On Sunday morning we learned that Olympic wrestling has been saved.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) held a secret electronic ballot in Buenos Aires to determine the future of the sport. There were 95 votes cast and 49 of them were in favor of keeping wrestling in the games.
Olympic wrestling saved; back in 2020 games
Wrestling was dropped from the games in February after the IOC looked at the performance of all 26 Olympic sports.
FILA President Nenad Lalovic spoke about the announcement at a news conference on Sunday.
Our fight doesn’t stop here. We have to improve our sport in order to become a core sport. Wrestling has become a modernized sport ready to compete with other sports. We succeeded to (convince) the IOC members that our improved sport will support the Olympic movement. Wrestling is not a new sport, but the wrestling we’re presenting now is a new wrestling. What we tried to do is update our sport to make it more spectacular, more watchable and the rules (more) understandable. That’s the only way to fulfill wrestling’s hopes – and that’s the goal of every sport. – Transcribed by MMAJunkie.com
Many big names in the sport of MMA were a part of the “Save Olympic Wrestling” movement including “King Mo” Lawal, Daniel Cormier, Dan Henderson, Ben Askren and Josh Koscheck.
