The IOC voted to cut Wrestling from the 2020 Olympics. Again, I repeat, wrestling. Obviously from the way I'm coming across you know how I feel about it, but I am really really just curious to see how the neutral fan feels about this move.

Wrestling was cut in favor of sports like badminton and the modern pentathlon.

"Previously considered under the closest scrutiny was modern pentathlon, which has been on the Olympic program since the 1912 Stockholm Games. It was created by French baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, and combines fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting.

Klaus Schormann, president of governing body UIPM, lobbied hard to protect his sport's Olympic status and it paid off in the end.

"We have promised things, and we have delivered," he said after Tuesday's decision. "That gives me a great feeling. It also gives me new energy to develop our sport further and never give up.""

Modern Pentathlon: 72 Athletes from 26 of some of the world's richer countries.
Wrestling : Around 335 Athletes from 72 countries, including some poorer countries.
 Is this the message we want to be sending?

Anyways, I'm coming down off my soapbox, and I'm sorry if I irritated you with it, but now I really am just curious as to what you all think?

MODS - if you could leave it up a bit to see if there's interest I'd be appreciative. If it doesn't blow it up! :)

Sad to see. Wrestling is one of the few remaining sports where the Olympics was THE ultimate goal.  And of course, the voting was done in secret so nobody knows who voted how  OR what the real story is.  Olympics are becoming more and more irrelevant all the time. What a shame.

The IOC has completely jumped the shark. This is absolutely ridiculous. Wrestling is the consummate Olympic sport. When anyone thinks of the Original Olympics in Ancient Greece, wrestling is probably the first sport that comes to mind. How is a decision like this even possible? Wrestling is a sport that can be found in every corner of the globe. I am obviously biased since I wrestled in both high school and college, after people who got sick of hearing me talk about the latest episodes WWF, NWA, and AWA told me to give the real deal a try, which also gave me something productive to do before baseball season started. There has to be a way to reverse this travesty.

I find it inconceivable that a fake sport like modern pentathlon, which is really a combination of five different sports tailored to rich people who aren't good enough to compete in the original sports, gets to remain in the Olympics while wrestling gets the axe. Dropping baseball and women's softball was bad enough but this is going way too far. What about rhythmic gymnastics and, for that matter, trampoline jumping? Just because Joba Chamberlain can get injured doing an activity with his young son doesn't make it worthy of being an Olympic sport. Then there are the recently added BMX races that barely last 30 seconds. Talk about a big build up to, basically, nothing.

The number of puff medals should also be cut down. Why are there dozens of different races in sports few people care about like sailing and cycling? Or so many different positions in shooting? Why are there fewer weight classes for women in boxing, wrestling, judo, and taekwondo? An equal number of weight classes would boost participation and popularity as more countries believe they can win medals and fund the sports as a result. The IOC needs to be adding sports instead of cutting them. Reinstate baseball, softball, and wrestling. Add cricket, rugby, and men's synchronized swimming (since they have women). Get rid of modern pentathlon and rhythmic gymnastics.

One less reason for me not to watch the Olympics. Only reason why I even watched in recent years was because of the gymnastics and swimmers. Now without Phelps and me having limited interest in gymnastics in the first place, wrestling was the only thing I figured was worth watching anymore.