Olympic Wrestling Pinned by the I.O.C.

Matt Schleckser (one of our grandchildren) is about to
win one of his matches in the Montgomery County,
MD finals for the Churchill High School Bulldogs.
(Credit:  All photos courtesy of Matt's mom,
 Denise Schleckser.)
 

On February 12, the International Olympic Committee voted to remove wrestling from the roster of summer Olympic Games, beginning with the XXXII Olympiad scheduled for 2020. 

That decision was reached secretly in Lausanne, Switzerland, by the 15-person board of the I.O.C. 

In a New York Times article, John Irving reports that “Just two of the board’s members come from countries where wrestling is an actively promoted sport.  Yet 180 countries wrestle.”

Matt pins an opponent in a 2012 match.

Issues are bubbling to the surface over how this decision was reached; of a possible conflict of interest within the I.O.C.; and of what may have been somnolent leadership at the head of wrestling’s international federation, FILA (Fédération Internationale des Luttes  Associées).

It appears that the choice over which event to drop from the XXXII Olympiad in 2020 came down to retaining wrestling or the modern pentathlon.

According to Irving’s report, I.O.C. board member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. of Spain, who is the son of a former I.O.C. president, is also a vice-president of the International Modern Pentathlon Union. 



The referee's hand, shown at left, predicts a win.

Enter conflict of interest implications; that is, did Samaranch improperly use his influence to sway the vote that eliminated wrestling from the Olympic program, and should he have recused himself?

On a second front, FILA is feeling the sting and the heat of not having been on top of the process for the I.O.C.’s decision.  That lapse of alleged management oversight left FILA blindsided and stunned.  Its president, Mr. Raphael Martinetti  resigned shortly after Irving’s story appeared in the press. 

The FILA website couched his resignation in politically correct terms, but the reason is apparent:  being asleep at the switch.  Martinetti sought to retain his position at a FILA meeting, but “. . . a group of Eastern [FILA] delegates accused him of being to blame for the eviction of wrestling . . . “ 

Working hard in another match.

Martinetti has already been replaced by Mr. Nenad Lalovic as acting President.

In an opinion piece that appeared in the Washington Post on the same day as that of Irving’s article, Donald Rumsfeld cited Dan Gable, a wrestler “who won the gold medal in the 1972 Olympics without giving up a single point:”  ‘Once you’ve wrestled,’ Gable said, ‘everything else in life is easy.’”



After garnering third place in the
county finals, Matt poses with
his dad, Jim.

Rumsfeld concluded, “Indeed, it’s hard to imagine many other sports that require such focus, discipline and second-by-second attention to the movements of an opponent.”

Beginning in his high school years, later at Princeton, and during a stint in the Navy, Rumsfeld wrestled for 10 years. 

Nonetheless, this fiasco might have a happy ending:  The executive board of the I.O.C. is meeting in May, and a final vote is expected in September on a likely appeal of its decision.  The United States and Russia will lead a worldwide effort to convince the I.O.C. to change its mind.

But you know how irascible bureaucrats can be.  Especially when they gather behind closed doors.

Congratulations to all of you wrestlers who take so much time to train, to keep your weight within allowable limits, and to exercise the discipline necessary to compete.

(Click on any photo for an enhanced view.)