USA Ready to “Rumble” in the Squared Circle with Iran and Russia… Ura for ‘Rassling

Svetlana Lipatova… Russian wrestler… ‘rassling ain’t just for guys any more  More and more women are ‘rassling… the IOC pissed on them, too. Keep ‘rassling IN the Olympics where it belongs… keep political correctness OUT. 

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The USA wrestled with Russia over the war in Syria, missile defence, human rights, and adoptions. Both countries wrestled with Iran over its nuclear ambitions. Now, the three nations are wrestling… just to wrestle, in a rare partnership designed to convince the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not to eliminate wrestling from the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. “The Rumble on the Rails” takes place Wednesday when the American wrestling team battles Iran in one match, and, then, Russia at the main hall of New York’s historic Grand Central Terminal. “Rumble” is part international exhibition and part charitable fundraiser, but the focus is on whether the IOC will be watching… and, perhaps, reconsidering its unexpected recommendation to scrap Olympic wrestling.

In February, the IOC’s executive board recommended that wrestling not be included in the 2020 Summer Olympics, a move that’d eliminate a sport that’s endured from the ancient Olympic Games through every modern Olympic competition since the movement’s revival in 1896. USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender said in a statement, “It became very evident to us immediately that this decision proved one thing… our international federation needed some help. Not just from the Americans, but from the Iranians, the Russians, from wrestling countries all over the world. Therefore, some of the best wrestling nations in the world will compete on one of the most unique stages in the history of the sport, for a unique purpose, which is to maintain our presence on the Olympic programme”.

There are eight sports vying for one slot in the 2020 Summer Games. The IOC board meets in Russia on 29 May to determine a short list of sports that could be chosen, with a final decision expected in September. Russian Team Leader Christakis Alexandridis said in a statement, “The three strongest teams in the world, the USA, Russia, and Iran, will come together to battle and to show the world that wrestling isn’t only part of sports, but a very important part of life for a lot of people”.

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Russia, Iran, and the USA… rivals on the world stage… joined together in an unlikely alliance Wednesday inside New York’s Grand Central Terminal train station for a wrestling exhibition to try and save their sport from being dropped in the Olympics. The athletes competed against each other on the mat Wednesday, but were united against a common foe… the International Olympic Committee (IOC), whose executive board has recommended that wrestling be eliminated beginning with the 2020 Summer Olympics.

The “Rumble on the Rails” event served as a fundraiser for New York-area youth wrestling programmes, but it also had the purpose of putting an international spotlight on the IOC’s proposal, which shocked the wrestling world when the IOC made it in February. Russian Federation team member Soslan Ramonov, who took part in one of the matches, said, “There are millions of kids all over the world who’re involved in wrestling. In any type of sport, the ultimate goal is to reach the Olympic Games. That’s a dream for so many kids. To deprive them of having that dream come true, that’s a crime”.

Security was tight at the event, with New York Police anti-terrorism officers manning the train station’s entrance, and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling the venue. The event filled Vanderbilt Hall, a large open space inside the terminal, dwarfed only by the station’s enormous main hall next door. Bleachers were set up for fans from all three nations, and a contingent of Iranian supporters waived their nation’s flag and cheered on their team. Members of New York’s Russian community were less boisterous than the Iranians were, but no less enthusiastic. Grigori Lukiyantsev, who works at the Russian Federation mission to the UN, said, “I think it’s a wonderful display of sportsmanship and friendship”. Moreover, as to wrestling’s future, he cited history, noting, “It’s been part of the Olympics since ancient times. So, you really can’t imagine the Olympics without wrestling”.

In fact, wrestling’s Olympic heritage does go back that far. Historians say it was part of the original ancient Greek games dating from around 700 BC. American film actor Billy Baldwin, who wrestled as a student through high school and college, attended the event, and called preservation of Olympic wrestling a matter of social justice, saying, “This isn’t some kind of elitist sport you can only play with a horse and a polo mallet. Wrestling is part of life in second and third world countries. All you need is two guys and a plot of land, and let’s go”.

