Lausanne: IOC leaders dropped wrestling from the Olympic programme on Tuesday, a surprise decision that removes one of the oldest Olympic sports from the 2020 Games.
The IOC executive board decided to retain modern pentathlon – the event considered most at risk – and remove wrestling instead from its list of 25 “core sports.”
The IOC board acted after reviewing the 26 sports on the current Olympic programme. Eliminating one sport allows the IOC to add a new sport to the programme later this year.
Wrestling, which combines freestyle and Greco-Roman events, goes back to inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896.
“This is a process of renewing and renovating the program for the Olympics,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.
“In view of executive board, this was the best programme for the Olympic Games in 2020. It’s not a case of what’s wrong with wrestling, it is what’s right with the 25 core sports.”
Adams said the decision was made by secret ballot over several rounds, with members voting each time on which sport should not be included in the core group. The figures were not disclosed. IOC President Jacques Rogge did not vote.
Wrestling featured 344 athletes competing in 11 medal events in freestyle and seven in Greco-Roman at last year’s London Olympics. Women’s wrestling was added to the Olympics at the 2004 Athens Games.
Wrestling will now join seven other sports in applying for inclusion in 2020. The others are a combined bid from baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu. They will be vying for a single opening in 2020.
IOC executive board will meet in May in St Petersburg, Russia, to decide which sport or sports to propose for 2020 inclusion. The final vote will be made at the IOC session, or general assembly, in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It is extremely unlikely that wrestling would be voted back in so soon after being removed by the executive board.
The last sports removed from the Olympics were baseball and softball, voted out by the IOC in 2005 and off the program since the 2008 Beijing Games. Golf and rugby will be joining the program at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The IOC program commission report analysed more than three dozen criteria, including television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global participation and popularity. With no official rankings or recommendations contained in the report, the final decision by the 15-member board was also subject to political and sentimental factors.
“I don’t see any reason why IOC decided to drop wrestling from the 2020 Olympic programme. I am still finding it difficult to come to terms with the news,” Sushil Kumar, who won a silver in London Olympics in 66 kg freestyle event, said of the news.
“In my view, the IOC would find it difficult to remove it from the list given the sport’s huge popularity across the globe. It’s an old sport and famous worldwide,” said Sushil who created history by becoming the first Indian to win back-to-back Olympic medals.
Sushil’s childhood friend and London Olympics bronze medallist, Yogeshwar Dutt said the decision would be a “big setback” for the upcoming crop of wrestlers.
“I am extremely disappointed to hear the news. Wrestling has made India a force to reckon with in the Olympic arena and the IOC has dropped a worldwide famous sport from its list. It’s a shocking news to me,” said Dutt.
“What about the upcoming wrestlers? What about their future? Sushil won medals in Beijing and London and I won it in London too. We are targeting the 2016 Rio Olympics but there are other young wrestlers who are preparing for the next edition. What about them?” added Dutt.
The wrestling arena has been a happy hunting ground for India at the Olympics as the country boasts of four medals from the quadrennial event. Apart from Sushil and Yogeshwar, legendary KD Jadhav won a bronze in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
Yogeshwar said the Government of India should urge the IOC to reconsider their decision.
Chief National coach, Vinod Kumar said that the news has come as a big shock to him.
“I just saw it on news channels and my first reaction was ‘IOC must be joking, they can’t do it’. It’s shocking and disappointing.
“One must understand that it’s a famous sport not only in India but world over,” he said.
Sushil’s mentor, coach Satpal Singh, said the decision would shatter the dreams of many wrestlers who were aiming to make big in 2020 Olympics.
“It is unfortunate that such a decision has been taken. Dreams of millions of budding wrestlers would be shattered. The sport, after medals from Sushil and Yogeshwar, has become the heartbeat of the country,” Satpal said. (Agencies)