By: Locke Hoover
The IOC on Tuesday decided to take out wrestling from the 2020 Olympics. The Olympic committee said they wanted to go in a different direction and that wrestling was no longer in the best interest of the Olympic games. The minute I heard this I was just as surprised as any other former wrestler. I wonder how this decision is in the best interest of the Olympics because now days almost everyone likes action packed sports and events. Today there are all kinds of first person shooter video games, which are some of the most popular games. MMA has taken off and is a more advanced form of combat. The Olympics have this all wrong because they are saying that wrestling in not one of the right 25 core sports. To me this is mind-boggling because wrestling was one of the original sports in the Olympics and like all sports tradition is typically a huge part of the equation. Another interesting thing about this is a lot of countries were represented in the sport, which is always an important thing when you are competing in world events. There were 344 athletes competing for medals in wrestling so question you have to ask yourself is what do these athletes do now because this is the highest level for them?
Wrestling has been in every Olympic games since the modern games began in 1896. It is a shame that the International Olympic Committee is taking them out of the 2020 games.
