Olympics drops wrestling

[radioman]

" My main concerns were body odor and risk of broken ("cauliflower") ears, not sexual orientation"
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LOL
I went up against some foul-smelling opponents way back when.
The mandatory ear-guards minimized any cauliflower ears.
In regard to sexual orientation.
Well... there is a lot of body contact involved...however, I would be amazed if anyone gets a charge out of an opponent's repeated attempts to dislocate one's shoulder or elbow.
Having your face squashed into the mat doesn't seem particularly erotic either.

 

[Unkotare]

"That's one reason why Olympic wrestling is Freestyle and Greco rather than the Folkstyle usually done at American high schools and universities. More scoring-oriented and spectator-friendly."
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I must disagree with you.
Both Olympic styles are ridiculously boring and predictable.
The contestants push and shove each other, but rarely mount any real offense.
Every competitor seems to be stalling in anticipation of the tie-breaker.
When was the last time you saw an Olympic wrestler try to turn an opponent with any move other than a gut wrench?
While I concede that collegiate wrestling is way too defensively oriented, high school wrestling has more offensive action in one dual meet than does an entire Olympic tournament.

A lot of people who don't really understand the sport well find a high school match more 'exciting' because it is much more likely that there will be a big difference in ability between the two wrestlers such that one scores much more often and with attacks that a more skilled wrestler would likely defend. Even if the two kids are closely matched, both are less likely to be skilled enough to make the opponent pay for offensive errors, thus resulting in more scoring.

There is no question that Freestyle and Greco are designed to be more scoring-oriented than Folkstyle. That's the whole idea. If you are watching but aren't familiar enough with the sport to really understand what you're seeing, you are unlikely to appreciate the extremely high skill being displayed by two opponents who, at that level, are likely to be very evenly matched. Also, the very little wrestling that is shown is almost always limited to finals. Those matches tend to feature more defense (which I like best) for a number of reasons. If they broadcast earlier rounds you'd see more of the kind of 'action' that the less informed can easily grasp because there would be more matches where one wrestler is significantly better than the other. If more wrestling were shown, more spectators would have the opportunity to learn to appreciate what they are seeing, and you'd see more scoring than you know goes on in general.

 

[Unkotare]

"
While I concede that collegiate wrestling is way too defensively oriented, high school wrestling has more offensive action in one dual meet than does an entire Olympic tournament.

If you watch a boxing match featuring two guys who just took up the sport they may just stand in the middle of the ring throwing big, looping haymakers at each other. This may seem more 'exciting' to people who rarely watch boxing than a match between two highly skilled fighters who have stronger defense and employ more strategy. There is a reason more people like to watch 'Rocky' films than actual boxing matches.

 

[Samson]

Wow! The gays will be raising hell over this!

Why?

 

[Unkotare]

I would have thought the rise of MMA as a popular sport would increase interest in wrestling, since it's such an important base for MMA fighters.

Of course, I never watch the Olympics. They have long since bored the hell out of me, filled with ridiculous events and terrible broadcasting. When curling is added but wrestling is dropped, clearly the Olympics are well past the time of relevance.

Take away the striking and kicking and MMA wouldn't exist.

Well, the more you limit anything the less 'M'-MA it becomes. They've had to restrict certain things over time for safety reasons to try and make it more widely accepted as it is.

 

[Samson]

why would they drop such a long standing olympic sport?

The real question is when did your IQ jump 100% so you could write an intelligent post?

 

[Unkotare]

Here we see the value of wrestling. Just talking about it makes people smarter!

 

[theliq]

IOC drops wrestling from 2020 Olympics | OlympicTalk

What a clueless decision. The Olympics just doesn't get it

They flood the games with sports nobody has heard of or cares about like Syncronized Swimming, Rythmic gymnastics and Team Handball and drop Wrestling which has been an Olympic sport since the ancient Greeks

To a wrestler, an Olympic medal is the highlight of your career. It is what you train for, it is the highest possible honor in your sport

Instead, the Olympics brings in sports like Tennis and Soccer and Basketball where pros show up every four years to win a medal they don't give a shit about

I agree rw,but don't think SS, RG,TH should be dropped at all....but the Wrestling decison is Bollocks..........SAY YES TO WRESTLINGsteve

 

[theliq]

why would they drop such a long standing olympic sport?