American team member Kyle Dake said that the camaraderie on display didn’t surprise him, observing, “We’re a brotherhood. We know what each other goes through to get where we are. I know those Iranians are working their tails off just like I am, and those Russians are doing the same”. Iran beat the USA 6-1 in the exhibition matches, and the USA prevailed against Russia 8-1. However, the result everyone’s focused on comes in two weeks, when the IOC, meeting in Russia, narrows down the list of eight sports including wrestling that are vying for a single open spot in the 2020 Summer Olympics. Then, they’d make a final decision on wrestling’s fate as an Olympic sport in September.

Dan Elias

15 May 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/sports/20130515/181170719/US-Ready-to-Rumble-with-Iran-Russia.html

http://en.rian.ru/sports/20130516/181177436/US-Russia-Iran-Tangle-to-Save-Olympic-Wrestling.html

Editor’s Note:

The three ‘Rassling Superpowers (Iran, Russia, and the USA) will be hard to overcome. You see, wrestling has ALWAYS been part of the Olympics. You could no more have a real Olympics without ‘rassling than you could have a grilled cheese sandwich without the cheese. It’s IMPOSSIBLE. Wrestling is part of the core of the Olympic ethos, along with athletics (track n’ field in the USA) and running. Everything else is mere commentary… the ‘rasslers, the runners, and the pentathlon athletes have always been the heart of the Olympic movement… nothing against other sportsmen, but that’s what is.

Keep ‘rassling in the Olympics where it belongs… who knows, if we can do that, they could bring back the pankration! Now, that would be a pip, wouldn’t it?

BMD

 

Putin Protests Wrestling’s Olympic Exclusion

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On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin labelled the decision to exclude wrestling from the Olympics “unjustified” and said that he hoped to take up the sport’s cause with the International Olympic Committee. The IOC dropped wrestling from the list of core Olympic sports last month, and it’d vanish from the Games from 2020 onwards unless it beats seven other candidate sports for the last available slot. Putin said, “It appears unjustified that traditional sports which originally formed the basis of the Olympic Games in the time of Ancient Greece, where the Olympic movement began, are now excluded from the Olympic programme”. Putin also said that wrestling’s future requires a focused discussion, “which I hope we’d still be able to have with our friends from the IOC”.

Putin’s comments are his first public protests against the decision, although his spokesman Dmitri Peskov previously vowed Russia would fight to help wrestling retain its place at the Olympics. The IOC will make the final decision on the Olympic programme for the 2020 Games in September in Buenos Aires, along with the announcement of the host city. Wrestling’s cause brought together unlikely allies, with American and Iranian national Olympic officials among those to call for the sport’s reinstatement. The sport was part of every Olympics since 1904. In recent years, it’s struggled to attract spectator interest outside its stronghold countries and faced claims of corrupt refereeing at the Games. Putin also said that he hoped to see the Russian martial art of sambo added to the Olympic programme in the future. Sambo is not on the IOC-approved list of candidate sports.

13 March 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/sports/20130313/179992205/Putin-Protests-Wrestlings-Olympic-Exclusion.html

 

IOC Tries to Emasculate Wrestling

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The proposal of the International Olympic Committee to exclude wrestling from the Olympics aroused indignation among athletes all over the world. Some of the Olympic wrestling champions decided to give back their medals to the IOC in protest against this plan. In addition, politicians are indignant at the IOC’s scheme. The professional sport world is still boiling mad after the plans to exclude wrestling from the Olympics by the International Olympic Committee became known.

In protest against this plan, the renowned Bulgarian wrestler and 1996 Olympic champion Valentin Jordanov returned his Olympic medal to the Committee. Russian Olympic champion Sagid Murtazaliev decided to follow his example and to return the medal he had won in Sydney. Murtazaliev explained his decision by saying, “It’s a human act and my position as the Olympic champion. People are asking me whether it’s hard for me to part with this medal. However, I hope that by parting with the medal I won for our great country, I’ll help to keep wrestling as an Olympic sport; so, later, I’ll be able to win new medals for Russia and the Republic of Dagestan, where I come from. I think that all the Olympic wrestling champions will join me and the IOC will listen to us”.

