I’ve heard all the wrestling jokes and the knocks before. You have two guys in spandex rubbing all over each other in the center of a mat. I know and understand that people always get confused with my sport of wrestling and the kind you see on TV that even young children today know is staged. What you don’t know is the lifestyle one must have in order to be successful in this sport and moreso, way of life.
Wrestling is one of the worlds oldest sports dating back to the ancient Greeks being apart of the first Olympics. In 1896, when the first so called “modern” Olympic was held in Athens, Greece, wrestling was there. However, a few years ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) came up with the idea that wrestling should be dropped from the 2020 Olympic games. Our small, tight-knit community wept and then did what we do best, went after it and won. Eventually, it was decided that wrestling should stay an Olympic sport but is renewed for debate in regards to 2024. Here’s why it should stay:
Essentially, wrestling is a combat sport. It is hand to hand fighting and even more so, a game of chess. It is a combat where it is just you vs. me. There may be a team of wrestlers, but it is individual effort that wins matches. I weigh a certain weight and so do you; we know all the same moves; we each train for this six-minute bout. I can’t think of any other sport that teaches young men and women self-reliance, self-discipline, fitness and nutrition. It's almost an impossible task for parents to get their kids to clean their bedroom but now tell that kid he has to lose a few pounds or he can't wrestle. So he sucks weight, wearing several layers of sweat clothes, drinks only when necessary and steps on a scale with the plate of food. Why do wrestlers do it you may ask? Simply because it is a way of life, a monastic one at that. This is no real "pro" level. There is no real big contract to be made in this sport. When you're a kid, you wrestle for fun (and to win). You do well and go on to HS wrestling, do well and you may get a college scholarship. After that, the only thing left is getting Olympic gold. The last few years have seen an influx of world championships and tournaments but is it the same? I don't believe so.
Learn about some of the history the US has had in Olympic wrestling. Dan Gable won gold and did not allow an opponent to score one point against him, Rulon Gardner (before the biggest loser) beat an 11 time World Champion Russian named Aleksandr Karelin. The Schultz brothers expanding the sport nationally, and a friend of mine, Mr. Jeff Blatnick, who beat Hodgkin lymphoma and won a gold at the 1984 Olympic games. There could be some young kid in some basement training to be the next great wrestler and the IOC is looking to take that away.
Forbes wrote an article that stated wrestlers make the best employees. "Wrestling, in particular, is thought to require more individual commitment than most other sports due to the nature of the training and competing itself. The logical inference, then, is that with other sports, an athlete can go to practice or a game, and then go home to relax. Wrestlers, due to the weight class requirements, have to maintain their focus and drive around the clock for years at a time," This is why the IOC should keep both Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling in the Olympics and continue to grow our sport creating a better world.
If this is true, then why take that away and strip the future workforce of these people who are willing to succeed in life?
