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:
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.
An Early Bath 