IN A.D. 393, the ancient Olympic Games were abolished — they had become too corrupt. Wrestling was among the first sports in those ancient Games; wrestling was also included at the start of the modern Olympics, in 1896.  Since the vote in Lausanne, I’ve been asked many times: “How can anyone know what 15 members who vote by secret ballot really think?”



Just two of the board’s members come from countries where wrestling is an actively promoted sport. Yet 180 countries wrestle, and only 53 engage in the modern pentathlon. Wrestlers from 71 countries went to London last summer; before they could compete, they had to win some of the toughest qualifying tournaments in the world.
In the ancient Games — as early as 708 B.C. — they were wrestling. Granted, some of those early wrestling matches were settled by brutal means; many matches ended in death. Think what matches ending in death might do for wrestling’s TV ratings. Death would beat the ball draw, or the clinch; almost everyone can understand death.

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