And we can't get more Olympic weights?

[AgaveMaria]

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/flag-football-los-angeles-olympics-2028-1.6990905

Flag Football in the Olympic Games?

All while we can't get the full slate of weights in Freestyle Wrestling. We have to cheat some of our wrestlers and force them into a one time change for the Olympics after they spend three years wrestling at another weight.

Now..., Flag Football? What will the USA call the team? The Taylor Swifts?

At least Breakdancing is out.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

22 minutes ago, AgaveMaria said:

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/flag-football-los-angeles-olympics-2028-1.6990905

Flag Football in the Olympic Games?

All while we can't get the full slate of weights in Freestyle Wrestling. We have to cheat some of our wrestlers and force them into a one time change for the Olympics after they spend three years wrestling at another weight.

Now..., Flag Football? What will the USA call the team? The Taylor Swifts?

At least Breakdancing is out.

However, it does look like wrestling is safe for now.  UWW must remain vigilant.

[mspart]

Getting rid of wrestling (even though it was considered) is like getting rid of the decathlon and other track events.   These are original events in the original Olympics.    Move those to the side in favor of flag football or some other stupid sport?   Don't misunderstand, I love flag football because I can play it with much bigger people.   Of course I'm too old for it now but I used to play all the time.   My team won our college intramurals.   But an Olympic sport?   Come on man!

mspart

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

1 hour ago, mspart said:

Getting rid of wrestling (even though it was considered) is like getting rid of the decathlon and other track events.   These are original events in the original Olympics.    Move those to the side in favor of flag football or some other stupid sport?   Don't misunderstand, I love flag football because I can play it with much bigger people.   Of course I'm too old for it now but I used to play all the time.   My team won our college intramurals.   But an Olympic sport?   Come on man!

mspart

Boxing and weightlifting were on the chopping block this time, and were spared.  Wrestling wasn't even considered at this juncture.

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

Let's keep our saws sharpened, as the saying goes.   That's more benign than "let's keep our gun powder dry".   I.e., let's boost wrestling outreach to countries that can help us keep wrestling in the Olympics.   We have several in our own backyard:  Latin America.    Mexico, especially.   They've won Olympic medals in TaeKwonDo and wrestling's popularity is trickling down from the USA...   Cuba already has its act together, wrestling-wise.   Any other countries in our hemisphere come to mind as being particularly viable candidates?   Maybe Brazil, even if mainly just for its population's substantial size.   Peru comes to mind, too.   I don't mean to exclude others, though....      

Edited October 10, 2023 by TitleIX is ripe for reform

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

7 hours ago, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

Let's keep our saws sharpened, as the saying goes.   That's more benign than "let's keep our gun powder dry".   I.e., let's boost wrestling outreach to countries that can help us keep wrestling in the Olympics.   We have several in our own backyard:  Latin America.    Mexico, especially.   They've won Olympic medals in TaeKwonDo and wrestling's popularity is trickling down from the USA...   Cuba already has its act together, wrestling-wise.   Any other countries in our hemisphere come to mind as being particularly viable candidates?   Maybe Brazil, even if mainly just for its population's substantial size.   Peru comes to mind, too.   I don't mean to exclude others, though....      

Cuba does great in Greco, but their once proud freestyle program is fairly awful now. (and seems to be getting worse)

Edited October 10, 2023 by Interviewed_at_Weehawken

[bnwtwg]

13 hours ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Boxing and weightlifting were on the chopping block this time, and were spared.  Wrestling wasn't even considered at this juncture.

Weightlifting is currently an absolute shitshow for a number of reasons far too lengthy to dive into without ending up in the Non-Wrestling board. The chopping block for that sport wasn't just a message, it was the IOC drawing a very hard line in the sand; wrestling's cut was a shakedown so not quite an apples to apples comparison.

[Jim L]

18 hours ago, mspart said:

Getting rid of wrestling (even though it was considered) is like getting rid of the decathlon and other track events.   These are original events in the original Olympics.    Move those to the side in favor of flag football or some other stupid sport?   Don't misunderstand, I love flag football because I can play it with much bigger people.   Of course I'm too old for it now but I used to play all the time.   My team won our college intramurals.   But an Olympic sport?   Come on man!

mspart

Being an original Olympic event is not a strong argument for continuing inclusion, IMO. I am assuming you are referring to the modern reincarnation of the Olympics in 1896. 

