2020 Olympics boot Wrestling for _____.

[Unnamed Newbie]

"The International Olympic Committee is dropping wrestling from competition after the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, the result of some elaborate secret ballot it holds every so often to determine its 25 "core sports."

In part because golf and rugby are coming to the Olympics, something had to go. This time it was wrestling, apparently edged out by the modern pentathlon for survival.

As such, both freestyle (somewhat similar to what you see in American high schools and colleges) and Greco Roman, each of which dated back to the 1896 Games in Greece, will soon be history. Wrestling can try to get back in, but the odds are long.

This is a poor decision and it would be only slightly less poor of a decision if it was modern pentathlon (a five-event competition of fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting) that got the boot instead.

It's golf that should never have been granted access in the first place."

Y! SPORTS

 

 

Holy crap.

Imo this is ridiculous. To add golf in the first place is worse than shooting. I realize it takes skill, but really? When I think of the Olympics I think of faster, better, stronger. Not teeing a ball and calculating angles. Especially since (as the article says) wrestling has been there since the beginning. Hopefully it will end up like baseball and just get kicked out soon than later. Nonetheless, thoughts on this?

[Neptune]

It seemed like a good idea to add golf, but at the cost of wrestling, no thanks. Wrestling is a sport i believe every high school has, unlike golf like mostly privileged kids play due to it being expensive. I don't think they will have a bunch of kids thinking:

 

"When I grow up I'm gonna be in the Olympics for golf."

 

I think they should of least got rid of it for something else less important than wrestling.

[ScubaToaster]

Get rid of Olympic powerwalking for fucks sake.

[BlackEagle]

Y! SPORTS

 

 

Holy crap.

Imo this is ridiculous. To add golf in the first place is worse than shooting. I realize it takes skill, but really? When I think of the Olympics I think of faster, better, stronger. Not teeing a ball and calculating angles. Especially since (as the article says) wrestling has been there since the beginning. Hopefully it will end up like baseball and just get kicked out soon than later. Nonetheless, thoughts on this?

 

I don't really agree with wrestling being removed and especially since Rugby is being added as well. I personally like the idea of golf. There really isn't an international championship to golf so this to me is something special to the game. I mean you could make the argument for most sports about being faster and stronger. I know golf doesn't require you to do a whole lot of lifting but neither does Equestrian and that is an Olympic sport too. There are a couple of sports that don't require being faster and stronger but smarter. I don't think the Olympics should necessarily define itself as being an event where you have to do a bunch of physical activity but more of an event where the best from each country go up against each other for world titles.

 

I am sure when people grow up they don't think they are going to be in the Olympics for Equestrian. In fact most kids (especially US) want to play Football (which isn't included), Basketball, and Baseball. These are by far the most important in the United States and only one of those is offered in the Olympic games.

 

My point being is that I agree Wrestling should not be removed but that Golf should be in at the same time. Golf takes a tremendous amount of skill and those that don't actually play the sport most of the time do not appreciate the level of skill these athletes are at. You can even make the argument where a guy like Tiger Woods could potentially be in better shape than some other Olympic athletes. I mean the guy works out and lifts like 3 times a day.

[Wicked Pissah]

I wrestled for a long time, so my opinion is obviously biased.

 

I played Rugby as well, fun sport (to both play and watch) so can't complain too much, but golf, really?

[Unnamed Newbie]

I don't really agree with wrestling being removed and especially since Rugby is being added as well. I personally like the idea of golf. There really isn't an international championship to golf so this to me is something special to the game. I mean you could make the argument for most sports about being faster and stronger. I know golf doesn't require you to do a whole lot of lifting but neither does Equestrian and that is an Olympic sport too. There are a couple of sports that don't require being faster and stronger but smarter. I don't think the Olympics should necessarily define itself as being an event where you have to do a bunch of physical activity but more of an event where the best from each country go up against each other for world titles.

 

I am sure when people grow up they don't think they are going to be in the Olympics for Equestrian. In fact most kids (especially US) want to play Football (which isn't included), Basketball, and Baseball. These are by far the most important in the United States and only one of those is offered in the Olympic games.

 

My point being is that I agree Wrestling should not be removed but that Golf should be in at the same time. Golf takes a tremendous amount of skill and those that don't actually play the sport most of the time do not appreciate the level of skill these athletes are at. You can even make the argument where a guy like Tiger Woods could potentially be in better shape than some other Olympic athletes. I mean the guy works out and lifts like 3 times a day.