The real question is when did your IQ jump 100% so you could write an intelligent post?

A little unfair comment.... Samson.... methinks..steve

 

[Unkotare]

IOC drops wrestling from 2020 Olympics | OlympicTalk

What a clueless decision. The Olympics just doesn't get it

They flood the games with sports nobody has heard of or cares about like Syncronized Swimming, Rythmic gymnastics and Team Handball and drop Wrestling which has been an Olympic sport since the ancient Greeks

To a wrestler, an Olympic medal is the highlight of your career. It is what you train for, it is the highest possible honor in your sport

Instead, the Olympics brings in sports like Tennis and Soccer and Basketball where pros show up every four years to win a medal they don't give a shit about

I agree rw,but don't think SS, RG,TH should be dropped at all....but the Wrestling decison is Bollocks..........SAY YES TO WRESTLINGsteve

There are several petitions going around on facebook and elsewhere. Go sign one!

 

[Kiki Cannoli]

Ticket sales. Ticket sales. Ticket sales.

Advertising. Advertising. Advertising.

 

[theliq]

Ticket sales. Ticket sales. Ticket sales.

Advertising. Advertising. Advertising.

What about Sportsmanship or is that Sportspersonship in the USA

What about the history of Wrestling and the enjoyment for fans.

What about telling the Olympic Committee that their decision is Bollocks

Viva Wrestling

 

[Montrovant]

I would have thought the rise of MMA as a popular sport would increase interest in wrestling, since it's such an important base for MMA fighters.

Of course, I never watch the Olympics. They have long since bored the hell out of me, filled with ridiculous events and terrible broadcasting. When curling is added but wrestling is dropped, clearly the Olympics are well past the time of relevance.

Take away the striking and kicking and MMA wouldn't exist.

Incidentally, I first watched ambitious forms of MMA out behind the Camp LeJeune 500 Area "slop chute" every payday night.

Kicking IS striking.

And take those away and you have wrestling and jiu jitsu.

 

[Zona]

?

It was a dry joke. My point was that this is "progress" and you're making quite a conservative argument.

I'm a rightwinger...try to keep up

me too.

 

[rightwinger]

I would have thought the rise of MMA as a popular sport would increase interest in wrestling, since it's such an important base for MMA fighters.

It has, but MMA aside, wrestling is very popular all over the world. This BS makes no sense.

It may just be that wrestling is not a good spectator sport. People appreciate what's involved, but don't want to watch it particularly.

I can understand that. I can appreciate the skill involved in someone playing golf, but I sure as hell don't want to watch them play it.

I can turn on the TV on any weekend and watch professionals play golf or tennis. Why do I want to watch the same people in the Olympics?

I really don't care much about Wrestling. But once every four years I will watch a USA wrestler in the medal round to see who wins. It used to be HUGE during the Cold War and you could root against the Soviets.....USA....USA....USA

 

[editec]

IOC drops wrestling from 2020 Olympics | OlympicTalk

What a clueless decision. The Olympics just doesn't get it

They flood the games with sports nobody has heard of or cares about like Syncronized Swimming, Rythmic gymnastics and Team Handball and drop Wrestling which has been an Olympic sport since the ancient Greeks

To a wrestler, an Olympic medal is the highlight of your career. It is what you train for, it is the highest possible honor in your sport

Instead, the Olympics brings in sports like Tennis and Soccer and Basketball where pros show up every four years to win a medal they don't give a shit about

Wrestling is probably the oldest organized sport in the world.

It was, and ought to continue to be, an Olympic sport.

I studied Greco-Roman wrestling under Doug Blubaugh back in the early 60s.

Wins by knockout or injury are fairly common.

 

[L.K.Eder]

not exactly an olympic lift by the IOC.

 

[Kiki Cannoli]

Ticket sales. Ticket sales. Ticket sales.

Advertising. Advertising. Advertising.

What about Sportsmanship or is that Sportspersonship in the USA

What about the history of Wrestling and the enjoyment for fans.

What about telling the Olympic Committee that their decision is Bollocks

Viva Wrestling

Agree.

But the almighty dollar rules, its the new GOLD.

 

[High_Gravity]

Any chance to sneak naked female mud wrestling in there?

 

[L.K.Eder]

Any chance to sneak naked female mud wrestling in there?

that's women's beachvolleyball after torrential rains.