Some of the sports at that Olympics included a one-handed weightlifting and the Sailor's 100M swimming, open only to Greek sailors.

[mspart]

There was also Wrestling and Track and Field events in 1896, just like ancient times to which I was referring.   The modern Olympics were inspired by the ancient Olympics.   Hence my reference to wrestling being an original sport in the Olympics.   When they get rid of original sports that were competed in the ancient Olympics, then the modern Olympics is no longer worthy of the name, in my opinion. 

mspart

[Takuto_Otoguro]

We technically have 18 weights. I believe that is the most of any olympic sport that has weight classes. 

[Takuto_Otoguro]

So, after some time on wikiperdia:

 

Judo = 14 weights total 7 mens 7 womens

Weightlifting= 10 weights total with 5 men's and 5 womens

Boxing = 13 weights total with 7 men's divisions and 6 for women

 

I see no way we get more weights considering we already have the most by far. Maybe if a style is cut we can add some weights to the remaining two styles. 

The only avenue I see, and it is a super long shot, is that with all these transfers from places like America and Russia winning medals for non-wrestling countries, the olympic committees of those countries start advocating for more weights for wrestling. Highly doubt it happens but that is the only way I see us going above the current 18. 

[de4856]

Well the IOC is all about the money. So if there is a way to increase viewership and filling up the venue, I believe that would help us get more weight classes. But how to do this is the question. 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Move wrestling to the Winter Olympics. 

Think BIG!

We can start with a whisper campaign about this--so that Judo and Basketball don't realize we're stabbing them in the back--but if we keep it up soon we'll be marching into IOC headquarters like the Bushwhackers marching into the ring at Wrestlemania. 

The Olympics are always looking for favorable publicity. What you have here is a natural winter sport switching over to compete ... in the Winter. Instead of French skiers and Colorado snowboarders WHO NOBODY KNOWS OR CARES ABOUT you get the drama of 97kg in Freestyle, the Greco heavyweights and the Japanese women. 

This is from a report from 2022 about the Beijing Winter Olympics:

The Games drew their lowest U.S. ratings ever. Reports released Monday indicate there was an average total audience of 11.4 million viewers for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. That is a sharp decline from the 19.8 million average for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

We would add an entire new world market to the Winter Olympics, and what else can they do to arrest those flagging viewership numbers? Snow Sculpture? International Snowball Fights? They are in a death spiral. They need us. We need them. Don't give up because of the hurdles, fight hard because of the opportunities! 

[neutral]

Should the olympics even exist any longer?  They are an economic boondoggle for the hosts and the IOC and multiple governing bodies are corrupt as can be.

[nhs67]

I think we are closer to seeing Greco dropped from the Olympics than we are seeing Greco added for women's.  We are probably closer to seeing weights dropped than we are to seeing weights added.

I think if Greco is dropped from the Olympics we would end up going to seven (7) weights per gender.

I then think the UWW will completely fckn botch it and make it like 70 KG or some stupid shit rather than redraw the weights for the Olympics.

In that 'perfect' world with the weights being redrawn (for Olymipcs) I would prefer to see something like 60-66-72-81-90-100-130 as the weights for Men and 50, 54, 59, 65, 72, 80 for Women.  It increments up appropriately for each style.

It then allows us to restructure the other weights (55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 100, 130 & 47, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 70, 75, 80, 100 respectively) and add Greco for women, and have both styles for both genders to be the same weights... it baffles me why Greco and Freestyle do not have the same weights.  It is stupid.

[bnwtwg]

19 hours ago, de4856 said:

Well the IOC is all about the money. So if there is a way to increase viewership and filling up the venue, I believe that would help us get more weight classes. But how to do this is the question. 

Weird way to spell "bribe Thomas Bach" but okay

21 minutes ago, neutral said:

Should the olympics even exist any longer?  They are an economic boondoggle for the hosts and the IOC and multiple governing bodies are corrupt as can be.

See above.

[Lipdrag]

On 10/9/2023 at 7:16 PM, mspart said:

Don't misunderstand, I love flag football because I can play it with much bigger people.   Of course I'm too old for it now but I used to play all the time.   My team won our college intramurals. 

My kid came back from college one summer with an Intramural Dodgeball Champions shirt.  Proudest moment of his collegiate career for me.  Dodgeball is a much better olympic fit than flag football.  We would only have to send our wrestling team to compete in the gym next door to the wrestling venue between their individual matches.

