AP
Wrestling dropped from 2020 Olympics
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…
Wrestling will now join seven other sports in applying for inclusion in 2020. The others are a combined bid from baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu. They will be vying for a single opening in 2020.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Absolutely ridiculous. They’ll keep BMX, synchronized diving and the rest of the X Games events?
reddevil on February 12, 2013 at 2:17 PM
I think it is because the muslim countries are afraid of catching Joo cooties.
Blake on February 12, 2013 at 2:17 PM
What!? Can’t be any worse than regular cooties.
reddevil on February 12, 2013 at 2:22 PM
This makes me so angry that I’m this close to climbing into the ring and cutting a heated promo.
Seriously, IOC! WTF?
Wushu? What’s next, dropping Boxing so that we can replace it with jai-alai?
JimLennon on February 12, 2013 at 2:24 PM
Dump rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming.
rbj on February 12, 2013 at 2:24 PM
Unbelievable.
yongoro on February 12, 2013 at 2:24 PM
Morons are in charge. Get rid of that stupid rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming is right. Golf as an Olympic sport? Please…and tennis doesn’t need to be there either, we see the same tennis players damn near every week it seems. What is wushu anyway?
major dad on February 12, 2013 at 2:31 PM
Twirling ribbons Olympic event, Wrestling out. Wussification continues.
ricnrolle on February 12, 2013 at 2:31 PM
Let me guess – because of poor ticket sales?
jake-the-goose on February 12, 2013 at 2:32 PM
Hmmm, you might be onto something there.
Knott Buyinit on February 12, 2013 at 2:32 PM
I have this vague memory of 2004 when some of the nutters refused to go against Israeli wrestlers.
Blake on February 12, 2013 at 2:33 PM
My first thought was Iron Chef will go Olympic? Then I realized I was thinking of mooshu……
GWB on February 12, 2013 at 2:34 PM
One day synchronized finger painting will be an Olympic sport
Oil Can on February 12, 2013 at 2:34 PM
Stupid.
Logus on February 12, 2013 at 2:40 PM
They should bring back gladiators.
John the Libertarian on February 12, 2013 at 2:47 PM
This is bigoted against ambiguous gays.
MechanicalBill on February 12, 2013 at 2:50 PM
The Olympics suck, anyway.
I watch the opening and closing ceremonies.
Sometimes they’re good (like Canada’s) – and sometimes I feel embarrassed for the country putting them on, even if they don’t have the good sense to be embarrassed themselves (the UK, which has become so pathetic as to believe the sum total of what they have to be proud of is a clusterfark socialized health care system and 40 year-old pop music).
DRayRaven on February 12, 2013 at 2:53 PM
This truly is ludicrous. Wrestling is one of the original Olympic sports. If the Marathon starts to get poor ratings, will they get rid of it too. Our elite college wrestlers now have no higher level to compete at.
You just can’t trust international bodies.
Donald Draper on February 12, 2013 at 2:55 PM
Beyond stupid.
SC.Charlie on February 12, 2013 at 2:55 PM
You men when their not sticking their hands and fingers up other team mates behinds?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O3ZVfc9nQo
portlandon on February 12, 2013 at 2:56 PM
The progressives move closer to feminizing males around the globe. Wrestling is the most difficult sport to master taking extreme conditioning and training. The Olympics were created because of it.
trs on February 12, 2013 at 3:00 PM
They’ll put it back once the international gay community starts protesting.
Mr. Arkadin on February 12, 2013 at 3:00 PM
We called that “dancing” where I’m from.
CurtZHP on February 12, 2013 at 3:09 PM
And it happened during the Obama administration . . .
Northside on February 12, 2013 at 3:23 PM
Thank God. It would be an international crisis to lose such respected, traditional sports as Trampoline, BMX Cycling or Table Tennis. Much better to lose a sport that was not only extant during the inaugural 1896 Modern Olympics, but was also a centerpiece of the Ancient Olympics.
Crack squad they’ve got working over there at the IOC, eh?
Good Solid B-Plus on February 12, 2013 at 3:35 PM
I think they should drop all sports, as defined by anything decided by a score or a time. Anything that gets “judged”, no matter how technically or physically demanding, is not a sport. It can stay. And we can start a new competition, involving actual sport; the broadcast rights will be sold upon the condition that no personal vignettes be broadcast, ever, that the events be shown in their entirety, and that the winning broadcaster will be required to sign their contract in Bob Costas’ blood. All of it.
TexasDan on February 12, 2013 at 3:36 PM
It’s all about the money.
Dusty on February 12, 2013 at 3:43 PM
I’ve been saying what a total joke the Olympics have become. They are pretty worthless, these days. They bring in sports that have the best already playing world championships in professional leagues (mostly team sports for which the pro leagues put all of the Olympic teams to shame) and they have brought in idiotic half-sports. Heck, even normal gymnastics is now called “Artistic gymnastics” … can you believe that sh!t? The Olympics used to be, essentially, for the individual sports that didn’t have any professional leagues and truly did represent about the best in the world in the competitions. No longer.
The Olympics are now full-on Eurotrash pseudo-competitions that aren’t worth watching anymore. If they can get rid of wrestling – an ORIGINAL Olympic sport – then they are just fake wannabe X-games, and I’ve pretty much had enough of the actual X-games.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on February 12, 2013 at 3:45 PM
Is this waterboarding in the ocean?
Bitter Clinger on February 12, 2013 at 3:56 PM
You forgot to trash Mexicans in your rant.
John the Libertarian on February 12, 2013 at 4:05 PM
Stop whining. It’s sad but it’s also capitalism at work. Wrestling doesn’t make as much money so it gets the axe.
lester on February 12, 2013 at 4:35 PM
Wussification. What else is a dangerous sport? Better take out boxing and weight lifting while their at it, they can substitute it with a dance team.
ritewhit on February 12, 2013 at 7:06 PM