Olympics drop wrestling

[CY88CE11]

you guys that are wrestling die hards and grew up with the sport don't want to hear it, but wrestling is a bad TV product and has a small niche following. We, in Iowa, are most certainly the exception to the rule when it comes to the popularity of the sport. It might not seem like it here since wrestling is all around you, but virtually every where else, in our country anyway, it doesn't exist. And like all sports these days, if you aren't drawing large TV audiences and making it worth it for people to invest in your product (i.e. advertising) you aren't going to last long.

Understood, but this doesn't answer the question of why wrestling is being cut, instead of modern pentathlon or any equestrian event(s). Or synchronized swimming, for that matter.

[VeloClone]

What you are forgetting, French, is that wrestling isn't competing for Olympic survival against the most popular events in the Olympics. It's not like they are saying we are cutting Basketball or Wrestling from the Olympic games. But rather it is competing against the least popular and trampoline, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming and modern pentathalon are not huge TV draws either.

[CyDude16]

Not really apples to apples. Soccer's best players don't compete in the Olympics, it's not any Olympic rule keeping it from being so, it just is.

FIFA has a 23 and under rule actually.

[CycloneNorth]

FIFA has a 23 and under rule actually.

Which means it is not an Olympic rule which is what HFCS was saying.

[agrabes]

?

I guarantee you wrestling takes infinitely more endurance than does speed walking.

As for having a special talent compared to other olympic athletes, it is very similar. More athleticism helps (all other things being equal), being taller can help (if you use it right). To imply that wrestlers aren't as talented or have any "special talent", or whatever you're trying to say, is ridiculous.

Try speed walking for 50km at 8mph for 3 and a half hours and get back to me. (For comparison, a fast walk is about 3-4mph and normal jogging speed is 8mph). A wrestling match is over in minutes. It takes endurance to be a good wrestler, but it's not the same at all as a true endurance event. A wrestler could not enter and do well in a speed walking competition in the same way that a speed walker could not enter and do well in a wrestling competition.

My point is that all olympic athletes, wrestlers included, are special. Every olympic athlete has put in a very high level of effort training and is at the top of their field. There is nothing about wrestling that makes it any better than any other olympic sport which requires athletic ability. I see no compelling athletic reason to keep wrestling over any other athletic sport.

[Judoka]

In overall participation growth over the 12 years of the tables I posted...
Wrestling: 6622/6240 = 1.06; present participation rate: 20.0%

Using 2000 as the base year rather than 2001, the lowest year by far, really skews those numbers.

Regardless though, that has nothing to do with USA wrestling membership numbers (which is what would track Olympic Wrestling) or a chart show participation levels in Modern Pentathlon.

Nobody is saying Wrestling is the most popular sport in the world. People are saying that is a hell of a lot more popular than Modern Pentathlon.

[HFCS]

Core 25:
T&F
rowing
badminton
basketball
boxing
canoeing - not well informed about this one, not a tv ratings sport, less accessible than wrestling, less history
cycling - keep only if you drop drug abuse as part of the criteria, outside of Europe nobody is getting excited
equestrian - axe it for ridiculous number of reasons
fencing
soccer
gymnastics
weightlifting
handball
field hockey
judo - less widely participated, one country dominates it, equally complex rules, nobody watches tv
swimming
modern pentathlon - ridiculous number of reasons it's a worse olympic sport than wrestling
taekwondo - less widely participated, one country dominates it, equally complex rules, nobody watches on tv
tennis
table tennis - most single country dominated Olympic sport ever
shooting - not a sport, at least not a sport in remotely the same way wrestling and the bolded are
archery - not a sport, at least not a sport in remotely the same way wrestling and the bolded are
triathlon
sailing - limited to certain economic strata, not an athletic sport, geographic limitations
volleyball

The arguments coming out in this thread by our resident contrarians who think they're geniuses are just silly. We don't even need to go beyond the core 25 to show it's just a completely ridiculous decision by any metric. Some of the bolded I really don't like, but it's clear they should be Olympic sports.

[Judoka]

Judo is bigger and more widely practiced than wrestling. And is a big TV draw in a number of countries. Your average American wouldn't recognize Jordan Burroughs on the street. Your average Frenchman would recognize Teddy Riner.

