Good article from SI.

Consider the three cities bidding for the rights to host the Olympics in 2020: Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo. Wrestling is one of the most popular Olympic sports in Turkey. . . The loss of wrestling would be a blow to the Turks. Japan is the leading nation in women's wrestling, with strong contenders today, and presumably eight years down the road, in all four classes. The loss of wrestling would be a blow to the Japanese. But of the nations with bid cities in the mix for 2020, Spain is the most politically powerful of the three. Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., the son of the former IOC president, is now an IOC executive board member. Wrestling is not as popular in Spain as it is in the other two countries. Samaranch is also a vice president of modern pentathlon's international committee and one of 15 IOC executive board members who voted on the sport program. No other EB member has direct ties to wrestling, modern pentathlon, taekwondo or field hockey.

Juan Antonio Samaranch was as crooked as they come, and the IOC is no better.

NBA Finals(what is that trophy called anyways?)

The Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy. The men arrested at the Watergate break-in were in Larry O'Brien's office.

The Olympics are hugely important to Women's soccer, so I wouldn't support cutting that. As it is now, they only really have an important event every 2 years, the world cup and the Olympics.

As for track cycling, well it is awesome and the world needs more velodromes. And they could be made portable if the IOC were really interested in cutting costs.

#51 Dick Pound was generally considered as Samaranch's likely successor, but he made a lot of enemies with his investigations on the corrupt practices wrt winning hosting bids. Rogge was quite literally the candidate of choice for the corrupt factions.

Sad thing is everyone loves the Olympics no matter how corrupt or messed up it is. Kind of like how people support a political party just because they always have regardless of policy or reality. Or a sports team for that matter - how else do you explain how there are still fans of the 100+ years with no title Cubs, the 'give us more money' Marlins, or the sub-500 since pre-strike days Pirates.

And have they really dropped wrestling while keeping judo, etc?

It's not certain to be gone. It just has very little chance of making the cut. It's now competing against baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wushu for a slot.

EDIT: Think of it as being in a repechage.

I have to say that (as already mentioned) in recent games the wrestling has been generally dull, dour, defensive. Generally grinding out a low points victory. Maybe I shouldn't complain because that was the only way I ever won, but then I don't think anybody would have found my few bouts at all compelling.

But as dull as they've been, they've been a thrill ride next to the judo that's been on display in recent years.

It should surprise nobody that the IOC is run by a Belgian.

Up next: Competitive Puppy Eating.

As it happens, about a week ago I finished reading David Clay Large's Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936, & if the author's accounts of the background of not only those Olympics but all the ones before it are in any way accurate, the whole thing has always been about as corrupt & stupid as can be imagined, no matter which incompetent hypocrites happen to have been in charge.

But as dull as they've been, they've been a thrill ride next to the judo that's been on display in recent years.

Ugh, tell me about it.

Although, to be fair to the IOC, they have yet to be bribed into giving a games to Qatar.

Yet.

Nothing is more olympics than wrestling. Nothing.


Yep.

some folks still call it 'wrestling' today! not that there's anything wrong with that.

wrestling falling by the wayside is the chickens coming home to roost from the idiotic media fascination with gymnasts like olga korbut and nadia comenici. gymnastics got popular with women viewers, then the IOC saw the ratings, and so stupid 'sports' like synchronized swimming gained traction.

agree with everyone who thinks this latest move is hella stupid and that the IOC sucks big ones.

Wrestling, boxing, judo, karate, taekwondo -- just put them all in one bracket and let them have at each other.

Or a sports team for that matter - how else do you explain how there are still fans of the 100+ years with no title Cubs, the 'give us more money' Marlins, or the sub-500 since pre-strike days Pirates.

Not to mention the Toronto Maple Leafs. Though I suppose I should say, the second-place Toronto Maple Leafs!

Wrestling, boxing, judo, karate, taekwondo -- just put them all in one bracket and let them have at each other.

Hell, yes, a big MMA free for all. This should definitely happen.

