Olympics cut wrestling

[h=1]IOC cuts wrestling from 2020 Olympics[/h]<CITE class="byline vcard"></CITE>



Jordan Burroughs (red) competes in the 2012 Olympics. (AP)In a shocking move, the International Olympic Committee voted to drop wrestling from its schedule for the 2020 Games. The unexpected decision was made via secret ballot during a Tuesday meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland where officials were discussing ways to "streamline" the Olympics.
Though many assumed modern pentathlon would get the boot, the committee instead decided to eliminate wrestling, which has roots in the ancient Greece games and has been a part of every modern Olympics since they began in 1896. The vote was completed over several rounds and the final totals were not released to the public.
Each of the Summer Games' 26 "core sports" were reviewed and at risk:
Now wrestling will have to face off with seven other sports that are fighting for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics. The list includes includes baseball and softball, which were dropped from the Olympics after Beijing in 2008 and sports trying to make the Olympics for the first time, including karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing,wake boarding and wushu. The Associated Press said it is "extremely unlikely" that wrestling would be brought back so soon after the committee voted to eliminate it.
Wrestling has been an Olympic sport since the ancient origins of the games in Greece. The United States is the most successful active nation, with 50 all-time gold medals and 125 overall. The US team won two gold medals in the 2012 Games in London. Russia currently dominates the sport, but wrestlers from Japan, Turkey, Finland, South Korea, Iran and Cuba have all won their country dozens of medals.
Sports that will continue to be a core sport for the Olympics include the aforementioned modern pentathlon — a goofy mix of shooting, horseback riding, fencing, running and swimming. Also still included are tae kwon do, which rarely has winners who are not from South Korea, China or the US, and cycling, which has been plagued with doping scandals.
It's hard to think that the IOC could make such a decision when wrestling has provided many of the Olympics' memorable moments. During the 2012 Olympics, American freestyler Jordan Burroughs beat Iranian Sadegh Saeed Goudazri to win gold. Afterwards, the two men hugged and smiled on the medal stand, despite the fact that they come from two countries that have tense international relations. Wrestling did what diplomacy could not, but the IOC apparently doesn't want that to be a part of the 2020 Olympics.
It's also difficult to estimate just how big of an impact this decision will have on the sport at the high school and college levels. The prospect of an Olympic gold medal has been the ultimate goal for so many wrestlers getting into and sticking with the sport and again, it's hard to imagine the IOC just took that prize away when no one saw it coming.
What do you think of the IOC's decision?
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This sucks! At least on a good note is that we're seeing guys like Dana White pushing MMA training facilities, coaches and teams to start scouting colleges for athletes.

this has been around for how long???? how can they dump it..and what's gona be in its place..

I think its sad, and I also think Olympic wrestling would have gotten popular if they televised it properly, with mma growing the way it has and is, I think wrestling would have grown in the Olympics to!

I mean they have Olympic Field Hockey for crying out loud but NO wrestling, come on man!

Very sad. It's one of the original sports. I always watched as an ex-wrestler myself. However, it will probably be in the next Olympics. They just need to qualify now.

yea i heard about this, we just had our high school state wrestling chamionship. my middle son is wanting to do MMA and i have been telling him most UFC fighters start out wrestling, his football coach has been trying to get him to join the past 2 years i think he would be naturally good but he is stuck on MMA and wants to get in a ring a just fight somebody (i know where he gets it from little hardhead stuborn kid just like me)

i agree they should do better job on televising, i mean there are many unpopular sports ok i really want to say stupid sports but they work hard and i respect that, at the end of the day as long as they dont cut women volleyball ill be alright

This is terrible. Wrestling in my opinion is an amazing sport especially for High School athletes. It requires so much dedication in training, diet, and strategy. They toss wrestling and keep figure skating. That's one hell of a tribute to what dates back to the first recorded organized competition

They cut wrestling to circle jerking could be introduced. Fucking retarded. They have things like badminton and basket weaving, and underwater vaginal douching but no more wrestling. Ghey.