The latest Olympic sport to get the axe is… wrestling?
My good friend Brandon Foose has pointed out to me that the Olympics has decided to end its 2700-year relationship with wrestling effective 2020:
There are millions of people whose lives have been shaped by the sport of wrestling. There will hopefully be millions more in the future. This is why I’m shocked and angry at the current assault on my lifestyle. An ancient sport, so ingrained in our human history, not to mention Olympic history, has just been voted OUT of the Olympics. A sport with no barriers to entry such as wrestling should not only be in the Olympics, it should be the cornerstone.
Sports Illustrated blames the victim, saying that wrestling brought about its own demise by not being “viewer-friendly” enough, not modernizing, and not playing politics. Perhaps Sports Illustrated thinks this kind of wrestling should be in the Olympics instead.
The Economist gets it right, echoing points made by Foose, but adopts what is perhaps an overly-optimistic tenor:
Wrestling still has a chance to secure a slot in the 2020 schedule. But it has been relegated to a shortlist of sports which hope for an Olympic debut in seven years’ time. There it joins karate, wushu, inline skating, wakeboarding, sport climbing, squash and baseball/softball. The IOC will pick only one of these to complement the core in 2020, so the competition—and attendant lobbying—is said to be fierce.
Perhaps the IOC concluded that none of the six previously shortlisted sports really cut the mustard. By throwing a heavyweight contender into the ring it could then promptly, and more credibly, dispense with the rest. Rollerblading already in effect features, under the guise of ice skating at the winter games. Baseball had come and gone; reinstating it would look incoherent. Climbing is gaining respectability as a discipline, but not to the extent that the front-runner for inclusion, squash, has done. Both, though, look weak set against the historic weight of wrestling. Wakeboarding? Please. Lastly, it would be awkward to see wrestling pipped by an Asian martial art—especially since the IOC has kept both judo (in fact, a form of wrestling) and taekwondo (introduced in the Seoul games of 1988, to appease the Korean hosts) in its core list.
For now, wrestling is out. Meanwhile, embarrassments like trampoline, synchronized diving, and beach volleyball continue unchecked, and the cardiovascular health improving hobby for senior citizens that is golf couldn’t care less that its putting another notch in its belt in 2016.
This is one of those things that makes no sense to me whatsoever… does wrestling always have poor ratings on the television, perhaps? Puts the fewest butts in seats?
Did the former guy in charge of overseeing the wrestling portion of the olympics screw over the second cousin of the guy in charge of picking what is and what is not included?
There has to be some explanation *SOMEWHERE* that would make everybody say “oh, yeah. That’s why. Idiots.”Report
It got most directly popped by Modern Pentathalpn, which approximately no one cares about. But Modern Pentathlon’s organization is run by the son of the previous IOC President; this person also happens to be on the current IOC board – purely on merit, of course.Report
Oh, yeah. That’s why. Idiots.Report
What other sport is based on someone randomly speculating about what might be involved if you were a 19th Century soldier escaping from a prison camp? What they need to do is update modern pentathlon, maybe swap the horses for motorbikes or something and introduce a ‘crack the code on this lock’ section.Report
that wrestling brought about its own demise by not being “viewer-friendly” enough,
Unlike those pretty girls who jump around spinning long string from a stick.Report
Which makes for the ironic observation that Vince McMahon’s wrestling would therefore be totally fine in the Olympics.Report
Synchronized wrestling.Report
Or Greco-Roman Synchronized GymnasticsReport
(Oh, and I should point out, today is Wrestlemania XXIX. Aw. Yeah.)Report
How can they include trampoline, a purely modern backyard activity, and not include the sports of hide-and-go-seek or dodge ball which have been played virtually since the dawn of civilization? Dodge ball is even mentioned in the Odyssey, for goodness sakes.Report
I forgot to comment on this thread. (Actually, to ride my hobby horse.)
At least some of the indoor events of the Summer Olympics should be transferred to the Winter. There’s no reason not to. The Winter games always have lower ratings and far fewer events. If they moved some of them to winter, they’d turn the Winter games into more of a prize and probably get more ratings.Report
What particularly bugs me about this decision is that for many of the retained sports the Olympics does not in anyway represent the pinnacle achievement, but is rather almost an afterthought. Golf, soccer, basketball, etec… so many of these have massively more important top tier events, whereas for wrestling the Olympics is The Event. I just can’t get my head around the fact that a sport that is economical (read: developing countries can partipate without massive investment), has broad participation across widely varying cultures, and is also one of the key feeder sports into one of the fastest growing professional competitions ever (Mixed Martial Arts) is put in the same category as wake boarding.Report