Wrestling is a competitive sport where matches are set up between individual wrestlers going one on one with their comparable opponent. The wrestling program at Sacramento City College has been running since 1963 and has produced many athletes who go on, some with athletic scholarships, to compete in four-year institutions. It is a program for students just beginning their wrestling experience and for those students who have been wrestling since the 3rd grade. However, wrestling at the Olympic level—might remain only as a dream for some players.
Now, the sport of wrestling is on the chopping block of the Olympic game line-up and will potentially be cut for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games and replaced by sports such as golf and rugby.
On February 12th, the International Olympic Committee agreed on the 25 core sports for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games; wrestling did not make the cut. However, the list still has room for one more event and representatives from eight sports organizations are expected to appeal for that slot. Representatives from these eight sports, including wrestling, can still fight to make the list and are scheduled to show their presentations of appeal to the Executive Board in St Petersburg, Russia, in May. The EB will then recommend to the 125th IOC Session which 26th sport should be added to the 2020 Programme; and one more time it will go through an approval process.
City College Head Wrestling Coach, David Pacheco said the “International Olympic Committee has made a mistake” in its decision to cut wrestling because it is one of the original events of the Olympic Games and “one of the top ten sports in the world that almost every country competes in.”
“I think in some ways [the decision] has awaken a sleeping giant […] I really don’t think they [IOC] will follow through with the elimination; I think they are facing too much controversy with this,” Pachecho said. “Wrestling is one of the oldest sports and is part of the original Olympics and [the] modern Olympics when it started back up.”
Tim Kiernan, City College golf head coach, also agrees that the decision to take out wrestling goes against the athletic tradition of the Olympic Games.
“I think golf in the Olympics for as much as I love golf […] doesn’t belong in the Olympics—I don’t think anything other than the original sports doesn’t belongs.”
The IOC has not stated the reason for its decision not to include the event in the Summer Olympics, but in a press release they did make clear why all sports were under review.
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“In an effort to ensure the Olympic Games remain relevant to sports fans of all generations, the Olympic Programme Commission systematically reviews every sport following each edition of the Games.” Still, even with this decision to drop wrestling from the Olympics, representatives from the City College program do not anticipate a decline in student participation in the sport. In fact, this past season was the first time Pacheco had to turn away potential members.
The real impact on the IOC’s decision, however, may be its effect on players at the university level who compete in Division 1, highest collegiate level competition. These athletes are closest to competing at the Olympic level.
Student athlete at City College Tyler Brown, 20 and liberal arts major, has been wrestling for 13 years and says he finds the decision unfair to players who have aspirations to compete at the Olympic level.
“If you take that away [wrestling], you are taking so many dreams away from Division 1 guys or even junior college guys,” Brown said. “I personally do not have dreams to go to the Olympics, but I know plenty of other people who have that dream and you defeat the whole purpose of the sport [when you take that opportunity away].”
The City College wrestling team has been ranked as one of the state’s top teams for that last five years; last season the team took fourth in state and was named 2012 Big 8 Conference Champions. For some athletes, wrestling isn’t just a sport; it’s family.
Sean Melton, 19 and majoring in Dental, took fourth in state while achieving academic All-American status last fall in wrestling, says for him, “wrestling is not just a sport but it’s a lifestyle—you are a wrestler.”
At City College, Melton says, “you really have to work hard.” City College’s wrestling program was started in 1963, and this year the team will be recognized as Academic Team of the Year. To qualify team members must have a team grade point average of 3.0.
“At SCC it’s an equal partnership between athletics and academics,” say Pacheco. “We tell them there are more academic scholarships than athletic— if you can do well both academically and athletically you can possibly get two different sources of scholarships to pay for school.”
