IOC Takes Down Wrestling

Pictograms of Olympic sports - Wrestling (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The International Olympic Committee has been taking a lot of heat for its decision to drop wrestling from the 2020 Summer Games (site TBD).  The sport has only been around since the original Olympiad in ancient Greece, in which men competed in the nude.

Granted, there are a lot of other Olympic sports which people would like to see dropped.  Such as rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming and events that belong at the X Games.  Modern pentathlon, a track and field event, ended up spared from the IOC chopping block.

So why did wrestling get taken down?  Maybe the IOC was swayed by the dwindling number of participants.  In the United States alone, the number of high schools and colleges who offer wrestling and the number of athletes who participate have gone down.  School officials cite budget issues, Title IX and feeding the beast that is football.

College wrestling still has a following, if only in the Midwest.  Since 2000, Minnesota, Iowa, Oklahoma State and Penn State have won multiple NCAA titles.

The other factor is TV appeal.  Be honest.  When was the last time NBC aired an Olympic wrestling match in prime time that wasn't packaged as a feel-good story?  Other than that, the sport usually gets shown on one of Comcast/NBC's many cable channels along with field hockey and badminton.

Have you ever watched a wrestling match in person?  Or tried to?  It's like a three-ring circus with several matches in different weight categories going on at the same time.  The scoring system makes roller derby and figure skating seem simple.

Most of us now consider wrestling to be a TV show, where athletes who are given flamboyant names choreograph their moves in front of sellout arenas and pay-per-view audiences, and storylines are written for their characters.  The WWE long ago admitted that their product is not exactly on the up-and-up, which is why they're now known as World Wrestling Entertainment.

The wrestling federations, who were blindsided by the IOC's decision, have a slim chance at getting the committee to change its mind.  If that fails, then the 2016 Games in Brazil will be the last time you'll see grapplers at the Olympics.  It'll also be the first time you'll be seeing golf as an IOC-sanctioned sport.

One question:  Can anyone imagine Extreme Chariot Racing as an event in the original Greek Olympics?