The Olympics are all about time-honored traditions, but sometimes being popular is a must, as well. As Tuesday’s International Olympic Committee vote proves, even being one of the world’s oldest sports may not save a sport from getting axed. Shockingly, wrestling has been dropped as a summer Olympics sport, beginning in just a few years.
Yes, that’s right. For those of you not in the know, until today, wrestling was considered one of the big athletic events’ “core sports,” or one of the top 25 events occurring during the Olympics. The Olympics usually hosts 11 medal events in freestyle wrestling and seven events in Greco-Roman wrestling, all of which will be cut from the schedule, according to the IOC. The news is even more surprising, considering women’s wrestling was only added to the agenda during the 2004 Olympics.
Wrestling is not nearly as popular of a sport as it may have been at various points throughout history, but wresting is one of the original sports to have appeared at the 1896 modern Olympics event in Athens, Greece. Additionally, ESPN is reporting that prior to Tuesday’s decision, wrestling was not widely considered to be at risk for removal and that the pentathlon was more widely thought to be up for the chopping block. Additionally, the most useless sport of all time, field hockey, and taekwondo were also considered for removal.
Still, the situation is not completely hopeless for wrestling fans. The sport has been removed from the 2020 games, and will get the opportunity to bid to take the one additional opening in the 2020 Olympics. It’ll have a tough fight against roller sports, baseball, and several other sports, however. I guess the news is still good for pentathlon fans who enjoy the randomness of shooting alongside a couple of events that actually have athletic merit.
