One of the oldest Olympic Sports will officially be gone in 2020. The International Olympics Committee decided on cutting wrestling from future games. The decision was met on Tuesday to a surprise of many. The IOC intends on keeping 25 "core sports" and wrestling was no longer considered one. This opens the door for the IOC to add one more sport later this year as the committee intends on having 26 sports total in the Olympics.
Wrestling combines freestyle and Greco-Roman style events. It goes back to the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. The decision was made by secret ballot over several rounds. Wrestling was then voted out of a group that included modern pentathlon, taekwondo and field hockey. Voting details were not made public.
"This is a process of renewing and renovating the program for the Olympics. It 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 for the 25 core sports," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.
The board voted after reviewing reports from the IOC that analyzed 39 criteria, including television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global participation and popularity. A 15-member board then made cuts. The modern pentathlon was said to be dangerously close to getting dropped.
In last year's London Games, wrestling featured 344 athletes competing in 11 medal events in freestyle and seven in Greco-Roman. Women's wrestling was originally added in the 2004 Athens Games.
After being cut, wrestling can now join seven other sports applying to be included for the 2020 games. It is unlikely that it will be voted back into the Games after having just been removed by the executive board. A combined bid of baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu will all be applying for single opening in 2020. Baseball and softball were dropped after the Beijing Olympics in 2008. This will be the first time they apply to rejoin the Games.
The United States has been the most successful nation in wrestling, earning 50 all-time gold medals and 125 overall in the sport. In London, the US team won two gold medals. It is hard to assume the elimination of the sport will impact it at the high school and college levels. Wrestling still remains popular despite its lack of Olympic appeal.
