Wrestling dropped from Olympics

[keefy]

In 2020 and beyond.
Any wrestling fans? I dont mean that rigged acting stuff in that thread here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013...-olympic-games

The International Olympic Committee's decision to controversially drop wrestling from its 2020 programme has been described as "astonishing" and "hugely disappointing" following the omission of a sport that has featured in every Games except one since the Olympics' inception 117 years ago.

Fifteen members of the IOC executive board, not including the president, Jacques Rogge, recommended 25 core sports for the 2020 Olympics during a secret ballot vote in Lausanne. The board voted in favour of modern pentathlon, taekwondo and hockey but wrestling was surprisingly omitted for the event in Istanbul, Tokyo or Madrid.

However, it could still feature in 2020 should the IOC include it as an additional sport when it meets in Buenos Aires in September. Wrestling will compete with baseball/softball, roller sports, rock climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wushu, a Chinese martial art, for the remaining place, with each presenting their case for inclusion to the executive board in May.

The international wrestling federation, Fila, said they were "astonished" at the decision. "Fila will take all necessary measures to convince the IOC Executive Board and IOC members of the aberration of such [a] decision against one of the founding sports of the ancient and modern Olympic Games," it said in a statement.

"Fila has always complied with the IOC regulations and is represented in 180 countries, with wrestling being the national sport in a fair amount of them and the only possibility for athletes to represent their country at the Olympic Games, thus contributing to their universality."

Great Britain had only one wrestler competing at London 2012, the Ukraine-born Olga Butkevych who lost in the first round, and only expect to have two medal contenders at Rio 2016. Yet despite the dearth of elite performers, the GB Wrestling chief, Colin Nicholson, expressed his dismay at the decision.

"Freestyle wrestling was developed in Great Britain and the United States during the 19th century. It's something like the sixth most popular collegiate sport in the US, ahead of swimming and tennis, so it's disappointing," he said.

"Also wrestling has a huge following across Eastern Europe and Asia. The number of people in Britain able to wrestle at Olympic level is very small, but it's a sport going in a positive way. Although it will be hugely disappointing not to have the Olympic top level to aspire to, we will be taking part in the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018."

The executive board reportedly considered 39 factors when making the decision on which event to drop for 2020, including TV popularity, ticket sales, universality, mix of gender and anti-doping efforts. Mark Adams, an IOC spokesman, said: "The executive board made their decision based on their experience. There is a collective intelligence there of people related to federations and they came to that decision.

"In the view of the executive board this was the best programme for the Olympic Games in 2020. It is not a case of what's wrong with wrestling, it's what is right with the 25 core sports."

Wrestling was an important event at the inaugural Athens Olympics of 1896 and has only missed one Games since, at Paris in 1900. The sport has two categories, freestyle and Greco-Roman, while 344 wrestlers competed at London 2012 with countries from eastern Europe and Asia dominating the medal table.

Golf and rugby sevens will join the Olympic programme for Rio 2016 and were therefore ineligible from expulsion for 2020 at this stage. It was believed that the modern pentathlon, which combines fencing, horse racing, swimming running and shooting, faced the biggest risk of being omitted, although its rich Games history could have influenced the decision.

The GB Modern Pentathlon chief executive, Jon Archer, said: "This absolutely secures the future of the sport, not just at an Olympic level but also in giving us the opportunity to develop and get more people involved. We can relax now and work to continually modernise the sport."
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Where are our Olympic diarists now?

[RyanGT]

Wow that's bullshit.

Wrestling is one of my favorite events in the olympics. Very disappointing news.

[claud3]

They really PINNED down the reason why

[-Kwesnoth-]

[MonkeyClaw]

Out of all the things they do in the Olympics they get rid of wrestling?! But yet they keep: Badminton, Canoeing, Equestrian, Fencing, Handball, Table Tennis and Water Polo

Go Home Olympics, you're drunk!

[keefy]

Fencing rocks I got into that big time last year its all bout speed and quick reactions. Also the commentators were brilliant on the BBC for fencng they explained it really well for newcomers like me.

Waterpolo shows nipples BAN it.

I have to ROFLMAO at golf being classed as a sport and included at Rio in 2016.

