Shock and anger as Olympic wrestling is DROPPED from the 2020 Games
Sport, Daily news | ankakh | February 13, 2013 11:00Wrestling has been dropped from the 2020 Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee in a surprise decision that removes one of the oldest Olympic sports.
The IOC executive board decided to retain modern pentathlon – the event considered most at risk – and remove wrestling instead from its list of 25 ‘core sports ‘ on Tuesday in a move that sent waves of outrage throughout the wrestling community.
The IOC board acted after reviewing the 26 sports on the current Olympic program. Eliminating one sport allows the International Olympic Committee to add a new sport to the program later this year.
Wrestling, which combines freestyle and Greco-Roman events, goes back to the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896.
‘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.’
Adams said the decision was made by secret ballot over several rounds, with members voting each time on which sport should not be included in the core group. IOC President Jacques Rogge did not vote.
The board voted after reviewing a report by the IOC program commission report that analyzed 39 criteria, including television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global participation and popularity.
The international wrestling federation, known by the French acronym FILA, is headed by Raphael Martinetti and is based in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. Calls to the federation for comment were not immediately returned.
Wrestling featured 344 athletes competing in 11 medal events in freestyle and seven in Greco-Roman at last year’s London Olympics. Women’s wrestling was added to the Olympics at the 2004 Athens Games.
The IOC executive board will meet in May in St. Petersburg, Russia, to decide which sport or sports to propose for 2020 inclusion. The final vote will be made at the IOC session, or general assembly, in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
‘Today’s decision is not final,’ Adams said. ‘The session is sovereign and the session will make the final decision.’
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