Now there are supposedly guidelines on how a sport is dropped but those guidelines were twisted and warped beyond recognition in order to 'prove' that modern pentathlon is more deserving of being in the Olympics (as well as table tennis and badminton - even though wresting had contestants from 71 countries in 2012 while the pentathlon only had 72 people even competing. One of the real ironies is that the person who invented the modern version of the original Greek pentathlon (and who is given credit for starting the modern Olympics), removed the sport of wrestling from that event - presumably for being too uncouth for gentlemen - as befits a man who received an Olympic medal for a poem he wrote.
Here is the AP wire story at the New York Times website on how American wrestlers are reacting to the possibility there will be no Olympic wrestling starting with the 2020 Olympics.
With Sport’s Future Shaky, Wrestlers Are in Hurry By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DES MOINES (AP) — Last summer, the college wrestling stars Kyle Dake and Jordan Oliver were so excited at the London Olympics that they toyed with the idea of opposing each other at a different weight class.
The 165-pound Dake and Oliver, who competes at 149 pounds, kicked around the idea of wrestling at 157 pounds. After watching Jordan Burroughs win a gold medal, Dake and Oliver became so fired up that they nearly skipped the celebration for a late-night training session.
“We were so amped up to be back on the mat,” Oliver said.
The enthusiasm of the United States wrestlers is now accompanied by a sense of urgency. With the International Olympic Committee’s recent recommendation to drop the sport from the 2020 Games, America’s collegiate wrestlers are on notice. The Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 could be their only chance for Olympic gold.
That means wrestlers who might have aimed for 2020 as their most realistic shot to make the Olympic team have to start training immediately in hopes of being ready.
“We’ve got great people working on it, and they’re going to take care of it,” said Dake, who attends Cornell. “I’m confident we’ll get it back. But in the meantime, we’ve got to propel our goals sooner. We’ve got to think 2016, and think that’s it’s our last shot. So after this season, I’m going to be going at it full time.”
Such urgency is, in a way, a positive for a United States freestyle team that is on an upswing. The squad could soon absorb more young talent concerned it might have only one Olympic cycle left.
This month, Dake became the first wrestler in N.C.A.A. history to win four national titles in four weight classes when he beat Penn State’s David Taylor at 165 pounds. Taylor is a legitimate Olympic contender, having won the Hodge Trophy as the nation’s best wrestler in 2012.
Oliver is a two-time N.C.A.A. champion at Oklahoma State with strong freestyle skills. Penn State’s Ed Ruth will head into his senior season at 184 pounds with a 68-match winning streak and 2 straight N.C.A.A. titles.
Ohio State’s Logan Stieber has won the national title in each of his first two seasons and nearly beat Coleman Scott in the Olympic trials in Iowa City last spring.
The difference between domestic and international titles is clear, but Burroughs showed it can be done by winning a gold medal 18 months after winning an N.C.A.A. championship.
Cael Sanderson, the Penn State coach and a past Olympic champion, said the ancient sport had adapted and thrived.
And you can find the rest of this story at the NYT website.
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