After FILA voted on new rules, it’s clear wrestling’s governors are doing everything they can to get the sport reinstated in the Olympics. Chris Parisi reports on the progress.
For some, the controversial recommendation made by the International Olympic Committee in February to not include wrestling as a core sport in the 2020 Games has dropped from the radar. For others, the quest to include wrestling in the 2020 Olympics burns fast and furious. And decision time for the International Olympic selection committee is drawing nearer.
Back on February 11, 2013, the proposition came down from Olympus—specifically, the IOC Executive Board—that wrestling not be continued as a core sport at the 2020 Olympic Games. The international wrestling community reacted with various degrees of shock, disbelief and confusion at the prospect of the sport with what some consider the deepest traditional and historic roots in the Olympic Games no longer being considered relevant.
The problems at the heart of the sport’s potential Olympic demise—the perceived arrogance and entitlement, match rules that are indecipherable to most, unexciting bouts, barely a nod to women’s wrestling and a lack of overall leadership—have been detailed over the last few months. It is commendable that the wrestling family has bonded together in the face of this unexpected wakeup call, even bringing together adversaries such as Russia, Iran and America within the sporting world, united for a common cause as they try to address the issues that have plagued the sport’s reputation, recognition and appeal.
Some issues, like smoothing out the haughtiness and portrayals of privilege surrounding wrestling’s guaranteed place in any and all Olympic Games, and bringing gender equality to the sport, will, even with immediate concessions and an injection of humility, take some time. But other aspects of the sport and its governing bodies can be reshaped immediately.
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In the three months since the IOC announcement, FILA, wrestling’s governing body, has been busy. With incredible backing from across the planet—from national affiliations such as USA Wrestling, groups ranging from Japanese collegians to the State of Iowa, to individuals such as Russian President Putin and Tommy Lasorda—International Wrestling has worked to rebuild and rebrand its image to resonate in a different world, a modern time.
It was as enlightening to see Iran and the United States—two nations who probably could not agree on the color of the sky—joined at the hip in competition and support, as it was to watch the Rumble On The Rails itself (part of the Beat The Streets program), a sporting spectacle featuring wrestlers from America, Iran and Russia grappling inside New York City’s Grand Central Station, staged to build awareness and buzz around the push for wrestling’s reinstatement.
Another such upcoming event is the “Battle At The Falls,” sanctioned by Wrestling Canada. The bout, happening on May 31, 2013, at scenic Niagara Falls, features top women wrestlers from Canada, USA and the Ukraine, and is as much a promotion to stave off elimination from the Games as it is a proclamation of wrestling’s new gender equality.
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Along with featuring women wrestling stars, FILA is also changing its constitution to include a female vice-president and is adding three seats reserved for women, as well as proposing to increase the number of women’s weight classes if it remains in the Olympics. At the London Games, wrestling had 18 total medals—seven in both men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman and four for women. The proposal would spread the wealth more evenly across the sexes and level the field. As newly elected FILA President Lalovic said, “We want to spread medals equally among freestyle, Greco-Roman and women wrestlers—by six, six and six.”
Speaking of Lalovic, in the FILA Congress this past weekend, it was abundantly clear that wrestling’s biggest leap forward to date has been in the governing body’s leadership. Nenad Lalovic of Serbia, who has been acting as Interim President ever since Raphael Martinetti, the former president, resigned upon hearing the IOC’s announcement to drop wrestling in February during FILA’s executive committee meeting in Phuket, Thailand, has been stellar in seizing the reins and guiding the sporting body into major course corrections.
Lalovic’s confirmation this past Saturday—by a vote of 125 to 7—only validated the outstanding job he’s done addressing every major area of concern of the IOC in three short months. His gift to all attending his election—a small mirror—and his statement that the images reflected were of those who would be responsible for implementing change, spoke volumes about his style and approach, as did the invitation FILA sent to the media.
It was the first time such an invitation had ever been extended, and almost one hundred accepted, from 43 different outlets, in perhaps another indication that the perception of wrestling and its officials was shifting.
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Perhaps the biggest examples of transformation are the sweeping changes to the sport’s rules themselves, designed to be more appealing to fans and the athletes as well. For instance, matches will be two three-minute sessions instead of three two-minute periods, and scoring will be cumulative instead of best two-out-of-three.
