A majority of International Olympic Committee delegates voted to bring wrestling back to the Olympics. The sport beat out squash and a combined baseball/softball bid for the lone remaining spot on the program for the 2020 and 2024 Summer Games.
Wrestling drew 49 votes; baseball/softball, 24; and squash, 22. The vote at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires came after representatives of each made one final, 20-minute sales pitch about how their sport could strengthen the 21st century Olympic brand.
On Feb. 12, the IOC’s executive board stunned wrestling fans and Olympic historians when it decided to drop wrestling following the 2016 Olympics. The decision to drop the sport was said to be due to frustrations over the sport’s puzzling rules and generally dull for TV viewership. Wrestling advocates have since promised to remake itself to appeal to a more diverse, contemporary audience.
“I would like to offer my congratulations to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge in a statement. “Wrestling has shown great passion and resilience in the last few months. They have taken a number of steps to modernise and improve their sport, including the addition of more women and athletes in decision-making positions; rule changes to make the sport more exciting and easy to understand; and an increase in the number of women’s competitions. We are pleased with their reaction and happy to have wrestling on the Olympic programme in 2020 and 2024.”
In order to control the size, cost and complexity of the Games, the Olympic Programme was capped in 2002 at 28 sports, approximately 300 events and a target of 10,500 athletes. It was also decided that a systematic review of the Olympic Programme would be conducted after every edition of the Games to provide regular rejuvenation of the Games while maintaining continuity and consistency. The concept of a core group of 25 sports with a maximum of three additional sports was adopted in 2007, and two years later golf and rugby sevens were added to the programme of the Rio 2016 and the 2020 Olympic Games.
Addressing the IOC members in a separate statement, the President of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), Nenad Lalovic, said, according to a statement: “With this vote, you have shown that the steps we have taken to improve our sport have made a difference. I assure each of you that our modernisation will not stop now. We will continue to strive to be the best partner to the Olympic Movement that we can be.”
Wrestling is one of the core sports on the Olympic Programme until Rio 2016, but did not feature in the IOC Executive Board’s proposal for the 25 core sports for the 2020 Olympic Programme, which was agreed upon by the Session before the decision on the additional sport.
In the last few months, wrestling has undergone major changes, including new rules and a better sports presentation to attract more spectators and a younger audience. In addition, FILA has recently improved its governance by integrating more athletes and women into decision-making positions and by increasing the numbers of its commissions.
Commenting on all the changes FILA has implemented in the last few months, Lalovic said: “We did all we could. We changed our sport, our federation, and we prepared a good presentation. Wrestling is not a new sport, but the wrestling we are presenting now is new wrestling.”
Daniel Igali, an Olympic gold medallist for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and part of FILA’s delegation presenting to the IOC Session, said: “Wrestling transformed me and is now transforming itself.”
Arguing that young people would have less interest in wrestling should the sport no longer be included in the Olympic Games, Igali said: “I would not have had the same zealous passion for wrestling it if wasn’t for the Olympics. We will build a better sport for young kids.”