[DeviousOne]

That's just ridiculous!

[Cybertox]

I think this type of sport fits good into the olympics. Dont really understand its disapproval.

[MonkeyClaw]

They need to get rid of something like Badminton and replace it with skateboarding.

[claud3]

They should add BABY FLAME TOSSER GAME

Just imagine this, you set a baby on fire and you hold it for a few seconds and then toss it into a field marked with BABY BOTTLES and if you hit one... You get a

MEDAL OF A FLAMING BABY CHEERING

[Silver_Knight]

They need to get rid of something like Badminton and replace it with skateboarding.

Hell yeah. I would be joining the olympics. On topic though, It's messed up because It's a challenging sport.

[admartian]

This is BS. wrestling is legit.

I could be biased coming from a fellow grapple-arts practitioner. But still...

[claud3]

FUCK this shit, does anyone actually watch it anyways

[keefy]

Hell yeah. I would be joining the olympics. On topic though, It's messed up because It's a challenging sport.

BMX is in but its racing not vert or freestyle or dirt and so on.

[Silver_Knight]

BMX is in but its racing not vert or freestyle or dirt and so on.

I personally like Bmx, However, I suck at It so that's why I prefer skating.

[MonkeyClaw]

Hell yeah. I would be joining the olympics. On topic though, It's messed up because It's a challenging sport.

It doesn't take much to learn how to hit a ping pong ball, or a birdie...it is another thing to drop down a vert ramp and pull off some of the crazy moves that they do!

[keefy]

Dropping in is easy, its staying on the bike whilst doing it thats hard

[Silver_Knight]

It doesn't take much to learn how to hit a ping pong ball, or a birdie...it is another thing to drop down a vert ramp and pull off some of the crazy moves that they do!

Dropping down in skating is scary so I imagine bmx would be,too. I wish I had somewhere where I could practice. Do you bmx yourself?

@ keefy my motto for skating. Dropping in easy but staying on is a different story.

[RedOrb_Collector]

This is retarded. Wrestling is one of the toughest sports out there, and EASILY one of the oldest, most vintage events in the Olympics.

It's more or less the oldest martial art in the world as well.

Wrestling, Boxing, and Olympic Power lifting are the only segments of the Olympics that I really pay attention to in the first place.

[MonkeyClaw]

Dropping down in skating is scary so I imagine bmx would be,too. I wish I had somewhere where I could practice. Do you bmx yourself?

@ keefy my motto for skating. Dropping in easy but staying on is a different story.

I haven't skateboarded or BMX'd in years! I use to have a 1/2 pipe that me and some friends built back when I was in Middle School, here is the photo of me skating on it! (don't laugh!)



This was back in 1987, I was in 7th grade in this photo...man how the time flies!

[keefy]

An old BMX of mine, if you compare the geometry of this to what is around now tis very different.
ACS Z-MAGs for the win.

The bike is FUBAR here, shortly after this photo I took what I could off it and scapped it. The only part that wasn't bent was the handle bars which are different colour to the rest of the bike because I snapped the ones that came with the bike.
The pedals are proper evil shin scrapers

[BoyBettaKnow]

They need to get rid of something like Badminton and replace it with skateboarding.

I say this as a former skater, replacing skating with Badminton would be a mistake. Badminton is amazing and skating has the X-Games.


Also, skating has been rumoured for Rio for some time now. No doubt it will be slalom rather than street/ramp though.

[MonkeyClaw]

I say this as a former skater, replacing skating with Badminton would be a mistake. Badminton is amazing and skating has the X-Games.


Also, skating has been rumoured for Rio for some time now. No doubt it will be slalom rather than street/ramp though.

Then X-Games needs to have the international recognition that the Olympics do, skateboarding and BMX'ing I personally thing are WAY more difficult than stuff like Badminton, etc. and require way more talent. They have snowboarding in the Olympics now, there is no reason they shouldn't have skateboarding, the Olympics committee needs to get with the times! I almost cringe at the winter Olympics when they have Curling, WTF?!

[keefy]

[DreDayDetox]

That's shitty because the wrastling that takes place at the Olympics is actually real and not poorly acted like a soap opera.