Wrestling Dropped from the Olympics

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/21427455

Wrestling has been dropped from the 2020 Games to make way for a new sport.
The International Olympic Committee's executive board made its decision after assessing the performance of all 26 sports at the London Games.

"The news from the IOC is extremely disappointing," said British Wrestling chief executive Colin Nicholson.

There is a slim chance wrestling may win a reprieve when the IOC meets in Buenos Aires in September to ratify its choice.

But it will be vying with seven other sports, among them squash, roller sports and sport climbing, that are hoping for inclusion in the Olympic programme.

Roller sports and sports climbing?

One of the few disciplines at the Olympics that has continued from ancient times. It seems that it is not popular enough with the sponsors though. An awful decision made for all the wrong reasons.

What's roller sports?

maybe if the wrestling was still nude, and perhaps co-ed?

Originally Posted by SailinSand

What's roller sports?

Sports with wheels, like various forms of bicycling.

Still, the question is "should the Olympics stick with traditional events or transform over time by what's most popular?" The answer seems to be in favor of transformation, as a static event is less likely to survive in the long haul. Sad, but that's life.

Originally Posted by Spiderm0n

maybe if the wrestling was still nude, and perhaps co-ed?

Female baby oil wrestling.

Would be a sponsorship bonanza.

Olympics should promote sports instead of being marketing dept. of big corporations. There's enough of professional sport on TV, for a change make it about athleticism, competition and national pride, not $$$. Esp. considering it's a once in 4 years event.

Originally Posted by smyles

Olympics should promote sports instead of being marketing dept. of big corporations. There's enough of professional sport on TV, for a change make it about athleticism, competition and national pride, not $$$. Esp. considering it's a once in 4 years event.

How about shuffleboard? When I was in elementary school, we had that laid out in the asphalt playground.

"We" don't watch wrestling because they are force feeding us with swimming 24/7. Anecdotal, I know, but just to make the point.

They choose what to show us, and what to block form us, and then they come in with viewing stats.

For me the attraction of watching the Olympic games is to have a chance, once in four years to see sports that I don't get to see otherwise. Like a tasting buffet of food you don't normally eat every day.

Originally Posted by MatWiz

"We" don't watch wrestling because they are force feeding us with swimming 24/7. Anecdotal, I know, but just to make the point.

They choose what to show us, and what to block form us, and then they come in with viewing stats.

For me the attraction of watching the Olympic games is to have a chance, once in four years to see sports that I don't get to see otherwise. Like a tasting buffet of food you don't normally eat every day.

100% agree

Originally Posted by MatWiz

For me the attraction of watching the Olympic games is to have a chance, once in four years to see sports that I don't get to see otherwise. Like a tasting buffet of food you don't normally eat every day.

+1. Not only to see such sports, but to see the best in those sports.

I won't be surprised if poker is added eventually...

The only Olympic games anyone watch are what NBC presents, but not before the emotional bios of the American athletes.

agree to all of this....




df

I have wrestled with Dan Gable, Ed Banach, and Lou Banach. I do not agree with losing wrestling over all the other ducked up sports they are keeping.

this is so wrong.

The sad thing is that if you surveyed 100 spectators and had them choose between watching wrestling and anything else that NBC usually covers during the games, I think wrestling would lose.

There needs to be a way to watch ANY event from ANY country for FREE. I'm tired of having to dig around youtube for my table tennis coverage! (Just half kidding there...)

Screw wrestling, when is the he!! is bowling getting in? It has the largest participation percentage of any sport, at least in the US. The wrestling percentage is probably less than .1%. What's the other one that's even worse, jujitsu or judo? I watched that bullsh!t live during the London Games. Freaking moronic, they might as well call it grab the costume of the other dude and hold on until time runs out.

I was in Sydney for the 2000 games and was absolutely gobsmacked by how different (and better) the coverage was from the incredibly lame NBC model.