The final verdict about the future of wrestling will come in September and wrestlers hope that their protest campaigns won’t be in vain. Mikhail Mamiashvili, President of the Russian Wrestling Federation (FSBR), said, “As long as there’s a chance for reconsideration, it’s necessary to use all the means to stop this process. We’re holding consultations and already working with the IOC. In the coming days, the new president of the International Wrestling Federation is to meet IOC Chief Jacques Rogge. We’re waiting for the meeting of the executive committee, which is to be held in St Petersburg. I hope that these efforts would bring results”.

The opponents of excluding wrestling from the Olympic list emphasise that this sport wasn’t only part of the first modern Olympics, but also part of the Ancient Olympics in Classical Greece. Natalya Yarygina, Vice President of the FSBR, said, “The IOC’s refusal to hold wrestling events at the Olympics would ruin the dreams and ambitions of thousands of devoted athletes. You can imagine what it means for those who devoted all their lives to this sport, and also for the many young boys in Dagestan who’d lose interests in wrestling and be back on the streets”.

Considering that, traditionally, Russian wrestlers rank highly at the Olympics, there were suspicions that someone wants to undermine the positions of our Olympic team by excluding wrestling from the Olympics. However, not only athletes, but also politicians all over the world are indignant at the IOC’s proposal. Amongst them are those who can’t be suspected of sympathy for Russia, for example, former Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld. In his youth, he was a wrestler, and he’s still fond of the sport. The 80-year-old politician even said that he’s ready to enter the wrestling ring to defend the right of professional wrestlers to take part in the Olympics.

27 February 2013

Artyom Kobzev

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_02_27/IOC-tries-to-incapacitate-wrestling/

Editor’s Note:

This was in the commboxes for this post:

The Olympics are supposed to be a display of sports from around the world. No sport is more historically global than wrestling. Every culture and nation throughout history has created their own form of the sport. Secondly, it’s a sport that costs nothing to participate in. No fancy equipment, no sports complexes, etc… wrestling is a sport where even the poorest-of-the-poor countries can have success in. Plus, in the past 12 years, the amount of countries that have participated in women’s wrestling at the Olympics have DOUBLED. If a sport is growing so fast, why cut it? Dropping wrestling is a slap in the face to the history of sports.

Wrestling Roots

I need add nothing to that, save to say, “hear, hear!”

BMD

Russian Wrestling Champ Gives Olympic Gold Back To IOC in Protest

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Russian Olympic champion Sagid Murtazaliev said that he sent his wrestling gold back to the International Olympic Committee following its decision to drop wrestling from the Games. On Tuesday, he told reporters, “The decision to return the medal was a tough one, but after giving it some thought, I followed suit with the legendary Bulgarian wrestler Valentin Yordanov”. He wrote in a letter to IOC President Jacques Rogge, “I did it to protest the recent IOC Executive Board’s recommendations to cut wrestling from the Olympics”. On 11 February, the IOC Committee ruled in Lausanne to exclude wrestling from the 2020 Olympic Games, prompting Bulgarian Valentin Yordanov, a champion from the 1996 Atlanta Games, to sent back his gold medal.

26 February 2013

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_02_26/Russian-wrestler-gives-Olympic-gold-back-to-IOC-in-protest/

Editor’s Note:

You can’t have a REAL Olympics without ‘rasslin’. It’s one of the most ancient sports; it was one of the most popular and breathtaking events in the ancient Olympics in Classical Greece. It’s still a gripping contest (sorry for the pun, I couldn’t resist it)… as anyone who loves sport can tell you. For all that’s holy, c’ mon, wrestling was the final decisive event in the ancient pentathlon. Sheesh… to have an Olympics without wrestling is like having a meal without salt n’ pepper… bland… tasteless… YECH! Without wrestling, you have a “Wussy Olympics”… think on that one. They should bring back wrestling… and apologise for being such idiots. The IOC stuck their foot in it, big-time… what a buncha maroons.

BMD