Now, about wrestling in the olympics.  

• More weights. And, for goodness' sake make them the same weights that the world championships use in the non-divisible by 4 years.
• A single style.  The Greco appendage probably needs to be sacrificed to save the wrestling body. 
• Move to Winter Olympics is really a good idea also.
• Expanding wrestling more within countries with a culture of individual combat sports is interesting:
  • Brazil (Jiu Jitsu),
  • Thailand (kickboxing),
  • Korea (tae kwon do),
  • China (kung fu),
  • Japan (karate- I know the Japanese ladies are already kicking butt in the wrestling room)
  • Is there anything in the Arab world/culture to bring in North Africa and Asia south of Turkey and west of Iran?
  • How do we get Europe off of counting cow farts and back in the wrestling room where real men (and women) belong?  Maybe we don't let them use their hands - wrestle with only their feet and heads and limit scores to nil - nil until overtime.

Nothing new or creative here but my combining of good ideas I've culled from those brighter than I.

[mspart]

Dodgeball with the shot put.   That would make it interesting and with an element of danger.   Maybe an 8lb shot rather than 16lb.  Even a 2lb shot would be risky!!

The move to winter Olympics is an interesting idea for sure.   It meets with our current HS and College schedules which might be a problem for those over achieving college types that make the team.   There would be a good deal of interference there.   WTTs and OTTs would happen when?  Same time or during Nov or Dec, right smack in the middle of the college season?   These are small hurdles, but wrestling is a winter sport but I doubt it is viewed that way by the masses.   No snow or ice is involved.   Uphill road but very interesting idea. 

The IOC does not want to give out any more medals, period.   That was the reasoning when we last visited the elimination of wrestling and holding weights to 6.   That and time to complete the competition.   But track and swimming go on forever and no one minds.   I don't understand their hangups with medals and time.  

One thing I learned last time when I watched wrestling exclusively is that I did miss seeing many of the other sports, at least on those days.   With it being in Paris this next time that probably won't be an issue.   Competition will be complete for the day when I wake up rather than just getting started when I get home.  

mspart  

[neutral]

The IOC already hands out more medals with the double bronze.  Wrestling in all forms is a minor sport and expendable to the IOC.  We will never get 10 weights even if greco were eliminated.  The good old days are long behind us.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

Please! Can we stop with the wrestling moving to the Winter Olympics? It will never happen! The Winter Olympics means "snow" or "ice" and not "sport usually practiced indoors during American winters."  

Every Winter Olympic sport deals with snow/ice.  If you want indoor sports, then you also start to deal with basketball, volleyball, judo, boxing, weightlifting, etc.

[nhs67]

23 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Please! Can we stop with the wrestling moving to the Winter Olympics? It will never happen! The Winter Olympics means "snow" or "ice" and not "sport usually practiced indoors during American winters."  

Every Winter Olympic sport deals with snow/ice.  If you want indoor sports, then you also start to deal with basketball, volleyball, judo, boxing, weightlifting, etc.

I may have started that movement here.

I apologize.

If it means more exposure, though... bring it.  All for it.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

4 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

I may have started that movement here.

I apologize.

If it means more exposure, though... bring it.  All for it.

Nope.  It has been going on for years.  I have been asked many times through the years "why isn't it a winter sport?" 

No snow or ice.

[Wrestleknownothing]

29 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Please! Can we stop with the wrestling moving to the Winter Olympics? It will never happen! The Winter Olympics means "snow" or "ice" and not "sport usually practiced indoors during American winters."  

Every Winter Olympic sport deals with snow/ice.  If you want indoor sports, then you also start to deal with basketball, volleyball, judo, boxing, weightlifting, etc.

Wrestling, basketball, volleyball, judo, boxing, and weightlifting, especially weightlifting, on ice. Problem solved. You are all welcome. Where do I pick up my consulting fee?

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

1 minute ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Wrestling, basketball, volleyball, judo, boxing, and weightlifting, especially weightlifting, on ice. Problem solved. You are all welcome. Where do I pick up my consulting fee?

I mean, when we had a snow day and were locked out of school, I would hold "optional outdoor practices" that included a lot of pumelling and live handfighting drills.

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

14 hours ago, mspart said:

 

The move to winter Olympics is an interesting idea for sure.  ...  Uphill road but very interesting idea. 

mspart