[HFCS]

Try speed walking for 50km at 8mph for 3 and a half hours and get back to me. (For comparison, a fast walk is about 3-4mph and normal jogging speed is 8mph). A wrestling match is over in minutes. It takes endurance to be a good wrestler, but it's not the same at all as a true endurance event. A wrestler could not enter and do well in a speed walking competition in the same way that a speed walker could not enter and do well in a wrestling competition.

My point is that all olympic athletes, wrestlers included, are special. Every olympic athlete has put in a very high level of effort training and is at the top of their field. There is nothing about wrestling that makes it any better than any other olympic sport which requires athletic ability. I see no compelling athletic reason to keep wrestling over any other athletic sport.

I run marathons, wrestling at a high level is incredibly more demanding on the human body both physically and especially mentally. Don't try to tell me race walking is harder than marathoning.

Olympic wrestlers are better athletes than target shooters, archers, sailboat captains, curlers and somebody showing off a horse who can all win a gold medal for those non-athletic sports. That's a fact. You look silly claiming otherwise. The people I listed may be equally skilled in their event, but they are not athletically elite humans like Jordan, Ali, Sanderson, Phelps, Gabby Douglas, etc...

[VeloClone]

Judo is bigger and more widely practiced than wrestling. And is a big TV draw in a number of countries.

Now I know where your posting name comes from.

[cloneswereall]

Jay Mohr Fox Sports Radio: Cael Sanderson

Jay Mohr and Cael Sanderson's take on the decision. Seems like this was done behind closed doors and USA Wrestling had no idea this was even on the table, and the rationale of this seems abstract and vague at best.

[CY88CE11]

Try speed walking for 50km at 8mph for 3 and a half hours and get back to me. (For comparison, a fast walk is about 3-4mph and normal jogging speed is 8mph). A wrestling match is over in minutes. It takes endurance to be a good wrestler, but it's not the same at all as a true endurance event. A wrestler could not enter and do well in a speed walking competition in the same way that a speed walker could not enter and do well in a wrestling competition.

My point is that all olympic athletes, wrestlers included, are special. Every olympic athlete has put in a very high level of effort training and is at the top of their field. There is nothing about wrestling that makes it any better than any other olympic sport which requires athletic ability. I see no compelling athletic reason to keep wrestling over any other athletic sport.

It's now obvious to me that you know nothing about what it takes to be a wrestler or the level at which they train, day in and day out. I'd say the chances a wrestler could speed walk 50km at 8 mph for three and a half hours is much greater than the chances a speed walker could step onto a mat and last a minute.

[HFCS]

Judo is bigger and more widely practiced than wrestling. And is a big TV draw in a number of countries. Your average American wouldn't recognize Jordan Burroughs on the street. Your average Frenchman would recognize Teddy Riner.

American wrestler Dave Schultz got celebrity treatment on the streets when he visited the middle east and eastern Europe countries and people wouldn't have recognized him here. It's likely comparable. Fine unbold the two martial arts, it still doesn't make any sense. The medals are distributed to more countries around the globe in wrestling than either martial art though even with USSR/Russia having a huge haul in wrestling.

[cloneswereall]

It's now obvious to me that you know nothing about what it takes to be a wrestler or the level at which they train, day in and day out. I'd say the chances a wrestler could speed walk 50km at 8 mph for three and a half hours is much greater than the chances a speed walker could step onto a mat and last a minute.

I'd attest to that. When we were training the last half of the season, we'd always run 7 miles once a week and were expected to run that on our Sundays off to keep up and build our endurance for districts and state. Those miles were cake by that point in the season and it didn't even make your lungs burn like 15 minute goes still did at the end of the season.

[VeloClone]

It's now obvious to me that you know nothing about what it takes to be a wrestler or the level at which they train, day in and day out. I'd say the chances a wrestler could speed walk 50km at 8 mph for three and a half hours is much greater than the chances a speed walker could step onto a mat and last a minute.

There is more to wrestling than simply endurance. There is technique, strategy and strength as well. I'm a former middle distance and long distance runner and even I can recognize that.

Most wrestlers probably couldn't do the speed walking thing for that distance because that isn't what they train for. Frankly most marathoners couldn't compete in speed walking, either as you use different muscle groups more running versus speed walking. I have done small amounts of speed walking just to try it out.

However, none of this is reason to discount wrestling as "not requiring anything special".