Wrestling inexplicably body slammed by IOC

Published 7:51 pm Wednesday, February 13, 2013

By Travis Yoesting

When word came down from Mount Olympus — or rather, the International Olympic Committee — that wrestling would no longer be included in the Olympics, I could only laugh.

Perhaps sport’s purest test of strength and character stricken from what’s supposed to be the world’s greatest international sporting event.

Humans have likely been wrestling since the beginning of time. Even the Olympics website acknowledges this fact.

“With the possible exception of athletics, wrestling is recognized as the world’s oldest competitive sport,” Olympic.org reads. “Indeed cave drawings of wrestlers have been found dating as far back as 3000 BC. The sport was introduced into the ancient Olympics in 708 BC.”

And yet, wrestling was tossed out of the Olympic Games while countless non-sports are retained.



Instead of Greco-Roman or Freestyle wrestling, we’re left with two types of kayaking, four types of cycling (give me road and track but keep BMX and mountain biking in the X Games), shooting, badminton and modern pentathlon.

I can’t even imagine what the IOC is thinking. I know wrestling isn’t the most popular in Texas, but head north and it rivals football and basketball in popularity. Go to a Bedlam match between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State at Gallagher-Iba and you’ll see passion for the sport.

Meanwhile a sport that I doubt 1 percent of the world’s population could even describe — modern pentathlon — remains in the Games.

The IOC baffled wrestlers across the globe with Tuesday’s body slam. The Olympics, a tradition-rich competition revered for peacefully bringing together athletes from all corners of the Earth, is starting to lose a grip on what it’s about.

Can you imagine an Olympics without track and field? That appears to be the direction we’re headed.

I don’t often agree with Iranians, but Ali Reza Dabir, of Tehran, may have said it best.

“Do we destroy our historical sites, which are symbols of humanity?” the 2000 gold medalist told The Associated Press. “No. Then, why should we destroy wrestling?”