Wrestling dropped by IOC

[the asian]

Yr, Freestyle wrestling is certainly well spread and is quite popular among a number of countries. Not so Greco Roman, only the men compete in GR.
Dropping GR would be viable proposal.

 

[gregod]

Good it's boring, get darts in there.

i was surprised that darts wasn't included in the demonstration sports for london 2012.

while the olympics dropping wrestling is a mistake, FILA has only itself to blame for the decision. there has been a constant upheaval in the rules for the last fifteen years that have made stalling the best competitive strategy and have rendered judges' decisions more powerful than the actual wrestling.

wrestling needs to go back to the 80s in order to secure its future.

dump road cycling. or better yet, dump the olympics altogether. they have become too corporate and jingoistic.

 

[hiero2]

Don't worry!

It will make room for a new sport where competitors dance and wave like the queen, judged for performance points by blind people, a win for all

You all forget, its about ratings these days not the classic sports or history. The networks showing the Olympics only are after ratings and if any sport doesn't bring the numbers, well off it will go. Welcome to athletics of the future

Yup - agree. This makes me very pessimistic about the IOC. It seems they are a good match for the UCI. I think I'll start personally boycotting the Olympic broadcasts.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

You all forget, its about ratings these days not the classic sports or history. The networks showing the Olympics only are after ratings and if any sport doesn't bring the numbers, well off it will go. Welcome to athletics of the future

I actually dread the next summer Olympics in Rio because all NBC here in the States will show in prime time is women's beach volleyball. (This may seem fine to you lads, but it's not so fun for me as a lady. I'd rather watch some men's beach volleyball players wearing some tight Speedos... how come they're not required to wear those?)

I watched very little of the London Games, during all the commercial breaks and women's beach volleyball in prime time I managed to get some jigsaw puzzles done. For the sports I was actually interested in I had to wait till way, way late - I just ended up saying **** it, I ended up going to bed and looked up the results online instead later.

So yeah, welcome to the commercial world of the Olympics.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Agree with Tricycle in a sense. Outside of a few events which we rarely get to see otherwise (archery, for example), the Olympics are a huge commercialized, venal heap of sports entertainment, not too far behind the UCI. The summer being worse than the winter, but both are hardly worth paying attention to and grossly over-hyped beyond their worth.

At to the OP, cycling can't be that far behind, can it? But it's not just doping, lest track & field and swimming would be on the target list as well.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Agree with Tricycle in a sense. Outside of a few events which we rarely get to see otherwise (archery, for example), the Olympics are a huge commercialized, venal heap of sports entertainment, not too far behind the UCI. The summer being worse than the winter, but both are hardly worth paying attention to and grossly over-hyped beyond their worth.

At to the OP, cycling can't be that far behind, can it? But it's not just doping, lest track & field and swimming would be on the target list as well.

T&A come first in the minds of NBC Olympic coverage in prime time (it's a formula that seems to be working), any other sports come way much later on. Or way much earlier when you are at work.

 

[plooton]

It really is that bad with US Olympic coverage? For instance, here in Czech our national TV provides coverage of at least one regular TV channel and more over that several live online channels with commentary (if many channels on - some of the events can be without commentary. Sometimes operates five and more channels live with different Olympic events at the same time).

 

[Tricycle Rider]

It really is that bad with US Olympic coverage? For instance, here in Czech our national TV provides coverage of at least one regular TV channel and more over that several live online channels with commentary (if many channels on - some of the events can be without commentary. Sometimes operates five and more channels live with different Olympic events at the same time).

You're Czech? Whereabouts do you live? I still have a bit of family left in the Czech R. (am a transplant to the States), one uncle lives in Novy Bor, the other in Hradiste, the one near Teplice. I visited both uncles a little over a year ago, I loved Novy Bor. (I was actually born in Olomouc, have not had a chance to go back there yet in the past 35 years, or so.)

Back on topic - personally, I do consider NBC's coverage to be pretty awful. I won't say we can't catch live coverage (sans commentary), online, however, if you want to sit down and watch some prime time coverage you'll have to put up with this dude. Also, NBC always airs the most exciting stuff much later in the evening, you can count on them opening the night with some women's beach volleyball.

Btw., I used to like Bob Costas, but his snarky comments (and over-botoxed face) are really grating on my aging and delicate nerves nowadays.

 

[rhubroma]

This is just wrong. Wrestling was one of the sports in the original olympics.

The writing was already on the wall with bogus "sports" like snowboard halfpipe.

I agree. No respect for tradition.

 

[Cyivel]

Professional wrestling is back in the Olympics for 2020.

 

[The Hitch]

Professional wrestling is back in the Olympics for 2020.

Lol, brain fart or joke fam?

 

[Cyivel]

Lol, brain fart or joke fam?

Joke, although kind of wishful thinking as the few times I've seen Amateur wrestling I've found it to be mind numbingly boring, partly due to my lack of familiarity with the techniques involved I'm sure.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

It's indeed back for 2020, but will supposedly undergo a total overhaul to help spice it up a little. Wonder if they'll allow guys to wear masks?