#SaveOlympicWrestling fails to get my support

OK, OK. This blog is meant to be sticking up for smaller sports. I’m usually quite thIn particular, those of us who believe the modern Games should be returned permanently to their original homeland (and stripped thereby of some of the grosser excrescences of contemporary commercialisation) would want to keep wrestling firmly at their core.e traditionalist.

But I seem to be just about the only person who hasn’t reacted with sheer outrage to wrestling losing its place among the Olympic core sports in times for the XXXII Olympiad in 2020. Everyone from John McCain to this guy (quote below) has been attacking the decision:

“In particular, those of us who believe the modern Games should be returned permanently to their original homeland (and stripped thereby of some of the grosser excrescences of contemporary commercialisation) would want to keep wrestling firmly at their core.”

Really bad decision by the #IOC to drop wrestling – one of the oldest sports, around since the ancient Greeks. #Olympics

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) February 13, 2013

I understand wrestling’s traditional roots, its links with the Olympics of ancient Greece. Unfortunately, I just find it really boring. This could be because Great Britain is just a bit rubbish at wrestling – both freestyle and Greco-Roman – but then again, I enjoyed the archery. Scratch that – I loved the archery.

Maybe I’m being selfish in not caring wrestling will have to fight it out with baseball/softball, squash, karate, climbing, wakeboarding, wushu and roller sports to be a part of the 2020 Olympics. Just because I’m not a fan, shouldn’t I fight the good fight on behalf of wrestlers?

Well, no. I admit it would probably be a travesty if baseball/softball, climbing, wakeboarding or roller sports took its place at the Games. I’ve never heard of wushu, but a quick Wikipedia search tells me its nuances are too complex for me to give a proper judgement as to its Olympic merits.

I have heard of karate, obviously, and I’m yet to be told why it isn’t in the Olympics but taekwondo and judo are. And they were fun, unlike the wrestling!

No, if I was an IOC delegate in September casting a vote as to which sport to take to the Games in seven years’ time, I’d vote – I assume it’s as straightforward as that – for squash. Good sport, a darn side more international than wushu and, I daresay, wrestling.

And if, as reports suggest, it was one of wrestling, taekwondo or modern pentathlon which would be ditched, the choice, for me, turns into a total no-brainer.

Farewell to a legend as Esther Vergeer retires

Has there ever been a better sportsperson than Esther Vergeer? The Dutch wheelchair tennis player, who is unbeaten in 470 matches dating back to January 2013, today announced her retirement from the sport at the age of 31.

I first came across Vergeer while I was covering the Paralympics in the summer. At London 2012, she won her fourth consecutive gold medal in the singles, winning all six matches in straight sets and allowing her opponents to win just seven games between them all tournament.

She has won an incredible 21 major singles titles since her first such success at the 2004 Australian Open. Wheelchair tennis only has three annual major tournaments: Wimbledon has doubles events but not singles (in any case, she won three ladies’ doubles events at SW12 between 2009 and 2011).

Her career record was 687 wins from 712 matches, a winning record of more than 96 per cent.

Vergeer has also been number one in the world for what is surely an unprecedented (in any sport) 14 consecutive years.

And she seems pretty cool as well:

“I think as an athlete it’s probably one of the best compliments you can get, if somebody gets inspired by you to go and play sports, or to get a better life or to change their lives. And so I feel proud that I’m in that position.”

UPDATE: Jahangir Khan, of Pakistan, won 555 consecutive squash games in the 1980s. Which leads nicely into a forthcoming post…