Idiotic Olympic Commitee Drops Wrestling

Wrestling, part of the first modern Olympics and a U.S. strength, was shockingly cut from the Summer Games on Tuesday, beginning in 2020.

The International Olympic Committee was expected to cut the sport of modern pentathlon but instead decided to remove wrestling based on criteria such as global participation and popularity.

"This is a process of renewing and renovating the program for the Olympics," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. "In the view of the executive board, this was the best program for the Olympic Games in 2020. It's not a case of what's wrong with wrestling, it is what's right with the 25 core sports."

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The loss of wrestling is a huge blow to the U.S., one of the most successful countries in Olympic wrestling, winning 124 medals. The U.S had two gold medalists at last summer's London Games: Jordan Burroughs and Jake Varner. Coleman Scott added bronze along with Clarissa Chun in women's freestyle. U.S. women have won four medals since women's wrestling was added to the 2004 Athens Games.

The former Soviet Union won 116 medals in the Olympics, and Russia 51.

Wrestling featured 344 athletes competing in 11 medal events in freestyle and seven in Greco-Roman at the London Olympics.

REPLACEMENTS: Five Olympic sports that should have gone before wrestling

Wrestling has a chance to be included in the 2020 Games, but that is likely a longshot so soon after Tuesday's announcement. It will now compete against seven other sports vying for Olympic inclusion: baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wushu. The federations of those sports will make presentations to the IOC's executive board in May and a decision will be made in September.

The last sports removed from the Olympics were baseball and softball, voted out by the IOC in 2005 and off the program since the 2008 Beijing Games. Golf and rugby will be joining the Games at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Wrestling is known as the world's oldest competitive sport. It dates to cave drawings of wrestling found as far back as 3000 BC continued...

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The loss of wrestling is a huge blow to the U.S.

That's the idea. More progressive BS. There can be no standout in a "fair and equal" world economy.

I hear they are now planning on keeping the wrestling... but the rules have changed. Now alls you will have to do is show up and earn your participation award. Which will be a ribbon with the words "We are all winners!" scrolling down it....

Wasn't wrestling one of the founding sports of the Olympics?

Heh IOC... golf, twirling banners on sticks, ping pong, water ballet, beach volleyball, ..... yeah the training of Greek Warrior is all exemplified in these "keepers".

^^^^^ OMG I both shat and pee'd..... whew bad day for Krieger's bodily functions...

God that's such bullshit if it goes through.

I am oksy with them taking away wrestling. just as long as i get my wushu,softball, wake boarding and synchronized swimming.

You'd think the UFC/Dana would be lobbying heavy to keep this in the olympics. He's in a position to make a big deal about this and create a lot of public outcry.

By keeping Wrestling a relavent sport ensures a steady stream of future fighters.

^^^^^

I agree with you there stock. Dana should be lobbying this in a big way.

Especially with his international pull. The UFC has pretty much made MMA popular on 6 continents.

Well that may have to be the new reason for wrestling to remain popular then. If not for Olympic gold then for UFC gold. I feel comfortable in saying that wrestling is the most necessary base level skill for a UFC champ to have. And the better you are at it, the better your chances of a contract or even a belt are. I don't think the UFC's influence is as big as that of the Olympics, but it's got a good start.

Total bullshit.

Its ridiculous that wrestling is no longer an Olympic sport. Although Britain is shit at it, it has so much history. It is one of the oldest sports around and the Olympics will not be the same without it.