“Cumulative score incentivizes the wrestlers to score more often and consistently,” FILA vice president Stan Dziedzic said. “In addition, or equally important, the total score is easier for the spectators to understand. It’s difficult for a spectator, not to mention the athletes, when one wrestler wins the first period 5-0, loses the next two periods 1-0 and loses the match.”
Dziedzic went on to explain that “the common view was that two minutes was not sufficient time to execute the requisite tactics and strategies to provide an exciting match. What’s more, it deprives the viewing audience of witnessing the will of the wrestler. As for the new rules, there will be no draws, no push-outs. The rules will be more understanding for spectators.”
The scoring has undergone a bit of an overhaul as well. A takedown is now worth two points, making it more valuable than a point for the pushout or a penalty point, and the difference in awards for a technical fall will be a difference of ten points in Freestyle and seven in Greco-Roman.
Passivity, as prevalent and annoying as flopping in the NBA, will undergo relatively the same treatment, but instead of a cash fine, the penalties are points awarded to the more aggressive competitor. (In terms of punishment, what is more effective—loss of pocket change, or loss of a match, with potentially greater ramifications? Maybe the NBA needs to look a little deeper into how it addresses floppers.)
Passivity rules will vary between Freestyle and Greco-Roman styles in terms of warnings and repercussions. In both, the first offense is a verbal warning. In Freestyle, a second offense leads to a stoppage in action and the offender will have to score a point within 30 seconds or the opponent is awarded a point, whereas a second offense in Greco-Roman results in a caution and a starting position choice for the opponent—either par terre (where wrestlers start on the mat in top and bottom positions), or a standing position.
If no athlete scores in the first two minutes of a Freestyle match, referees will identify one of the wrestlers as passive, and that wrestler must score within 30 seconds or the opponent receives a point. A third violation results in a point to the opponent in Greco-Roman, and the fourth passivity foul ends the bout with the active wrestler being awarded victory by fall. Maybe a little harsher than a flopping call, the new rules should have a deeper impact on how the matches are fought.
In efforts to show that the message has been received loud and clear by the wrestling federation, the new rules went into effect immediately, and will be in force at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest.
They have already seen action in Los Angeles. Jon Reader, an NCAA champion from Iowa and winner of his bout over Canadian Tamerlin Tagziev, for one is a fan, saying “”I love the new rules. In the first four matches, once the wrestlers hit the 5-minute mark, they were exhausted.” And Opan Sat, a three-time European champion from Russia, seconded the notion, stating through his interpreter that “I like the idea of having two periods because I have time to execute my moves.”
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So, rule changes that give us more exciting and easier to follow matches, more gender equality, modern events in more extreme, innovative settings with positive press, an outpouring of support, attitude adjustments, solid forward-looking leadership—it sure passes the sniff test of an organization and a sport trying to put a Full Nelson on that last 2020 Olympic spot. And just to sweeten the pot, FILA, in a nod toward crowd control, would cut the number of athletes to 16 in each category.
Dziedzic spoke to that point, adding that the governing body would also “cut the number of referees in half, therefore we’ll have less people at the Olympics, which is what the IOC wants.”
For certain, the determination and resolve has been there. (It does make one wonder if certain legislative bodies in the U.S. could ever move this quickly!) And as recently as a month ago, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge acknowledged that wrestling was still in the conversation.
A preliminary vote is to take place when the committee meets in St. Petersburg, Russia on the last weekend of May. Up to three of the eight sports under consideration for inclusion in the 2020 Games—wrestling, baseball and softball, two martial arts (wushu and karate), sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding and inline skating—could be presented to the full IOC assembly for consideration of inclusion when they convene for a final decision in Buenos Aires on September 7th.
Are the changes enough to insure that wrestling is one of those three sports? And are the changes sustainable? Is the message the IOC sent—and the manner in which it was sent—as much a shot across wrestling’s bows as it is a warning to the rest of the sporting bodies and a flexing of Olympic muscle? If wrestling is re-instated–and I for one am an advocate—will the sport be buying eight years of life, and does it run the risk of rejection if there are any perceived hints of regression?
We’ll know the answer to the first question in ten days. It will take a little longer to answer the rest.
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Photo: Associated Press/Bebeto Matthews
Rewarding people for aggression can’t go wrong in the context of wrestling. Ya’akov didn’t hang with the Lord all night by lying on his stomach and waiting for the buzzer, after all. I think these new rules will be mark a very positive change in what had become a very formalized, stagnant sport.