Wrestling is reinstated as an Olympic sport from 2020 after being preferred to squash and baseball/softball in an IOC vote(International Olympic Committee)
Wrestling drew 49 votes; baseball-softball, 24; and squash, 22, after representatives of each made one final, 20-minute sales pitch about how their sport could strengthen the 21st century Olympic brand.
Wrestling officials jumped with joy, and at least one shed tears when IOC President Jacques Rogge announced that the sport had been selected, according to Nenad Lalovic, president of the sport’s international governing body, which is known by the acronym FILA.
“I assure each of you that our modernization will not stop now,” Lalovic said in thanking IOC voters. “We will continue to strive to be the best partner to the Olympic movement that we can be.”
Lalovic was installed as FILA’s president after his predecessor was ousted followingthe stunning decision by the IOC’s executive board on Feb. 12 to drop wrestling following the 2016 Olympics.
The decision baffled enthusiasts of the sport and fans of the Olympics worldwide. But insiders familiar with the workings of the politically charged IOC understood it as a rebuke to wrestling’s leadership, which had shown indifference to repeated calls to revamp the sport’s confounding rules and staid presentation, rather than a rejection of wrestling itself.
Officials then sprang to action, ousting FILA’s president, simplifying the rules, adding weight classes for women and exploring ways to jazz up its presentation, such as changing the color of the mats and restyling the traditional singlet.
Sunday’s vote welcoming wrestling back into the Olympic fold represented an endorsement of those initiatives, much like a parent releasing a naughty child from a timeout.
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