According to the Associated Press, the International Olympic Committee has decided to drop wrestling from the 2020 Olympic Games.
Wrestling has been on the Olympic program every year since the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, with the exception of the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris.
The 2020 Olympic Games will either be in Istanbul, Turkey, Madrid, Spain or Tokyo, Japan. A decision will be made at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 7.
After watching many freestyle wrestling events from the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the ruling made by the International Olympic Committee today should come as no surprise. The reason is the peculiar rules the sport has implemented.
For example, if a period ends in a draw, the winner of the period is the last wrestler to score a technical point. Also, if a match goes to overtime a ball is selected to determine which wrestler is in the favourable hold position for the extra period.
These two rules seem completely unfair and the sport's decision making body needs to determine an overall better scoring system before wrestling attempts to return to the Olympic program.
From a Canadian standpoint, Canadian wrestlers have won 16 Olympic medals in wrestling including two gold medals-- Daniel Igali at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and Carol Huynh at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
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