WSJournal. Wrestling Dropped From Olympics

Komeil Ghasemi (left) of Iran faces Tervel Ivaylov Dlagnev of the U.S. in the men's 120-kilogram freestyle wrestling bronze-medal match at the London Olympics last August.

The International Olympic Committee has dropped wrestling from the 2020 Summer Games, a surprising decision that has bewildered athletes and fans of the longtime Olympic sport.

The IOC said Tuesday that its executive board recommended excluding wrestling from its list of core sports. Wrestling still has a chance to return to the Games in 2020 via a complicated process: The IOC later this year will choose one of eight shortlisted sports—wrestling, baseball/softball, climbing, karate, roller sports, squash, wakeboarding and a Chinese martial art called wushu—to add to the 2020 program.

The move to drop wrestling, which has been in every modern Olympics since the inaugural 1896 Athens Games except 1900, reflects the IOC's attempts to innovate to lure younger fans. In recent years the Olympics had added emerging sports such as beach volleyball and BMX cycling.

Olympic wrestling has been threatened for the past decade. In 2002, the IOC commissioned a review of Olympic sports that said wrestling had a "lack of global popularity" as well as "relatively low broadcast and press coverage." The problem stemmed from the public's confusion between wrestling's two disciplines: Greco-Roman, which forbids holds below the waist, and freestyle, which allows them. The report recommended dropping one of the disciplines from the 2008 Beijing Games, which didn't happen.

The Tuesday announcement that the IOC was dropping wrestling entirely stunned Rulon Gardner, the American who pulled off a famous Olympic upset at the 2000 Sydney Games, when he beat Russian legend Aleksandr Karelin to win Greco-Roman gold.

"I heard rumors that they might drop one style of wrestling, but we had no idea they'd say, 'Here's the death penalty,'" Gardner said. He said he didn't understand the economics of the decision. "What does it cost them, a few extra dollars for people in the Olympic Village?" he said, referring to the athletes' dormitories.

In London last summer, 29 countries won medals in men's and women's wrestling. The sport also produced one of the most enduring images of the Olympics, when American gold medalist Jordan Burroughs and Iranian silver medalist Sadegh Goudarzi embraced each other on the podium.

Christophe Dubi, director of sport for the IOC, said the vote was part of a process that began in 2001 after Dr. Jacques Rogge took over as president of the organization and said he wanted to limit the size, cost and complexity of the Games. The IOC then decided it would limit the Games to 28 sports, and roughly 10,500 athletes and about 300 events.

To keep the Olympics fresh, however, the IOC decided it would have 25 core sports and three spots for new or revived competitions. In 2009, golf and rugby were approved for the 2016 and 2020. For the final slot, the IOC decided that one of its 26 existing sports would have to compete against the new applicant sports.

"The idea overall is to renew the program and to keep it relevant and appealing to new audiences," said Mark Adams, chief spokesman for the IOC.

Dubi said the task now for wrestling is to figure out how to improve its presentation so that it can feel fresh. "Wrestling has to look at everything they do and say, 'That's how we will change,'" said Dubi, who had to call FILA, the international wrestling federation, with the unwelcome news of the vote Tuesday afternoon.

Dubi cited changes that archery and fencing have made to make their competitions more appealing and viable in the modern Olympics. Archery changed its scoring so competitions often come down to a final arrow. Fencing now stages matches under a spotlight. Modern pentathlon has compressed its competition to a single day.

"They have to roll up the sleeves and figure out how they can improve," Dubi said. "They have to say how they make it exciting."

Now it is up to wrestling's international federation to persuade the IOC to add the sport to the 2020 Summer Games instead of the other seven sports. The IOC plans to hear presentations about the eight sports in May and to make a decision at a September meeting.

U.S.A. Wrestling executive director Rich Bender called himself "surprised and disappointed" in a statement, adding:

"Wrestling is one of the sports of the original Greek Olympic Games and in the first modern Olympic Games. It is one of the most diverse sports in the world, with nearly 200 nations from all continents participating in wrestling."

U.S. Olympic committee chief executive Scott Blackmun added: "We knew that today would be a tough day for American athletes competing in whatever sport was identified by the IOC Executive Board. Given the history and tradition of wrestling, and its popularity and universality, we were surprised when the decision was announced. It is important to remember that today's action is a recommendation, and we hope that there will be a meaningful opportunity to discuss the important role that wrestling plays in the sports landscape both in the United States and around the world."

The news did not sit well in other countries partial to wrestling, either.

"I am very angry about this news," Russian Wrestling Federation president Mikhail Mamiashvili said in an interview with a Russian sports agency posted on the federation's website on Tuesday.

Mamiashvili said he had implored FILA to "take the necessary steps" to remove the issue from discussion. He also struck out at FILA president Raphael Martinetti, saying questions must be raised about his competence at an upcoming FILA meeting in Thailand. "He is required to keep abreast of such matters. It's entirely within his remit," Mamiashvili said.

(FILA representatives did not return requests for comment. The organization issued a statement calling its executives "greatly astonished" by the IOC's move. The organization will meet this month in Thailand to discuss how to address the issue with the IOC executive board.)

In another interview posted on the federation's website, Buvaisar Saitiev, a three-time Russian gold medal winner, said it would be a shame if the Olympics excluded wrestling. Saitiev said he could understand if officials wanted to change rules, reduce the number of wrestling medals awarded or even pare the number of weight classes, but he said expelling the sport altogether is "completely wrong."

Saitiev also noted that wrestling is a particular strong suit for Russia at the Olympics. "In this regard, the Olympic prospects for wrestling will largely depend on how effectively Russia gets across its position," he said.