This ain't Athens no more: Wrestling gone from Olympics

Boxing is next. I'm surprised it didn't get axed.

 

Yep, you'd have to.

 

I agree with everything that is said here.

It's also one sport where anyone can be on the team. You might not get to wrestle in a varsity match if there is someone better in your weight class, but virtually anyone is welcome.

And by the nature of the sport -- you are eventually going to get out there and get your ass beat, maybe a lot of times -- there isn't a lot of the cocky jock culture among the athletes.

 

Like most everyone, I have my geographic biases. I'm not much for judo or taekwondo, although I understand they are big in Asia. Badminton is actually sort of fun to watch and a lot of westerners have played it once or twice recreationally. As for the rules, it's similar enough to tennis that you can understand what is going on. Ditto for table tennis.

I'm not a wrestling fan, but some sports I would have ditched first include modern pentathlon, sailing, judo, taekwondo, and boxing. I really want them to keep tennis and golf for the sake of having some marquee names (plus they are fun to watch) and I even like white-water canoeing.

I understand the core objection to baseball --- that you have to build huge, expensive stadiums that often become white elephants after the Games.

I really don't want to see them water down the Games with crap like squash, roller skating and such.

 

Define "next".

The IOC has no plans to eliminate another sport before the 2020 Olympics.

 

As for wrestling, someone take me to a meet and explain what's happening and the strategy and such and I might develop an appreciation for the sport.

I didn't feel like I knew the sport well enough to cover it as a reporter and the places I worked always had someone else who enjoyed it, so I never did go. I always did hockey, basketball, an occasional figure skating competition and worked the copy desk at that time of year. But, hey, I'm game to try anything and maybe someone can sell me on the appeal of wrestling.

 

Next can be whenever. Maybe 10 years from now or whenever.

 

Dropping wrestling because it isn't a "core" sport is about the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. What's next, the marathon? When I think of the Olympics I think of (for the most part) individual athletic achievement. The Olympics should be the biggest stage for the sports it presents. That's why I had no major problems with them dropping baseball and softball. Having tennis is dumb. Adding golf is a complete joke. At BEST, the Olympic gold medal in golf would rank no higher then sixth on the trophy case.

 

Joe,

I hear your argument and, for the most part, I agree. But some of that is in the eye of the beholder.

We've heard arguments over which is bigger: Olympic gold or the Stanley Cup, NBA title, World Cup (soccer) title, Wimbledon title, etc. Many of the tennis pros regard the Olympics as equal with any major title, even though they don't carry the ranking points. I suspect golf will quickly get there because they'll get a world-class field to compete.

Some athletes value the money more than the prestige of an Olympic medal. That's up to the individual. The national and international governing bodies considered being part of the Olympics an honor to be sought. Again, I'm surprised it took golf so long to join the party, given how many countries it is played within.

I can't see many other sports I'd like to throw in: definitely not motor sports, possibly horse racing.

 

No.

 

The one thing that bothers me about the international styles of wrestling (freestyle and Greco-Roman) is how radically the rules seem to have changed over the last few decades.
Once it was three three-minute periods, then two three-minute periods, then one five-minute match. Now it's a best-of-three of three periods or something like that.

 

Go Fuck the Badminton might be a fantasy sports team name for me down the line.