IOC ignores history, impact of sport
The International Olympic Committee is trying to streamline its feature events to a core 25 sports that best capture the spirit of the summer games by voting to eliminate those deemed unnecessary. Somehow, wrestling was on that list.
The IOC then took it one step further and voted to remove wrestling from the 2020 Summer Olympics. The decision was made in secrecy in Switzerland, and completely blindsided the International Wrestling Federation, which had no warning the ballot was even taking place.
How wrestling — one of the most popular sports at a global level with more than 200 countries boasting a wrestling program — be eliminated from the Olympic Games is beyond me. Wrestling has been a discipline of the Olympics as long as the Olympic games have existed. Back in the glorious days of footraces, boxing and the pentathlon, there was wrestling, a sport I would identify as a modern link to the past.
Furthermore, the IOC is considering adding “sports,” like rollerskating, sport climbing, wake boarding and wushu — whatever that is. The good news is the decision isn’t final. The same judges will reconvene in May to iron out the details, so wrestling still might be an Olympic sport.
Although I’ve never been one for tradition, there’s something unreasonable about eliminating a sport like wrestling from the Olympics. Why the IOC has decided to eliminate sports, rather than expand them, is unreasonable.
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