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Wrestling back in Olympics!

Coltsfan

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Wrestling wins IOC vote for 2020 Olympic Games

BUENOS AIRES – After a seven-month exile, wrestling was welcomed back into the Olympic program with a giant bear hug Sunday. Wrestling defeated baseball/softball and squash for a spot in the 2020 Summer Games as expected.

Wrestling received a majority of the votes with 49, followed by a joint bid by baseball and softball getting 24 votes and squash with 22.

In its presentation, wrestling was quick to stake its position as a sport of the future, not the ancient past. "Wrestling is new in virtually every way," said Jim Scherr, a former wrestler and ex-CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

BRENNAN: Softball didn't really have a chance

After wrestling was unexpectedly axed from the program in February, the international governing body ( FILA) made significant changes. It elected a new president, included more women in decision-making roles and adopted rule changes to make the sport easier to understand.

"The rule changes have made it more exciting to watch," said Canadian Olympic champion Daniel Igali, who runs the Nigerian wrestling federation. He noted that scoring has been doubled, competitors who wrestle offensively are now rewarded more, leading to fewer clinches.

Before the 2016 Games, wrestling's makeover will include a few tricks borrowed from the MMA world (perhaps no more singlets, the addition of music, lighting, visual effects) to make the sport more entertaining. President Nenad Lalovic also said Friday the sport will bid adios to its red mat because network execs say it doesn't look good on TV.

The exercise was understandably frustrating, and futile for baseball/softball and squash. Politics, as well as wrestling's initial inertia, are to blame.

The obscure sport of modern pentathlon was expected to be cut in February, but a strong lobbying effort by board member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., an executive with the modern pentathlon federation and son of a former IOC president, helped save the sport from elimination.

For softball, it was a particularly crushing blow. Baseball has top pro leagues around the world, the World Series, the World Baseball Classic. Softball had the Olympics.

In his opening comments, World Squash Federation president N Ramachandran threw it down: "Squash is a sport that represents the future and not the past," he said, a swipe at wrestling.

Squash seemingly offered everything the IOC looks for, including global and gender inclusion and entertainment value. It's played in 185 countries and most of the world's best players hail from countries that rarely medal in the Olympics.

Though Americans may think of squash as a stuffy Ivy League sport, the group's presentation punched holes in that perception. A teenager from the Bronx, Andreina Benedith, the United States' Under 19 urban squash champion, helped make squash's case Sunday. Benedith started playing at 11 and it "changed her life." However, this wasn't enough to change the IOC's mind.

Wrestling beat squash and a joint bid by baseball and softball in an election at the IOC meetings Sunday. After being surprisingly dropped from the list of core sports earlier this year, wrestling will join the program for the 2020 and 2024 Games.

For the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, wrestling will have six weight classes for women, up from four classes in 2012. FILA is cutting the number of weight classes for men by one in freestyle and Greco-Roman.
 
F**k, how can they remove Wrestling in the first place. This sport is as old as human history itself.
 
Yup OIC decided to remove Wrestling earlier this year, even people who don't follow the sport were surprised by that decision!

Seems like they realized their mistake in time and corrected it
 
Nope, it was all about sponsorship as organizers are not getting sponsors for this event. BTW, Wrestling is being played in 170 countries...
 
great news for iran wrestlers hope to see them compete
 
How could they have removed wrestling in the first place!

That was one of the biggest events at the original Olympics in Ancient Greece!

The biggest beneficiaries of this are: Russia, Japan and Iran.

Since those three countries win the most Gold medals at Olympic wrestling.
 

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