In the continued assault on long-standing sports, the International Olympic Committee has removed wrestling from the docket of the 2020 Olympics. The IOC previously dropped baseball and softball from inclusion. One “wild card” spot is open for a sport, and wrestling now joins these two plus six others in bidding for that final spot.

Wrestling has taken a big hit over the last couple of decades. With the creation of Title IX, which mandates (among other things) equal athletic opportunities for women, many schools have decided to cut their men's wrestling programs instead of creating new opportunities for their female student-athletes or dipping into their football programs. There are now under 100 Div. 1 schools that offer wrestling. That's still far better than men's gymnastics, which has only 17 NCAA college programs in any division! But because of TV ratings, you won't stop seeing rings and vault in the Olympics any time soon.

In the continued assault on long-standing sports, the International Olympic Committee has removed wrestling from the docket of the 2020 Olympics. The IOC previously dropped baseball and softball from inclusion. One “wild card” spot is open for a sport, and wrestling now joins these two plus six others in bidding for that final spot.

Wrestling has taken a big hit over the last couple of decades. With the creation of Title IX, which mandates (among other things) equal athletic opportunities for women, many schools have decided to cut their men's wrestling programs instead of creating new opportunities for their female student-athletes or dipping into their football programs. There are now under 100 Div. 1 schools that offer wrestling. That's still far better than men's gymnastics, which has only 17 NCAA college programs in any division! But because of TV ratings, you won't stop seeing rings and vault in the Olympics any time soon.

Sad to see what is considered the oldest sport in the world get what very well may be the final nail in its coffin from the IOC.

Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

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