The proper olympic name for MMA, Just Plain Joe, is "Pankration". Only with more rules than ancient Pankration.

Not to mention the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Pfft. The streak isn't even 50 years old yet. That's chump change in the baseball universe.

wrestling is one of the few olympic sports i like/watch - hot men in skintight, uh, costumes grabbing each other - very HOTTTTTTT

figures they prefer boring shtt like golf - it must bring in more $$ and i guess wrestling doesn't get ratings or $$$. but ?? shooting??? how the **** is that a "sport"???!!!

i guess now it's just mens gymnastics and mens figure skating for me

i guess now it's just mens gymnastics and mens figure skating for me

If they remove Womens Beach Volleyball I will be unhappy.

mouse

yeh, i bet. asked husband bout that one once. he said - no boobs/no booty/no biggie

The proper olympic name for MMA, Just Plain Joe, is "Pankration". Only with more rules than ancient Pankration.

Apparently the the only safeguard for the athlete's health they had in Pankration was that in case of death the dead guy was declared the winner. Oh, and no eye-gouging.

To make this even worse, the reason that anyone thought they had to cut sports is that they just added golf and a form of rugby that no one cares about, so this whole controversy is something the IOC manufactured by itself in the services of adding entirely new events that will almost certainly be unpopular and/or pointless.

Also, one of my friends looked at some of the documentation the IOC used to justify ditching wrestling and the places where wrestling scored badly were almost all things about the composition of the international governing board and other weird minor technicalities about behind-the-scenes stuff.

It's all a disgrace. FIFA, for its tremendous venality, at least doesn't set itself up as the moral guardian of all true sporting endeavors.

yeh, i bet. asked husband bout that one once. he said - no boobs/no booty/no biggie

i feel safe in saying your husband's views are not representative of most male olympics tv viewers, especially when we're talking about the brazilians, if my memory is accurate ...

Maybe I'm just crazy, but I much prefer indoor volleyball (for the same superficial reasons mind you) to beach.

Greg (U)K: You're not crazy.

I'm not a huge fan of Olympic sports that have commercial appeal and an individual or country world champion on its own. I don't get what the Olympics add to that. The PGA Tour and tournaments tell me who's the best golfer. Or is Olympic Golf only Ryder Cup style team play?

I can get behind Beach Volleyball some, because that's where the highest level of volleyball athletes play, isn't it?

So, I don't know anything about it, but why is the IOC Western European dominated? Don't all the member nations get an equal say in things?

To make this even worse, the reason that anyone thought they had to cut sports is that they just added golf and a form of rugby that no one cares about

I disagree about the addition of sevens. Nearly any country in the world can get together a quality team with the impetus that the Olympics will provide. There's no infrastructure needed, very little development time. You've seen the Carlin Isles videos, right? Who's against that, exactly?

I can get behind Beach Volleyball some, because that's where the highest level of volleyball athletes play, isn't it?

Ha.

I really don't like the beachball. The women's indoor game is exceptional, though.

So, I don't know anything about it, but why is the IOC Western European dominated? Don't all the member nations get an equal say in things?

The IOC is a self-perpetuating body of individuals, not countries and federations, some of the places (45 out of 115) are earmarked for athletes, federation people and national olympic committee heads, 15 of each. But most are just general big-wigs.

[77] Am I wrong about beach volleyball in that way? I thought that was the only place where the money is in volleyball, and hence, where the players play after college. Or are the college athletes the best athletes? I'd love to know more if someone knows about this.

I thought that was the only place where the money is in volleyball, and hence, where the players play after college.

There are pro leagues in Europe and Brazil.

You can make money in beach volleyball in the US. To make money in indoors you have to go overseas. I think they can make decent money in Europe and Japan.

There are pro leagues in Europe and Brazil.

Japan too. Also, since the AVP went belly-up a couple of years ago, I don't know how much money there is in beach volleyball anymore.

the AVP went belly-up a couple of years ago

I didn't know this. I just knew Karch Kiraly made a *$(#load of money in a pro beach volleyball league.

