The International Olympic Committee has voted against excluding wrestling from the 2020 and 2024 Olympic games.
The decision comes as a relief to thousands of fans of the sport, which existed as an Olympic event since antiquity.
Unfortunately, fans of baseball/softball and squash will be disappointed; these events are being dropped after Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
It’s understandable that the IOC came to its senses after international pressure from freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling fans, who were appalled to see three millennia of sport history go down the drain.
Meanwhile, the focus will be on Tokyo, that was chosen as the host city for the 2020 Olympics. Japan might not be the financial superpower it once was, but it’s a far better suitor than Madrid and Istanbul to host the Olympic Games. The official web site is at Tokyo2020.jp
Let’s hope that in the interim the world will come to its senses and maintain peace as its primary objective; after all, even wars would stop when Olympics were held in ancient Olympia, Greece.
Speak Your Mind