A Former Wrestler’s Open Letter To The International Olympic Committee & Olympic Sponsors. Save Olympic Wrestling!

Dear International Olympic Committee & Olympic Sponsors

cc: Friends of Wrestling,

Your decision today clearly upset a large number of Olympic fans around the world.  While we who are not privy to all of the issues you must grapple with internally, cannot know exactly what led to your decision announced today to drop wrestling from the 2020 Olympic games, it is clear you have miscalculated on at least one front.  To wit, wrestling is one of the toughest sports ever invented and anyone who has wrestled at any level or has been close to wrestling can tell you… wrestlers are a tenacious lot.  In fact, we don’t give up.  The level of protest you can expect from this community will surely come as a surprise to all of you.

There three main reasons why the Olympics will be diminished without wrestling:

1. Wrestling, a truly international sport, has been around since pre-historic times and was an important part of Greek culture when the Olympics got its start –

According to WIKIPEDIA:

In the Ancient Near East, forms of belt wrestling were popular from earliest times.  A carving on a stone slabe showing three pairs of wrestlers was dated to around 3000 BC… A portrayal of figures wrestling was found in the tomb of Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum in Saqqara dating to around 2400 BC.  Another early piece of evidence for wrestling in Egypt appeared circa 2300 BC, on the tomb of the Old Kingdom philosopher Ptahhotep…. Greek wrestling was a popular form of martial art in which points were awarded for touching a competitor’s back to the ground, forcing a competitor out of bounds (arena).  Three falls determined the winner. It was at least featured as a sport since the eighteenth Olympiad in 704 BC. Wrestling is described in the earliest celebrated works of Greek literature, the Iliad and the Odyssey.   Wrestlers were also depicted in action on many vases, sculptures, and coins, as well as in other literature. Other cultures featured wrestling at royal or religious celebrations, but the ancient Greeks structured their style of wrestling as part of a tournament where a single winner emerged from a pool of competitors.   Late Greek tradition also stated that Plato was known for wrestling in the Isthmian games.

When the Olympic games resurfaced at Athens in 1896, Greco-Roman wrestling was introduced. After not being featured in the 1900 Olympics, sport wrestling was seen again in 1904 in St. Louis; this time in freestyle competition. Since then, Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling have both been featured, with women’s freestyle added in the Summer Olympics of 2004.

2. Wrestling has a tight knit passionate community of participants and followers globally, who greatly value and honor the Olympics.  Wrestling does not have a professional wrestling option as many other sports.  Unlike many other sports, the Olympics are the highest and most important venue for wrestling.  Many other sports have other higher levels (professional ).  All US (and international) wrestlers who got our start after him, grew up idolizing Dan Gable and his perfect performance (no point ever scored against him throughout the games) in the 1972 Olympic games.  I had the privilege of attending Dan Gable’s Iowa Intensive Training Camp back in 1983.

3.  Wrestlers and their friends have significant influence in today’s society.  It is ironic that the day the IOC chose to drop wrestling happens to be wrestler and greatest US President, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.  We will use that influence to do anything in our power to change this short sighted decision.  Whether the wrestling greats like Dan Gable or the many others who have gone on to excel in their professional pursuits, we will work together to fix this.  Here are but a few of the well known Americans who wrestled (from the National Wrestling Coaches Association):

U.S. PRESIDENTS

Chester Arthur Calvin Coolidge Dwight Eisenhower

Ulysses S Grant Andrew Jackson Abraham Lincoln Teddy Roosevelt William Howard Taft

John Tyler

 

 

U.S. SENATE

The late John Chafee (former senator RI)

Lincoln Chafee (former senator RI)

Chuck Hagel ( Nebraska )

John McCain ( Arizona )

The Late Paul Wellstone ( Minnesota )

 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Brad Glass

Greg Ganske (Iowa )

Jim Jordon (Ohio)

Jim Leach ( Iowa )

Jim Nussle ( Iowa )

The Late Carl Albert (Former Speaker of the House)

Dennis Hastert ( Illinois ) (Former Speaker of the House)

 

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

Donald Rumsfeld

Frank Carlucci

 

WHITE HOUSE STAFF

Ari Fleischer

George Stephanopoulos

 

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER

John Irving

 

ACTORS

Nate Parker

Mario Lopez

Ashton Kutcher

Tom Cruise

Billy Baldwin

 

BUSINESS LEADERS

Rocky Aoki, Benihana

Scott Beck, Boston Market

James Bigger, Nestlé

Dan Cathy, Chic-Fil-a

Stephen Friedman, Goldman Sachs and Cornell

Ron McGruder, Olive Garden

Edward Rust, State Farm

Arthur Rutzen, Wells Fargo

MILITARY LEADERS

Military leaders

Denny Benchoff

Greg “Pappy” Boyington

Charles C Krulak

George Patton

Al Rushotz

Norman Schwartzkopf

ATHLETES

NFL

Stephen Neal – New England Patriots

Antonio Garay – San Diego Chargers

Davin Joseph – Tampa Bay

Ronde Barber – Tampa Bay

Joe Condo – Oakland

Chris Colley – Washington

Ray Lewis – Baltimore

Lorenzo Neal – San Diego

Donnie Edwards

Kelly Gregg – Baltimore

Bryant McKinnie – Minnesota

David Patten – New England

Adam Vinatieri – Indianapolis

Ricky Williams – Miami

Coy Wire – Atlanta

Roddy White – Atlanta

Ronnie Brown – Miami

Matt Roth – Cleveland

Mike Patterson – Philadelphia

Luis Castillo – San Diego

Jim Nance – New England

Brand Benson – NY Giants

Mike Reid – Bengals

Jeff Richardson – NY Jets

Tiki Barber – NY Giants

Tedy Bruschi – New England

Larry Czonka – Miami

Bob Golic – Cleveland

Mike Golic – Philadelphia

Carlton Haselrig – Pittsburgh

Bo Jackson – Oakland

Matt Millen – Oakland

Warren Sapp – Tampa Bay

Mark Schlereth – Denver

Chuck Noll – Pittsburgh

Curley Culp – Kansas City Chiefs

At the Olympic Wrestling Trials in Indianapolis in 2004

 

And if I could list all the non-American’s I would.  Wrestling is truly an international sport like few others.

Here is a NPR clip on the Turkish Wrestling response… an example of reaction around the world

IOC, I believe you will listen to reason so long as it is delivered by your sponsors.  These sponsors are global companies most of which are based in wrestling countries as are their customer.  The global partners of the Olympics include (along with their twitter handle):

Coca-Cola   https://twitter.com/cocacolaco

P&G  https://twitter.com/ProcterGamble

General Electric  https://twitter.com/generalelectric

DOW   https://twitter.com/DowChemical

McDonalds  https://twitter.com/McDonalds

Panasonic  https://jp.twitter.com/panasonic

Samsung  https://twitter.com/Samsungtweets

Omega  https://twitter.com/omegawatches

Visa  https://twitter.com/Visa

#saveolympicwrestling

For the Friends of Wrestling:

Here is the petition to re-instate wrestling into the Olympics.. please sign it.

If you are really motivated, tweet about it, mention the sponsors on twitter and worst case if we do not get support, take your business to other companies who are not supporting the IOC and this short sighted move.

Thanks and Kind Regards,

J. Smoke Wallin

former Cornell Wrestler, Bayshore HS Wrestler