Wrestling out of the Olympics - No joke

WTF, they keep things like dressage and rythmic gymnastics bet get rid of a core sport?

Not really a wrestling fan but I was shocked by this news. Especially when you consider all the other mickey mouse sports that are still in there.

My guess is that there were a few brown envelopes involved.

IOC is probably even more PC than the UN. I'm sure they're just exercising their opinion about zero tolerance for 'violence'. They're stupid enough to classify wrestling as 'violent'.

Wrestling my favorite sport. Wrestlers are some of the most accomplished, unsung, humble, salt-of-the-earth dudes in sports.

Most wrestlers could become decent distance runners. Very few distance runners could become above average wrestlers..

particularly strange because wrestling pulls in poor nations - unlike dressage/horse dancing. iran, azerbaijan, cuba, uzbekistan, georgia, bulgaria all won medals in 2012.

on the other hand...man, what a list of questionable countries. Maybe politics/money did have something to do with it.

I can't wait until golf is in the Olympics!

but they have synchronized swimming, BMX, mountain biking, rhythmic gymnastics, modern pentathlon, indoor AND beach volleyball, track cycling, 3 variations of equestrian/horse whatever, kayak/canoe, handball, and table tennis.

great wrestlers are true tough guys with a passion for their sport.

wow

My name is Lance wrote:

Most wrestlers could become decent distance runners.

Most small human beings could become decent distance runners.

Wrestling gets next to no viewship at the Olympics. Of course it has to go. Obviously us runners will defend a fellow outcast sport, but let's face facts.

They need to think of a new way of doing things, one that doesn't involve one of the guys getting into a position ready to be taken doggy style.

The incredibly poor doping record (one that makes very doped sports like track and cycling look tame) probably didn't help.

I actually think wrestling is pretty gay but it is one of the real originals. I think that is pretty silly to get rid of it.

I honestly wonder whether the push for equality of sexes, and the recent inclusion of women's wrestling may have played a role: "Men's wrestling is in, we had to allow women's as well." You *know* that a lot of Olympic countries weren't happy about that.

I'm completely not joking here. Hasn't women's boxing been added to the OG? Maybe that violent sport will eventually be deleted, too. (But I see it wasn't on the IOC's list of "borderline" sports.)

The irony is the wrestling is primarily about mastering your opponents, whereas boxing is primarily about *injuring* him/her. I would have deleted boxing long before wrestling.

Another irony: as someone noted above, some of the countries that are most likely to dislike women's wrestling have *tremendous* traditions in (men's) wrestling, which is typically one of the countries' two or three most popular sports.

Anyway, I see this as a truly sad development.

I bet it comes back in 2028 or something like that - it is too important and fundamental a sport to go away.

The poster who mentioned fan interest is right tho - I could never watch more than 90 seconds of wrestling on tv.

ghjfgjdf wrote:

WTF, they keep things like dressage and rythmic gymnastics bet get rid of a core sport?

+1

I admit I don't really watch it, but I've always respected wrestlers -- they are even crazier than runners!

Boxing has also been reduced to almost meaningless because of the judging. Pretty much every Olympics there are multiple controversial decisions.

Wrestling is less violent, much less subjective, and very accessible to just about every nation. I don't really care for either I'll admit, but the sports purist in me hates that they are letting wrestling go and boxing remains.

And BMX in the Olympics is a joke. Frankly, much of what the IOC does is a joke. Why was softball dropped? Pretty sure one of the rationales was that the same few teams always win. Tell me again then why diving hasn't been dropped then?

People are missing a couple of important factors. First and foremost is that the IOC wants to maintain the current size of the Games in terms of athlete numbers. Adding Rugby 7s and Golf is going to add up to 5-600 athletes - something big had to go. Yes Modern Pentathlon, Race Walking, and Rhythmic Gymnastics aren't very popular, but their numbers aren't huge either. Modern Pent only has about 100 athletes, and Rythmic only 50.

The other consideration is that Wrestling, frankly isn't very interesting for the CASUAL tv viewer. At the Olympic level, especially outside of first round matches, athletes are so evenly matched, that ties are generally the rule. In London, most wrestling matches looked like 5 minutes of two guys groping each other. Wrestling can be exciting, but that requires OFFENCE. At the Olympics the emphasis is on defence. Add in the nonsense with the balls, and you had to know that wrestling was at risk. I think it's actually the right decision.

Probably going to accelerate the loss of NCAA wrestling programs.

That is just a terrible decision. Isn't wrestling part of the traditional Greek Olympic images, along with the discus guy? I understand the cash and marketing aspects, but catering to little girls and moms with rhythmic gymnastics is an absurdity. I hope this isn't the mark of things to come. I love watching Olympic wrestling and weightlifting.

So the Russian Aleksandr Karelin and Rulon Gardner are just nobodies, a financial liability? They have embodied all the greatness and drama that the Olympics has ever represented.

post of the day

It's a big loss. I can't believe that wrestling is being removed. Speechless

lmfao! I'm happy you showed up!