A Betrayal of Olympic Proportions

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Happy Valentine's Day. I had been thinking about blogging about Valentine's Day. I even did a little research on the history and tradition that brought us to this day of declaring our love. The punch line would have asked about your plans for Valentine's Day.

 

But the announcement that wrestling was being removed as an Olympic sport trumps that blog. Speaking of tradition! I wrestled varsity in college (given the division we were in, it really wasn't a big deal) and, since then, the sport has always had a warm spot in my heart (but, this is not about hearts…or, maybe it is).

 

I am not sure what made the Olympic Committee remove wrestling from the roster of Olympic sports, but consideration of tradition was certainly not anywhere on their list. Remember the pictures of wrestlers on the urns we studied in Art History? That's how old the sport of wrestling is. Along with the marathon (another passion from my past), wrestling goes back to the ancients. It is a sport of the original Olympic Games. And wrestling has always been a sport of the modern Olympics -- since 1896.

 

I don't care if wrestling doesn't sell a single ticket at the Games. I won't make judgment calls about the other sports which have made their way into the Olympics. They may be fine, but not at the expense of tradition. The Olympic Games are nothing if not tradition. Let's extinguish the Olympic flame while they're at it.

Comments

The Webmaster

I wonder why they did this. Now they have to apply for inclusion in the 2020 games along with baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu (whatever that is)

Submitted by Erik_Scheibe on Wed, 02/13/2013 - 22:34

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Erik Scheibe

A very weird decision

Submitted by NULL (not verified) on Thu, 02/14/2013 - 00:21

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this is a disgraceful call. Lets ad cyber games instead! What bullshit

Submitted by Vincent_Serro on Thu, 02/14/2013 - 01:33

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Vincent Serro

I think one of the funniest commercials I've seen lately is for MSG varsity where they now televise small college and even high school events. They show what appears to be a high school wrestling match about to begin, but one of the wrestlers makes a late entrace dressed up like hulk hogan with music blaring obviously showing off for the new cameras. Perhaps the ancient sport of wrestling needs a modern image makeover? How about adding an Olympic steel cage match? A Greco-Roman Chokeslam perhaps?

Submitted by Jeanne_Anne_Norton on Thu, 02/14/2013 - 01:41

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Jeanne Anne Norton

Horrifying. Sadly, Ben, it is all about the money. I looked up Wushu on Wikipedia. It is "both an exhibition and a contact sport derived from the traditional Chinese martial arts." It was only developed in 1949 with the first world competition in 1991. Can't help but wonder if there was a little influence by the Chinese government.
Corey Bearak

It was a stupid decision.
Happy Sweethearts Day! Listen to some musics for the day - http://tiny.cc/cnrisw

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