling forum of all places.

I do not think the prezz will be any help.[but did put my name up] There is also a face book page ‘Save Olympic Wrestling’.50,000 + people liked page in 1 day.26,000 joined the page befor me and in the last 30 mins or so 6000+ more joined.We need to use every way we can to get the right people to hear us.

Charles Bradford

It does seem odd that such an iconic,historic, sport as wrestling gets dropped but from the news story it looks like a popularity contest and if enough of the IOC board members think badmitten is a better draw than wrestling they vote to keep the olympic games competitive from a marketing standpoint. Hard to imagine that curling gets to be an Olympic sport but not wrestling.

I'm sure the most influential wrestling supporters are working behind the scenes to figure out what,if anything, can be done. Signing a petition or wearing a singlet to work in support can't hurt, but the US Olympic Committee is probably working very hard to do what is possible.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/18/us-pols-launch-campaign-to-save-olympic-wrestling/


Getting some attention at the congressional level. DOn't know if it will do any good, but keeping it in the spotlight can't hurt......