 

I'm glad you agree about giving the boot to wrestling. And I thoroughly agree that hobbies like horse-riding, shooting, etc. are still in line in the Olympics. If Golf was traded off for one of those, I'd be fine with it. Switching golf for wrestling however is just uncalled for. The sport itself shouldn't just get the axe like that, instead a sport of equal proportion like horse-riding, shooting should be switched out at least (in the article, the anticipated cut-sport was the pentathlon, which would have been more acceptable). Overall, the choice to cut such a celebrated sport where there are other 'on the fence' sports seems unwarranted.

 

Responding to the skill involved. I must agree, yet there is skill involved in tons of other things. I realize how stressful golf is and the development it takes to 'become' good at it. Nonetheless, does that really override wrestling? The sport which also contains skill, on top of strength and endurance. Most other activities also require skill, but always build up from it, adding speed or stamina. Golf is skill. Shooting is skill and the strength to pull a trigger. Horse-riding is the fucking horse and smarts on race-management. Yes, everything involves skill to an extent, but there is a fine line between sports that only require skill and sports that require skill and much more.

[BlackEagle]

I'm glad you agree about giving the boot to wrestling. And I thoroughly agree that hobbies like horse-riding, shooting, etc. are still in line in the Olympics. If Golf was traded off for one of those, I'd be fine with it. Switching golf for wrestling however is just uncalled for. The sport itself shouldn't just get the axe like that, instead a sport of equal proportion like horse-riding, shooting should be switched out at least (in the article, the anticipated cut-sport was the pentathlon, which would have been more acceptable). Overall, the choice to cut such a celebrated sport where there are other 'on the fence' sports seems unwarranted.

 

Responding to the skill involved. I must agree, yet there is skill involved in tons of other things. I realize how stressful golf is and the development it takes to 'become' good at it. Nonetheless, does that really override wrestling? The sport which also contains skill, on top of strength and endurance. Most other activities also require skill, but always build up from it, adding speed or stamina. Golf is skill. Shooting is skill and the strength to pull a trigger. Horse-riding is the fucking horse and smarts on race-management. Yes, everything involves skill to an extent, but there is a fine line between sports that only require skill and sports that require skill and much more.

 

Well I could not agree more with basically what you said. I don't agree with removing wrestling especially since it was the original sport in the Olympic games. Personally I don't see why they even HAD to remove one at all. I am not disagreeing that removing wrestling is wrong I am just making a point that there are some games in the Summer and Winter Olympic games that don't require as much strength and stamina as Wrestling but I do feel that they should still be in the games. Maybe I am just uninformed but I don't see why they even had to remove a sport and add 2 more. It could be cost or just the medal count but I am unaware. I am sure they had some sort of reason to choose wrestling but it would be nice to have them make it a little more clear as to why wrestling was chosen over the others.

[Lux]

I don't think anyone here (in the UK) will be complaining. I've seen that wrestling is fairly big in America. But over here it's simply not, you go through school without ever doing it.

 

Overall, the choice to cut such a celebrated sport where there are other 'on the fence' sports seems unwarranted.

 

I'm assuming that's why it has been axed.... because it's not celebrated at all. It's a dead sport, people aren't generally interested in watching it.

 

Personally I don't see why they even HAD to remove one at all.

 

There can only be so many medals and so many events. It has to fit into a schedule.

 

--

 

Golf is a big sport. Originally, the idea of golf being in the Olympics was ignored because it's supposed to be non-professional. But nowadays, quite a few sports in the Olympics are professional. Tennis is there, so there's no reason not to have golf.

 

unlike golf like mostly privileged kids play due to it being expensive. I don't think they will have a bunch of kids thinking:

 

That's not necessarily true. I've played golf my whole life and you can play it without spending much at all. Going onto actual courses all the time is expensive ... but casually it's easy to start playing. You could say the same of horse riding, shooting, fencing, rowing... all have a traditionally higher class background. But not every sport is as cheap to play or become good at as running.

 

It's good to see rugby being introduced, but I would've like to see squash become an Olympic sport too.

[Eskomo]

Golf is certainly more of a universal sport than wrestling is, I feel like both sports should be in the Olympics though.

 

And I can guarantee Golf will generate more money than wrestling will lol

[Octa]

I have 2 second cousins who won olympic metals in wrestling. :/

 

This is kind of biased toward 3rd world countries. Yes, you can MAYBE take up casual golf without paying a lot of money to play on a course, but thats not going to make you able to compete with people like tiger woods.