"Save Wrestling"
"For
wrestling, this may have been the ultimate body slam: getting tossed
out of the Olympic rings. The vote by the IOC's executive board stunned
the world's wrestlers, who see their sport as popular in many countries
and steeped in history as old as the Olympics themselves.
While
wrestling will be included at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, it
was cut from the games in 2020, which have yet to be awarded to a host
city.
Past Olympic Greco-Roman champion Khasan Baroev of Russia called the decision "mind-boggling."
"I just can't believe it. And what sport will then be added to the
Olympic program? What sport is worthy of replacing ours?" Baroev told
the ITAR-Tass news agency. "Wrestling is popular in many countries --
just see how the medals were distributed at the last Olympics."
