February 12th has turned out to be a rather peculiar day in the wrestling world. The moment the news broke early this morning regarding the decision by the International Olympic Committee to eliminate wrestling from the Olympic Games, the wrestling community was flooded with a wide array of emotions. Throughout the day, those emotions turned into action in various petitions, Facebook pages, press conferences, talking points and productive dialogue on Internet forums. By the end of the day, many of the great wrestling minds in the US have declared they're in for the biggest match of their life - reinstating wrestling into the Olympic program.
After sifting through articles by prominent news sources and scouring the talking heads on forums the entire day, I'm now able to look at this situation with a "big picture" view. I'm slightly more optimistic at the moment than I was early in the morning. This has the potential to be an important wake-up call for the international and local wrestling communities and has created an opportunity to share why wrestling is a valuable sport at every level, including the Olympic Games. I have no interest in discrediting the efforts and dreams of other aspiring athletes by degrading the sports the IOC decided to keep instead of wrestling. Being empathetic, I also don't think the IOC made a terrible decision given the information they had.
The first place the wrestling community needs to look is in the mirror. Why was wrestling on the chopping block to begin with? Honest answers to this question can begin the steps to reinstating it in May in St. Petersburg, Russia. There are many things that I want to bring up in my attempt to answer this question, however, there two specific things I feel I must bring up because I believe they're at the root to the entire downfall that occurred so quickly.
The first is how the FILA (wrestling international governing body) has taken care of itself above wrestling. Their corruption gave the final death blow. A glaring example of this hits home for many Americans and it occurred in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Jake Herbert (USA) was wrestling Sharif Sharifov of Azerbaijan. In the second period, Sharifov attempted a double leg attack that was countered by Herbert with a chest lock before the action ended out of bounds. Confusion on how to score the sequence forced the referee, mat judge and chairman to deliberate resulting in a 5-0 score in favor of Sharifov. Zeke Jones, the US coach, followed protocol and challenged the scoring. The video was reviewed and the officiating jury concluded the score should be 3-3. According to FILA, protocol was followed and the score of 3-3 should have been final according to the rules, however, FILA Bureau Member Kim Ik-Jong unilaterally changed the call to 6-0 in favor of Sharifov (1 additional point for the failed challenge) ending the match. Tragically, no one was surprised or was able to act on this blatant corruption. A few tried to interfere with the man coming down from the stands who held up the scoring bats/paddles. On the world's largest stage, the IOC witnessed one of its International Federations circumvent the rules of its own sport.
After years of corruption, countless rule changes, general stubbornness and blatant sexism, the actions of Kim Ik-Jong may have been the straw that broke the camel's back in the eyes of the IOC. Can you blame them? In 2009, I was in the corner for Deanna Rix when an utterly unexplainable scoring interpretation reversed a call that resulted in Rix losing the bronze medal bout and giving it to her opponent from Azerbaijan. This occurred only moments after a similar situation happened in a match that featured Tatiana Padilla against an Azerbaijan athlete resulting in a bronze medal for Azerbaijan and the eventual team title. Coincidently, the two corporate sponsors for the 2009 World Championships were companies from Azerbaijan.
The second thing that I believe has led to this decision is the unwillingness to accept women's wrestling at all levels from grassroots to the Olympics. Sure, they added it into the Olympic program, even trimming a few men's weight classes in the process. Adding women's wrestling events is much different than actually supporting it, though. Women's wrestling has been an after thought in the wrestling community at all levels. Through 2005, the FILA even gave the "prettiest wrestler" award to the female athlete they found most attractive. They don't respect women athletes. After three Olympic cycles that have included women's wrestling, many countries have yet to or refuse to participate. Most of the countries that do have very little support from their federation. There's an overall apprehension towards women's wrestling across the entire wrestling community that is manifested at the highest level. It all gets brushed under the rug. Even within the US, prominent wrestling figures and coaches are adamantly opposed to women's wrestling in spite of its Olympic inclusion.
Take into account that the 2012 Olympic Games were heralded as the "women's Games" by many and the head of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, noted with pride in his speech at the opening ceremony that it was a "a major boost for gender equality." Tell me the IOC hasn't noticed how the FILA has handled women's wrestling. I can envision conversations discussing how the wrestling community has done very little to advance and grow women's wrestling. And we're still left wondering how the IOC can make this decision? Many of the countries hurt most by the decision to drop wrestling will join the worldwide discussion and plead to reinstate it. Iran claims wrestling is it's national sport. Turkey's Olympic identity is in wrestling; the same is true for many Eastern European and former Soviet countries. How will Iran respond when the IOC asks them why they only participate in 2/3 of the Olympic program? Oppressing women is not part of the Olympic movement.
I'm not surprised by this decision. I'm upset with the wrestling community, particularly FILA for not thinking of the future, but I'm not surprised by what the IOC has done. Yes, wrestling was in the first Olympics and it's one of the world's oldest sports with a rich history, but what does wrestling have to offer the future? History is fascinating, but it doesn't cast a vision of forward thinking. This century is about right now and the future, not about a storied past and a historical presence.
The unfortunate part is all of this could have been avoided. It was within our control as a wrestling community and we've blown it. We could have built a system with the future in mind. I hope we're able to look in the mirror and evaluate who we are as a community and who our leaders are. Moving forward, this could be an opportunity to do it right. We can't wait to see which way the wind blows on this one.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteGreat post and certainly needed.
I agree to a certain point with your view about including women as being part of the problem but ask you this. Do you feel if womens wrestling had never been included in the Olympics in the first place that this decision would not have come down this way?
I for one feel it would have still been the decision. The IOC is just as corrupt as FILA. I am totaly behind womens wrestling but havee my doubts that that is the real reason or even part of it. It might be an excuse the IOC uses but not the reason.
I 100% agree that we need to look at ourselves. Europe and FILA changing the rules over the last 2 decades has hurt our sport and slowed action on the mat. Lets face it, people watch NASCAR to see the crashes, not watch the cars go arouind in circles. In wrestling, (Freestyle & Greco), people outside the sport will be impressed by big throws, not a 1-0 0-1 1-0 match. We need more action in the sport. We need the big throws and flashy moves. X Sports is a great example. People have no idea how those guys flip themselves 5-6 times on a snowoard but it looks awesome.
Getting wrestling back in the Olympics will take a lot of work from not only the USA, but the rest of the world. People like yourself, Gable, John Smith and the like will need to reach out to the rest of the world to coordinate a logical and effective responce.
Lead the way for us and the wreslting community will follow.
Jack Youngchild