It’s only the beginning of February, but the International Olympic Committee has already managed to make the worst sports decision of 2013 by eliminating wrestling as an Olympic sport beginning in 2020.
Instead of excluding the widely criticized modern pentathlon, the 15 members of the IOC committee decided to get rid of a sport that has been part of the Olympic program since 1896, the start of the modern Olympic era. The decision by a few ruins a sport for so many.
Wrestling does not have a superstar attached to it, nor does it rake in sponsorship dollars. But this is exactly the reason why the Olympic Games are so important to wrestling. Every four years the sport receives worldwide recognition and TV time by determining the Olympic gold medalist – without it, the big stage for wrestling is missing.
The decision is even worse for the athletes, who have wrestled their whole lives. After the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, none of them will have the prospect to return, nor the motivation to continue the sport. Even more important: What about the youth that has always dreamed about going to the Olympics as wrestlers? Most of them now may turn to another sport to fulfill their dreams.
The Olympic committee is still convinced it made the right decision. It wants to make the games more attractive to younger people and therefore it cut wrestling for new possible sports.
The IOC is considering baseball, softball, rock climbing, rollerblading and wakeboarding. The question, however, is whether they are on the right path with these sports.
Baseball and softball have been Olympic sports but were cut after 2008 – they too were voted out. Rock climbing doesn’t have a world organization, and rollerblading and wakeboarding are sports that aren’t widely popular.
Still, the IOC thinks it is on the right path. It certainly hasn’t noticed yet that it ruined a whole sport.
Alexander Muehlbach is a freshman studying journalism and a staff writter at The Post. Email him your thoughts at am794811@ohiou.edu.
