Decision Day at the IOC Executive Board

29/05/2013

Today, at its meeting in St Petersburg, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board will decide the short list of sports for the 2020 Olympics.

It is expected that three sports will be put forward by the Executive Board for a final decision by the full IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 7th September 2013.

The Executive Board will be choosing from eight sports: Wrestling; Baseball/softball; Squash; Karate; Rollersports; Sports climbing; Wakeboarding; Wushu (martial arts)
Wrestling in the UK was given platforms to make the case for the sport by Radio 5 live, both on Nicky Campbell and Clare McDonnell’s Breakfast Show and Victoria Derbyshire Show, mid-morning.

The Breakfast Show sent sports presenters Rachel Burden and George Riley to have a go at all eight sports.
Rachel and George had an introduction to wrestling at Bolton Wrestling Club where they were put through their paces by Tony Morris, Jesse Bradbury and other members of the club. (link and below)

Rachel and George were hugely impressed by the sport the Breakfast Show aired their wrestling experience followed by a live interview with British Wrestling Chief Executive, Colin Nicholson (link at 1hr 50min)

Victoria Derbyshire lined up a spokesperson from each of the eight sports – Wrestling being represented by Non Evans MBE, (an ex-President of the Welsh Wrestling Association and who commentated for the BBC on Wrestling throughout the London 2012 Olympics) (Link at 50mins)

There are many reasons why Wrestling shoud be re-included in the Olympics, amongst which are:-

The Olympic Games are the pinnacle of a wrestler’s ambition – unlike some other sports
Wrestling is worldwide – around 180 countries across the world
Wrestling is popular with athletes and audiences alike – In the US Collegiate system Wrestling is more widely practised than golf and swimming
Anyone can do it – no special equipment is needed by the athlete
Wrestling is a great sport for audiences and athletes alike – it requires and demonstrates
- the components of Fitness: Strength, Speed, Power, Flexibility
- the skill factors of Fitness: Agility, Balance, Coordination, Reaction Time, Timing
It is a truely one-on-one gladiatorial contest, using just body, hands, legs – making it the original competitive sport which can be traced back as far as 5,000 years
Wrestling was in the Olympics from the first in 776BC – and from the first of the modern era in 1896
Wrestling is all inclusive – from 13 past Presidents of the USA to individuals from minority ethnic communities and deprived areas
In May 2013, Wrestling achieved the milestone of a joint press conference at The United Nations between the USA-Iran-Russia, the first in the UN’s history
Since its exclusion by the IOC in February 2013, Wrestling’s Internatonal Federation has moved with lightening speed and agility to
- Introduce new rules
  - Modern
  - More dynamic
  - Simpler to inderstand
  - Greco Roman & Freestyle more distinguishable
  - The best wrestlers must prevail without even a hint of either duplicity or complicity
- Create male/female equality by moving to the same number of weight categories (6) for each
- Revise the format to make the sport more attractive to spectators and TV audiences
- Restructure the International Federation
  - Formalise the participation of athletes
  - More women in decision-making roles
  - More Commisions
- Greatly increase interaction with the Olympic Family and international media

In more good news prior to the Executive Board vote, Wrestling secured a winning 42.2 per cent of votes on the insidethegames poll asking the public to vote for the sport they think the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should vote to include on the Olympic programme for 2020.