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Wrestlers from Oconee County High School just finished third in the class AAA state duals last weekend -- the school's best finish ever. But come 2020, Oconee's high school wrestlers won't have the world's foremost competetive arena to aspire to.
The International Olympic Committee announced this week that it's removing the sport from the Summer Games, starting in 2020.
The committee agreed to pare down the 26 sports it features to 25 so that a new sport could join the lineup. Wrestling has a chance to make it back into the Olympics, but the Los Angeles Times said that was unlikely now that it has been cut.
Should the Olympics drop wrestling as an event? What impact will this have on high school wrestling programs? Tell us in the comments.
Wrestling in the Olympics started with the ancient Games in 708 B.C., and became a staple of the modern Olympics, beginning in Athens, Greece in 1896.
A report by the IOC program commission said TV ratings and ticket sales are among the criteria used by the panel, according to ESPN.
Among the sports being kept in the Olympics is modern pentathlon, a combination of fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting. It has been an Olympic sport since 1912.
At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, 71 countries participated in wrestling, while just 26 nations competed in modern pentathlon.
Xardox
3:41 pm on Saturday, February 16, 2013
Dropping one of the oldest sports on the planet, especially with the Greek physical contests as origin, is another example of no-brain thinking by an international community. Can't wait to see if it is replaced and by what. Bet whatever it is will "make a statement" of some kind.
Goat
8:36 pm on Saturday, February 16, 2013
I hear it will be replaced with golf !
Steve
12:03 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013
71 countries vs 26 countries???? What is the Olympics about? Seriously? Money? Golf is a game not a sport. It is for professional gamblers and a gold medal will mean zero to them compared to what it will mean to the Olympic wrestler. Wrestling is a true to the core sport contest recognized by our ancestors dating back to the beginning of man kind as we know it through paintings on cave walls. Even if you dislike the sport of wrestling you cannot deny its complete and total undeniable relevance in the Olympic arena. Put it back!!! And never do that again! Some things should just be protected until it no longer has relevance. Put it back!