It’s one of the oldest sports in the Olympics — one of the oldest in the world. Olympic wrestling has been in existence since its introduction in 708 B.C.E., being a key sport in every Olympics, until now. Recently, the International Olympic Committee stated that Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling would not be planned for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
According to a New York Times article, the decision was made by a secret vote held in Lausanne, Switzerland, by the International Olympic Committee.
The reasoning behind this action has baffled the wrestling community, with many referring to the number of viewers as evidence of wrestling’s popularity. The viewers of Olympic wrestling are double that of the modern pentathlon, averaging 23 million viewers tuning in to wrestling compared to the 12.5 million the pentathlon receives.
The international rules for wrestling, however, confuse many and may have played a role in the removal of wrestling from future Olympics. These rules involve picking a ball out of a bag to determine position as well as the unfair “clinch,” rules that are hard for a common spectator to understand.
The number of wrestlers has only risen in recent times, with a 40,000 person increase in high school wrestling, with over 250,000 high school wrestlers and over 8,000 female wrestlers.
Turkey’s Istanbul, a city bidding to host the 2020 Olympics Summer Games, wishes to include wrestling in the games if chosen to be host.
“I think it’s ridiculous to cut a sport with so much history,” senior Kyle Pepper said. “The fact that there are sports like speed walking but not wrestling is crazy.”
Wrestling is one of the hardest sports one can do. There are no cheerleaders to encourage you, and there are no teammates to blame a loss on. A person may be able to deal with the bumps, the bruises and the cuts, but the most strenuous part of wrestling is the isolation. It’s just you and another wrestler. There can only be one winner, and you have to assume the guy you are up against is going to put you through the wringer while you try to secure the win.
However, what wrestling gives back is worth the hours you put into it. There’s a quote that says everything is easier after you have wrestled. This is not true. Nothing got easier, you are just able to rise to the challenge and meet whatever comes your way. You learn to become excited to be challenged, and you get excited to take on the guy everybody said you couldn’t beat. The things you learn from wrestling will not just make you a better competitor, you learn life skills that you can carry with you for the rest of your life.
“Wrestling has taught me that you get out what you put into it,” Pepper said. “If you work hard then a good outcome will happen.”
Excluding wrestling from the Olympics will do more harm than good. There are thousands of kids who dream of winning a gold medal at Olympic wrestling, and who is anyone to deny them the ability to try to live their dream? While it may be unrealistic that there can be thousands of gold medalists in wrestling, the things that can be learned from the sport of wrestling may be more important than the medals themselves. If you’re working your heart out for the sport you love, then the journey is more valuable than the destination.
Donna • Mar 13, 2013 at 7:33 am
I agree 100% with this article! I’m a 15 year old girl and I’ve been wrestling for almost 3 years. Wrestling has created the person I am today, it has taught me so many life skills that school or our parents couldn’t have taught effectively. The fact that the only person who can win is yourself plays a big tole in this sport, you need to step up to the plate and work hard. Sure motivation and other ways of supporting can help but its up to you to get the job done. If wrestling is cut out from the Olympics I swear to god us wrestlers WILL do something about it. You’re not dealing with “speed walkers” (which I still find a joke) you’re dealing with wrestlers with a dream. Take that away and wait for what happens.