No more wrestling in the Olympics:(
Are you kidding me? Out of all the ridiculous things I have seen in my life, this has got to be one of the most ridiculous. The people that make these decisions should be fired. Replacing Wrestling with Golf? I'm sorry I enjoy a good game of golf and can appreciate the game, but this decision defies logic.
http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article...16-4273745.php |
It's all part of the pussification of the world!
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no kidding. at least we still have a bunch of rowing, badminton and fencing?
getting rid of wrestling to me is like getting rid of the marathon or the 4x400 relay.... it's a signature event of the OLYMPICS. |
It's all about tv ratings.
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Wrestling was one of the first sports. It is classic olympics. I'm no wrestler, but I think it belongs over synchronized diving--that is a goofy sport.
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if its all about ratings why do they still have synchronized swimming and the modern pentathlon? I bet more countries our represented in wrestling than either of those sports combined.
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I haven't really watched any wrestling in the last 5 Olympics or so, nor much weightlifting. The end of the cold war seemed to end my interest. There was no more WEST against EAST alignment that gave the bouts any drama. As far as any intrinsic televised drama, these sports don't sell well on TV (unless a weightlifter breaks a bone or something).
Conversely, I just checked the 2010 Olympics medal distribution in wrestling, and, on the grounds of Olympic spirit bringing nations together, wrestling probably gives as many as regions of the world opportunity as any Olympic sport. athletes in 29 countries medaled,. For India, it was 2 of India' s 6 medals. For Puerto Rico, Estonia, Eygypt, Bulgaria and Uzbekistan, their wrestling medals were 1/2 their overall medal haul. For Armenia, wrestling medals were 2/3rds its overall haul. For Uzbekistan, wrestling was its only gold. For Iran, wrestling was 6 of its 12 medals, and 3 of its 4 golds. For Azerbaijan, wrestling was an astounding 7 of its 10 medals, and its only golds. The top medal counts went to Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Japan iran and Georgia. It's a sport where neighboring countries in a complicated part of the world participate and win medals ... Estonia, Lithuania, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia, Turkey, Iran, India, China, Kazakstan, uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, South Korea, North Korea, and Japan. Sounds like TV' cast the deciding vote. |
I was a wrestler in NY state and think this sucks. However, I do find Oylmpic wrestling boring. You don't see many pins and it all seems to come down to riding time, etc.. which is brutal to watch. They wrestle not to lose and take no chances. I'd rather watch dominant wrestlers pin people.
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The olympics just isnt how it used to be. I rarely even tune in anymore. Pros are in the olympics in so many sports now, its just taken the fun out of it for me. |
"However, I do find Oylmpic wrestling boring."
Olympic wrestling can be tough television to watch. Two adult men as muscled as Neanderthals, hairy as bear rugs, wearing singlets, just leaning into and sweating all over each other ... but doing nothing else and with no more drama than an interminable arm-wrestling match ... is prolly rated by the US TV industry as poor ratings material against DWTS. Still, when athletes from - Georgia v. Russia, - Armenia v. Turkey, or - Iran v. US, compete, I believe that the audiences in half of those countries are keen on the outcome (ahh ... but maybe they aren't significant markets for VISA card or the like for other products and services of the sponsors). |
IOC is all about the money, they have no regard for the history of sport or their responsibility to to the purity of competition. Burn it all down IMO.
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^^^ I can't say I truly saw this coming but, it's happening now.
"TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Arch foes Iran and the U.S. have found some common ground in the fight to save wrestling as an Olympic sport." http://news.yahoo.com/us-iran-common...9856--oly.html But IOC should take notice of pro football. The NFL is constantly adjusting the rules to make the game better entertainment. I always thought that, Super Bowl ads got so popular (in part) decades ago was because, the game was such a dud. There was little else left in entertainment value past midway in the second quarter (not second half, second quarter) other than the commercials and half-time because the game was already locked up. Last 10 editions of the Super Bowl have been pretty good games, and the wealth has been spread around among the franchises pretty well. With IOC wrestling (and Greco-Roman is the worst), there is sort of ick-factor (a yuck-factor) with the televising of the bouts. |
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