I.O.C.: Committee decision has historic and local impact

Opinion by William Wilczewski

It appears as though Rio Rico (Ariz.) grappler Areana Villaescusa’s goal of getting to the Olympic Games has—at least for the time being—received a deadline, of sorts.

Thankfully, her goal is the 2016 summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, but it now appears that one may be her and scores of others’ ONLY shot—at least according to a Monday The New York Times article by Scott Cacciola.

You see, Cacciola reported that the executive board of the International Olympic Committee had voted to eliminate freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling from the Summer Games, starting in 2020.

Aside from Villaescusa, my first thought when I heard this bombshell go off was to rub my eyes because I must be reading something wrong.

Surely, the I.O.C.—which has sunk so low as to even add ping pong to its rolls in 1988—surely wasn’t getting rid of one of the top two sports (with track and field being the other) with the longest history in recorded history.

I’m still hoping when someone reads this column, they will tell me I was smoking something REALLY illegal and REALLY bad—and that I couldn’t be more wrong, because right now, I’m more shocked than a schizophrenic that stopped getting letters … from himself!

Like most people, I enjoy consistency—and the Olympics and wrestling joined at the hip has been more consistent than:

1) Gravity;

2) The tide;

3) Taxes; and

4) The North Star

So, I’m perplexed at:

1) Why the I.O.C. would do such a thing; and

2) Why TNYT didn’t explain “why” in the article I read.

My thoughts, though, kept drifting back to Villaescusa and the scores of others whose lives stand to be forever altered because of this ludicrous decision.

Thankfully, the article did say, “There is a chance that the I.O.C. could reverse its decision at a board meeting in May. A final decision will be made in September.”

Between now and then, though, I’ll be left scratching my head more than boxing promoter Don King with severe dandruff.

I will be asking myself:

1) I know they should, but will they make the right call and reverse their decision?

2) Will Villaescusa only have this one crack at the summit, when others since the beginning of recorded time where not limited to a deadline to accomplish a dream?

3) When will I stop asking myself questions in my own columns?

I hope the answers are: (1) yes, (2) no and (3) no!

My concerns, though, pale in comparison to those who have dedicated a lifestyle AND LIFE to one of—if not the—oldest sports know to mankind; a sport that I know by watching first-hand has a profound and positive impact on those that dare enter, those that dare to risk and those that dare to sacrifice much more than most of us would ever even think to.

Wrestling is the epitome of mano a mano—and for the I.O.C. to take it away from the Olympics would be the epitome of anti-Olympic sentiment.

It would also be a horrific blow to a teenage girl in Rio Rico who would have the sky cease to be her limit if they eliminate freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling from the Summer Games, starting in 2020.

Like Rio Rico High wrestling coach Brad Beach said: “I think someone at the I.O.C. needs to get dumped on their head by (Arizona three-time prep state champion) Marky Lopez to knock some common sense into them.”

I second that!