Olympic Wrestling

by Daniel Gandert

A few years ago, a lot of people were outraged about the recommendation of removing wrestling from the Olympics, which will allow room for a new sport to be added to the games.  Wrestling was voted out of the Olympics beginning in 2020 but was subsequently reinstated for the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympic Games.  There are reasons that wrestling was recommended to be eliminated and although it would be sad to see wrestling go, I would also find it disappointing to see modern pentathlon, race walking, or any of the other sports that have recently been considered for elimination withdrawn.  In order to allow all of these sports to stay in the Olympics, I propose moving wrestling from the Summer Olympics to the Winter Olympics.

One has to respect the IOC's need to add new sports in order to keep the Olympics current and relevant to sports spectators.  Beach volleyball was only added in 1996, yet is has become popular enough that some have trouble imagining the possibility of it not being part of the Olympics.  The sport fills a significant amount of time for NBC's primetime coverage and brought light to one of the most notable venues in London.  Similarly, snowboarding has added to the excitement of the Winter Olympics.

The addition of new sports brings about the potential for the Olympics to become too large.  As such, the IOC established a cap on the number of additional sports entered in to the Olympics in 2000.  It is understandable why a cap needs to remain in place, as well as the logistical and capacity issues and the burden on host cities that could be brought about without a limit on the number of sports.

While the Summer Olympics seems to be approaching its capacity, the Winter Olympics remains significantly smaller.  The Winter Olympics could handle an additional sport, as well as the additional athletes and spectators that come with the addition.  Yes, changes would need to be made to the Olympic Charter to allow this, but wrestling is an indoor sport and as such, it could take place in either a warm or a cold climate.

Moving wrestling to the Winter Olympics could also make positive contributions to the viewership of the sport on television, which could increase the overall popularity of the sport.  Since there are fewer sports in the Winter Olympics, wrestling would not have as much Olympic competition for viewership.  Additionally, wrestling could appeal to fans who are not as interested in figure skating, skiing, or curling.  This could add to the overall appeal of the Winter Olympic Games.

The Internataional Federation for wrestling would need to make adjustments to allow this to work, but these adjustments should be more desirable than the sport's elimination.  Wrestling (although with a different style) is already considered a "winter sport" at many high schools, with prime competitions taking place during the winter season.  As such, it has already been shown that wrestling could function during the winter.

Some may feel that it would be more fair to send another sport, such as modern pentathlon or race walking to the Winter Olympics.  However, since both of these sports involve disciplines that need to take place outdoors, they are not as suitable for winter competition as wrestling.  While adding wrestling to the Winter Olympics would bring about changes to both the sport and the games, everyone involved would benefit from this situation.