Rhys Williams/ Staff Writer
On Feb. 12, news broke that the International Olympic Committee proposed that wrestling be dropped from the 2020 Olympic games, a decision that ignited uproar in the wrestling community.
The FIU wrestling club was among the groups upset with the IOC’s decision.
“It is absurd to get rid of the sport,” said Jahrel Francis, club member. “The IOC removing it just makes me believe that there will be a severe downfall in the Olympics in coming games.”
“Dumb. Plain and simple, it is dumb to take out wrestling,” member Christian Viera said. “It was one of the original sports to be involved in the games.”
Michael Azu, another member, believes stripping wrestling from the Olympics kills any desire to continue wrestling for some.
“It is messed up because the wrestlers are not going to have any motivation to pursue it,” Azu said. “If it truly is kept out of future Olympics, I don’t think that it as a sport will be as big around the world as it currently is.”
All over the nation, groups are petitioning the IOC to change their decision back to keep wrestling as a sport for the Olympic games. The biggest push is from Minn. Rep. Bob Dettmer, a former Olympic wrestler and NCAA wrestling national champion, who is pushing in the House of Representatives to take action in petitioning the decision of the IOC, along with fellow Minn. Rep. Tim Walz attempting to do so in the Senate.
Later in September, the IOC will its decision on whether to officially drop the sport.
Students are not only reacting on the Olympic front, but how it will affect the athletes who have dedicated their lives, or planned on it to wrestling with the dream of becoming an Olympic athlete.
“It doesn’t only disrespect the sport but it also diminishes the dreams of thousands of children and teens around the world as they were training for that one event, or children in the United States who rely on the sport to make it to college,” Francis said.
“It has been practiced for thousands of years and [the IOC] is taking so many people’s motivation and dreams away,” Jose Arrastia added.
Some people, like freshman Darrick Jones, do not see the IOC’s decision as much of an issue for future Olympic games so long as they don’t start taking out some of the other key sports.
“As long as track is still included I will still be watching the future versions of the games,” Jones said. “I think mixed martial arts would be an awesome replacement for wrestling. That simply is an amazing idea to me.”
The IOC decided that wrestling is no longer one of the “core 25” sports. Possible replacements that are being considered for the single open spot are baseball/softball, karate, squash, roller sport, sport climbing, wushu and wakeboarding along with the possibility of wrestling returning.
Squash is a racquet sport played by two players or four players on court at a time, in a four-walled court with a small rubber ball. Roller sports are sports that use human powered vehicles, such as roller blades, which move by either gravity or pushing methods. The sport of wushu is an exhibition of skill and a full-contact sport which is derived from traditional Chinese martial arts techniques.