IOC drops wrestling from the 2020 Olympics

[boogielicious]

Sounds like IOC being political again. They keep certain sports that favor certain countries and eliminate others.  Softball was eliminated because US and Canada dominated. Rugby used to be a sport, but only a few countries did well. I would keep wrestling because a lot of countries do it and some, like Mid-east and Eastern Europe, excel at it.  I would ditch, synchronized swimming (just dumb), Rhythmic gymnastics (Russia always wins), ping pong (China always wins and only a few play), synch diving (just too much).

I would also ditch Men's football (soccer) unless FIFA let's the teams field all the best players.

[Kieran123]

The problem with wrestling is nothing happens for most of the time, meaning, not many people want to watch it ( it being nothing )

Also - could someone list all the divisions/weight classes of wrestling involved in the Olympics? It always seems absurdly large

Maybe cut some, keep some

[Golfingdad]

There are 25 "core" sports slated for the Olympics in 2020:  Athletics (T&F;), Rowing, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Football (soccer), Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Handball, Hockey (field), Judo, Swimming/Diving, Modern Pentathlon, Taekwondo, Tennis, Table Tennis, Shooting, Archery, Triathlon, Sailing, and Volleyball.

There is also a "short list" of sports vying to be the 26th sport for 2020.  Those are: Baseball/Softball, Karate, Inline Skating, Sport Climbing, Squash, Wakeboarding, Wushu (I don't know what that is) and, wait for it ... Wrestling.

So, again, to say that they should keep Wrestling and get rid of race walking, synch. swimming, synch. diving, rythmic gymnastics, dressage, or something else instead doesn't really make sense.  You're comparing a full sport to a single event.

To keep wrestling, it would have to be in place of one of the core sports.  I'm not sure why Taekwondo, Judo and Karate are all considered different sports, seems like they could just fit under some umbrella like "Self Defense Sports" and then they could include wrestling and one more. :)  It also seems like Canoeing could fit under the Rowing umbrella.

I'm going to go look up Wushu now. :)

[David in FL]

There are 25 "core" sports slated for the Olympics in 2020:  Athletics (T&F;), Rowing, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Football (soccer), Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Handball, Hockey (field), Judo, Swimming/Diving, Modern Pentathlon, Taekwondo, Tennis, Table Tennis, Shooting, Archery, Triathlon, Sailing, and Volleyball. To keep wrestling, it would have to be in place of one of the core sports.

Like maybe badminton? It's the FREAKING OLYMPICS man! Good grief.... :-(

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by David in FL

Like maybe badminton?

It's the FREAKING OLYMPICS man! Good grief....

Yeah, and I agree with Boogielicious about ping pong.  Both of those sports (I believe) are dominated by the chinese.  Heck, at the Olympics last time around, if I remember correctly, there were several members of the American team who were chinese, but just not quite good enough for their team.

Oh, and here's something that's pretty lame ... Wushu is another Chinese Martial Art.  So, if they picked that one or karate as the 26th, then you'd have 3 (along with taekwondo and judo) of the 26 sports being martial arts.  Other than those who actually practice martial arts, or have relatives or friends that do, I'm pretty sure the rest of us would look at all of those sports and think they were the exact same thing.

[spiderrower]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

There are 25 "core" sports slated for the Olympics in 2020:  Athletics (T&F;), Rowing, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Football (soccer), Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Handball, Hockey (field), Judo, Swimming/Diving, Modern Pentathlon, Taekwondo, Tennis, Table Tennis, Shooting, Archery, Triathlon, Sailing, and Volleyball.

There is also a "short list" of sports vying to be the 26th sport for 2020.  Those are: Baseball/Softball, Karate, Inline Skating, Sport Climbing, Squash, Wakeboarding, Wushu (I don't know what that is) and, wait for it ... Wrestling.

I have a bunch of friends who are wrestlers and are all worked up about wrestling being removed. I think some of the sports that aren't up for removal are a little ridiculous... equestrian? That's mostly the horse doing the work, not the rider.

I've never understood olympic weight lifting, either: their entire sport is the rest of the athletic world's training. Who watches that, anyway?

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by spiderrower

I have a bunch of friends who are wrestlers and are all worked up about wrestling being removed. I think some of the sports that aren't up for removal are a little ridiculous... equestrian? That's mostly the horse doing the work, not the rider.

I've never understood olympic weight lifting, either: their entire sport is the rest of the athletic world's training. Who watches that, anyway?

Totally agree on the horse stuff.  The horses are the athletes, and its not the Horse Olympics so that would be a perfect one to lose.

I don't like weightlifting either ... but by your reasoning, we'd have to also ditch track, cycling, and rowing.

[newtogolf]

Unfortunately most of the decisions the IOC make are at least partially driven by the value of the broadcast rights.

Events like weight lifting and wrestling aren't big ratings producers so they get pushed to off hours in favor of the more woman and family friendly events.  It's sad, I remember watching the Olympics back in the 70's and 80's during the cold war years, the US and Soviet Union had some major battles in the event.

In general it seemed like the Olympics meant more back then, there was more of a sense of national pride and honor, today it's too watered down for my taste.   What's next, synchronized nose picking?

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Totally agree on the horse stuff.  The horses are the athletes, and its not the Horse Olympics so that would be a perfect one to lose.

I don't like weightlifting either ... but by your reasoning, we'd have to also ditch track, cycling, and rowing.

[Golfingdad]

I guess it's our fault that wrestling is gone ...

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics--ioc-s-poor-decision-to-add-golf-costs-wrestling-its-spot-in-olympics-201325406.html

[Chilli Dipper]

The IOC dropping wrestling is a much bigger travesty than the USGA dropping the Publinx. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

[boogielicious]

My son took Tae Kwon Do from the man who lobbied to get it to be an Olympic sport, Master Ku.  Nice guy.

I think more people would watch wrestling if they actually showed it.  I remember Dan Gable in the Munich Olympics.  They showed the whole match.  Now they just do bit spots on the sport because the media has a real short attention span.

Synchronized swimming is a sport where I believe the entire population who actually do the sport are at the Olympics.  Do you know anyone who does it or has kids that do it?

[SCfanatic35]

I saw on CBS tonight that one of the reasons, surprise surprise, for them considering dropping wrestling was low tv ratings and loss of interest.  How can their be low tv ratings for something they don't show on tv?  I also saw what Wushu is, it appears to be a combination of rhythmic gymnastics and kung fu.  Except for the ribbon is replaced with weapons.  I am sure that 99% of the world would agree that the equestrian events and synchronized swimming need to go before Wrestling.

[NM Golf]

This decision made me sick. I come from a wrestling background. My father refereed several collegiate national championships and was part of the National rules committee. My Brother is in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. I run several tournaments around the state including the State Championships. I cannot believe the IOC removed wrestling and kept the sports they did. Pentathlon, Really?? I guess when the Olympic Golf Medalist in that event is on the board that's not a conflict of interest? That being said they should go away from freestyle and Greco-roman and use collegiate folkstyle rules. Collegiate wrestling is much more fun to watch that freestyle or greco-roman