This is just…un-Greek. See here as well. Isn’t wrestling one of those sports that we think about when we think about the competitions in old Greece? Not only was it represented in Greece, but wrestling is one of those sports that exists in virtually every country’s history, whether we’re talking about the Greeks, the Chinese, the Mongolians, the Indians, the British, the Russians, the Japanese, the American Indians…every country has wrestling. My very first real post on this site was about Chechan wrestlers. Granted, not all cultural forms of wrestling look like freestyle or Greco-Roman, but still–you can’t have an Olympics without some form of wrestling!
And as much as I love watching MMA, I hope it never becomes an Olympic sport. There is no sport that damages an athlete as much as MMA, and it’s always been more about entertainment than sport. I also don’t think MMA’s “popularity” will ever extend beyond the U.S. and Japan. It’s just too niche.
Sure, wrestling isn’t popular. It’s never been popular. Even in the U.S. which is a wrestling powerhouse, wrestlers struggle to stay employed after their wrestling careers are over. But it’s tradition. It’s not the same without it. Wakeboarding is a fine activity, but it’s not a fundamental part of the Olympics. Let’s hope the governing bodies think this through before they replace wrestling with whatever flavor-of-the-month sport is pulling in fans.
Update: I submitted a comment to the NY Times. I was hightlighted. 
See it here. I also read through some of the other comments and found it interesting that some wrestlers are calling for those in charge to make the sport more exciting. I actually agree with this. I remember the Rulon Gardner match where it was decided on points. Not to take anything away from Rulon’s victory–rules are rules–but the match was quite passive. Judo is becoming somewhat similar, as most of the men’s matches I saw during the 2012 Olympics were decided based on who had the least number of penalty points. Interesting stuff. Judo basically eliminated morote-gari and stiff-arming in this past Olympics, and I think that actually makes the sport more boring. I guess each sport has to find a middle ground between what is entertaining and what is pure.
My country just won a silver medal for this sport in the last Olympics so I know the PR commission is trying to fight this.
My guess is that this sport is not popular because it’s not shown more. All you see on American TV is swimming, gymnastics and a few other sports. I’m guessing it’s because the U.S. is not dominant in it like it is on the other ones they do show.
Notty,
That’s awesome. I hope the PR commission is successful. I’m not a wrestler, but I’m still in shock over this decision.
I think the U.S. is still pretty dominant in wrestling, although Americans hate watching it. Hell, I have an American friend who turns away from MMA because he says there’s too much boring wrestling.
We’re the leaders in freestyle medals:
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/us-wrestlers-blindsided-olympic-ouster-18478262
It’s the Western Europeans who usually don’t medal in wrestling. Wrestling is usually won by Russia, the Middle East, the U.S., and Japan. I’m guessing it’s Western Europeans who mostly voted for wrestling’s ouster. The FUNNY thing is that judo is a kind of Japanese wrestling, and Western Europeans do much better in that sport (while the Americans won an individual gold for the very first time this past Olympics). So Western Europeans invented wrestling, did NOT invent judo, but they’re keeping judo and not keeping wrestling. Irony!
For some reason I had it in my mind that it was mostly eastern europeans who dominated wrestling. Must be some sort of bear-wrestling stereotype of them I have floating around my unconscious.
I can’t understand, though, how anyone could call wrestling boring. You get to see strength, speed and technique. I’d rather see them cut rhythmic gymnastics or synchronized swimming.
I’m colombian and i’m not interested in tha sport, but Wrestling has given us many joys, including two gold medals, this is a sad new
Notty,
I agree! It’s so technical at the higher levels. Actually, my favorite kind of MMA fight–outside of Machida-style surgical striking–is the kind where there are people grappling and using leverage. And yes, having rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming while cutting wrestling is a travesty.
Juan,
Agreed!
We shouldn’t start blaming or ridiculing other Olympic events just because we think they’re lame. Keep in mind that most Americans think badminton and table tennis are lame yet in other parts of the world it’s a true grinding competitive sport. Likewise plenty of other countries grumble about multiple swimming events that we’re so obsessed over. Different cultures have different tastes and we should respect that. Badminton’s place in the Olympics is justified because the best of the best competes in the Olympics. Same with basketball and same with wrestling.
The real blame for wrestling being cut is the corrupt nature of the IOC. Keep in mind that wrestling is being cut to make room for golf. Golf. Imagine yourself an IOC voter or rep. You’re being taken on a tour of a Maui golf course with a stay in a 5-star hotel overlooking the beach as the golf rep tours you around showing how golf needs to be showcased around the world by an Olympic spot. Now how would you say, a wrestling tour go? A walk through of a sweaty Bakersfield State wrestling meet? A training camp in the snows of Siberia? A club meeting in an inner city Tokyo high school? Compare that to your luxurious golf tour and see where your vote goes.
The thing is that synchronized swimming and rythmic gymastics are closer to ballet than they are to a sport. Would you argue that ballet should be an olympic sport?
No, I personally wouldn’t. Are you arguing that they’re virtually interchangeable? One is considered a high performance art and the other a competition with at least some minimal semblance of judgements and scores. Keep in mind that it’s the Olympic “Games”, not the Olympic “Sports.”
With wrestling being cut, I can understand now why the IJF made those rule changes. I’m guessing they wanted to make judo more exciting for viewing audiences thus, making it less expendable.
Plenty of people find wrestling boring. Hell, even I have my meh moments watching Greco-Roman. It’s just that appreciating and watching grappling arts usually requires some experience with the sport itself. I wouldn’t know if I could be a casual watcher of judo or jiu jitsu if I was ignorant of the workings of a throw or pass.