There are pro leagues in Europe and Brazil.

Thanks for the reminder that the monetized sports world doesn't end at the US border. >.<

wrestling is one of the few olympic sports i like/watch - hot men in skintight, uh, costumes grabbing each other - very HOTTTTTTT

i guess now it's just mens gymnastics and mens figure skating for me

the luge and bobsled competitions have some interesting eyecandy what with the skintight lycra. so does speed skating, but speed skaters also have some very out of proportion lower bodies.

men's diving has some absolute jaw-droppers.

weightlifting is great if you're into bigger men.

i have a huge soft spot for distance runners, especially when they're dripping with sweat coming off a track.


but losing wrestling would be a devastating blow to the sex-appeal of the summer olympics.

To make this even worse, the reason that anyone thought they had to cut sports is that they just added golf and a form of rugby that no one cares about

I disagree about the addition of sevens. Nearly any country in the world can get together a quality team with the impetus that the Olympics will provide. There's no infrastructure needed, very little development time. You've seen the Carlin Isles videos, right? Who's against that, exactly?

The bigger issue is the IOC's self imposed restrictions on only '25' core sports. It is arbitrary, capricious and designed to screw over sports that don't 'play'.

Most of the best beach players converted because their knees couldn't take the continuous impact of the indoor surface. The disparity in pure athletic gift is pretty obvious, too- most of the women indoor players are significantly taller. This is pretty reductive, admittedly, but the accepted wisdom is that Misty May is the best female beach player of the last decade, and she's 5'9. Yekaterina Gamova is probably the best indoor player over the same period, and she's 6'8. This is less obvious in men's volleyball, but... nobody plays men's volleyball.

but losing wrestling would be a devastating blow to the sex-appeal of the summer olympics.

And you people want to remove tennis! Anyone can get something out of watching a few minutes of Federer or Nadal or Tsonga.

Volleyball (the indoor variety I'm mostly talking about) is actually one sport that I think I'd enjoy more if the people playing it weren't quite as good as they are. Bump, set, spike is boring. Give me more frantic diving around saving your team-mates poorly played balls. Maybe a much bigger playing surface and a net 2-3 feet higher.

The Olympics are largely becoming an European affair in terms of hosting events, 2012 was in London, 2014 will be in Russia, 2016 is in Rio, but no 'special' accommodation has been made for them in terms of events, and 2020 will likely be in Spain.

More to see how far back I can remember off the top of my head than anything else...

Montreal
Lake Placid
Moscow
Los Angeles
Sarajevo
Soeul
Calgary
Barcelona
Albertville
Lillehammer
Atlanta
Nagano
Athens
Salt Lake City
Sydney
Turin
Beijing
Vancouver
London
Moscow
Rio

I'm not sure if I see a current trend in there that's all that different from past history.

EDIT: speaking of which, my local airport has a sale on for £13 flights to Barcelona from now until April. I hear it's a pretty cool place, anyone been and have some pointers?

Is mobility more of the premium value in beach volleyball, or...?

[87] At least they eliminated side-out scoring. While the grind was an accomplishment of itself, nobody wanted to watch 5 hour matches.

Edit: Is there a narrow line between so many spikes being defendable and every spike being a point? I might totally watch a larger court version of badminton-volleybal, where the ball has a tail that makes it drop slower. More dramatic-looking saves?

I want to agree with the comments that the indoor volleyball athletes are crazy attractive. Holy cow those legs go on forever.

I also want to put forward the notion that if anyone ever has to die in a terrorist attack in the future, I hope it's the executive board of the IOC who were working out a lucrative graft deal with Sepp Blatter.

The Winter Olympics are pretty much going to be confined to North America and Europe. You have Nagano as the only one outside of those two regions. I guess, in theory, it could be in Chile or Argentina.

Beach volleyball requires more mobility and a more all-around game. Indoor is a lot more specialized. Top-level women's generally has more rallies. Men's is much more difficult to play defense. Both nets probably need to be raised, although it would be more helpful in women's then men's (it would really be difficult to slow the men's game down).

