I can’t believe I haven’t taken a shot at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in recent times. Not only do they consistently make questionable decisions, but they have also been embroiled in corruption allegations for many years now. All the claims and accusations have never been officially proven, but I can’t imagine there are many people who think the IOC run a squeaky-clean operation.
Today, I want to level my criticism at one of their recent decisions. The sport of wrestling has been axed from the Olympic roster. I’m not talking about steroid-pumped actors jumping from the ropes, I’m talking about Greco-Roman wrestlers who crawl around twisting and turning and trying to pin one another.
Firstly, the IOC claim they want to stick with tradition, but now they also claim they must move with the times. Aren’t these two notions contradictory? Wrestling ticks all the boxes as a traditional Olympic event and it’s as ancient as the Olympics themselves. Olympic glory is, by far, the highest honor in this sport, which also gives athletes from the middle of nowhere the chance to compete and win on a world stage.
Wrestling is also an easy sport to orchestrate as it only needs a small floor space and it does not require any elaborate man-made equipment or weather conditions for the bouts to take place. There is also no need for much spectator room, as it’s not the kind of sport many people want to watch. This is at the heart of the problem. The IOC has to pay for their international first-class travel, expensive silver-service dinners and bottles of cognac, so television rights are very important.
Sports like synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics remain in the roster even though they should only ever be part of C-Grade Disney stage productions. BMX racing and white water kayaking are recent inclusions into the games even though they require incredibly expensive purpose-built venues to host, and even more ridiculous are sports like tennis, golf and rugby in which an Olympic gold medal is far from the highest honor.
This is another dark day for the Olympics as another tradition has fallen into the scrap heap in favor of more glitz, glam and ratings. The IOC will continue to rule with an iron first using the Olympic rings as a shield while they simply look to further promote their wants and needs.