Winter Olympics wouldn't work in Chile or Argentina unless they play it in June-August. Because you know, Southern Hemisphere and the switching of seasons and all.

This isn't about commercialism or TV ratings. Globally wrestling is popular. It is popular in the ex USSR, in central Asia, in Eurasia, in the mid East, in India. And Japan put in money and time into building up women's wrestling, which is why it is the superpower in women's wrestling, which is why all the all time greats in women's wrestling are Japanese,It is were commercialsim or TV ratings that were the issue, modern pentathlon would be the first to go, and would have been dumped long ago. Followed by sailing and equestrianism.

Badminton is there because it is actually pretty damn popular in East Asia, especially China, and Indonesia, 2 countries with obviously very large populations. Furthermore, an Olympic gold is the pinnacle for individual play in badminton; the traditionally most important competitions in badminton, men and women, are the Thomas & Uber cup, which are both team competions. So it makes sense from that standpoint. It isn't a case of the top players not showing up, as in soccer or baseball. There is little chance of badminton getting kicked out, and little justification for kicking it out.

Field hockey used to be very popular India and Pakistan, less so now, due (partially) to misadministration by governning bodies. However, it probably has got enough of a globally diverse support, especially in western Europe, that it won't get kicked out.

Also, weightlifters are probably the most heavily tested group of athletes in any sport. And actually they aren't all that muscular. They cfan't be, given the nature of the weightclasses. Except for the superheavies, any additional non-functional muscle, any additional muscle that doesn't contribute to getting the weight overhead is a liability. For example, big biceps are a liability. Big pecs, also. Go look at for example some of the male Iranian lifters from the 85, 94, 105 kg classes, medalists at the Olympics, world championships. See for examle, Kianoush Rostami, 84 kgs, or Saeid Mohammadpoour Karkaragh, 94 kgs. On a side note, Saeid is one of my favourite lifters: on stage, he has the demeanour of a serious little kid. They look no more muscular than the typical non-endurance athlete. Certainly no more muscular than the typical elite sprinter (which isn't that surprising: nowadays elite sprinters often do some of the same exercises than weightliters do)

Men's soccer, is aside from modern pentathlon, the sport that most needs to be kicked out, given that baseball is already out. Not only do the best players not show up, the existing structure, under 23 with 3 overaged players, is not used in soccer at all,. Outside of the Olympics, and Olympic qualifying, there is no under 23 competition in soccer. That is an age group that isn't used at all. And this is deliberate, by FIFA. FIFA doesn't want the Olympic soccer competition to ever challenge any of its own competitions for popularity.

speed skaters also have some very out of proportion lower bodies.

Which is great if you go for that, though: when they were younger, my "bear" softball team were almost universally crushed out on Eric Heiden.

Beach volleyball requires more mobility and a more all-around game. Indoor is a lot more specialized. Top-level women's generally has more rallies. Men's is much more difficult to play defense. Both nets probably need to be raised, although it would be more helpful in women's then men's (it would really be difficult to slow the men's game down).

i like watching women's beach volleyball for the obvious shallow reasons, and i enjoyed some of the women's indoor, and then i happened to catch the men to give them a fair shake of my viewing time and was frankly shocked to see how awesome they were as athletes.

The Winter Olympics are pretty much going to be confined to North America and Europe. You have Nagano as the only one outside of those two regions. I guess, in theory, it could be in Chile or Argentina.

2018 is in Korea.

Meanwhile, in Russia:

Gay rights activists with a vendetta against masculinity are behind plans to cut wrestling from the Olympic program, the coach of a London 2012 gold medal-winner told R-Sport on Tuesday.

EDIT: speaking of which, my local airport has a sale on for £13 flights to Barcelona from now until April. I hear it's a pretty cool place, anyone been and have some pointers?

I have been many times, my favorite city in Europe; IM me if you want advice at length, though it would help to know what sort of pointers you are looking for.