Olympic Updates

At the end of May 2013 the IOC Executive Board narrowed the inclusion of several sports to be incorporated into the 2020 summer Olympics.

Moving on to a vote before the IOC in September are:
Wrestling, Squash and Baseball/Softball.

The sports that were eliminated are:
Roller Sports, Karate, Sport Climbing and Wushu.

What is good about this is that one big American and Worldwide sport has a two-thirds chance of making it back to the Olympics in time for the 2020 summer games, Wrestling and Baseball/Softball. While Squash(a indoor racquet sport) would be a different sport for the Olympics, Wrestling should have never been dropped in the first place.

Wrestling has made many changes over the past several months to be considered when that was not the case several months ago.
The International governing body(FILA) has adopted rule changes to make the sport easier to understand, elected a new president and incorporated more women in decision making roles.
Whether this helps wrestling get back to the 2020 summer games remains to be seen.

By dropping softball after the 2008 Beijing summer games the IOC eliminated hundreds of women athletes from competing. That fact is what I believe why the IOC is reconsidering the sport.

Squash is played in 185 countries and is similar to tennis except the balls are hit off indoor wall courts.

My vote is for Wrestling, with Baseball/Softball second.



The IOC will elect a new President on Sept. 10 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The finalists were announced this week:

Thomas Bach of Germany, a lawyer and 1976 team foil gold medalist for West Germany; Richard Carrión of Puerto Rico, a financier; Ng Ser Miang of Singapore, I.O.C. vice president; Denis Oswald of Switzerland, a 1968 rowing bronze medalist; Wu Ching-kuo of Taiwan, an architect and the head of the International Boxing Association and Sergei Bubka of Ukraine, a Russian pole-vaulter.

I don't know IOC internal politics or who would be best to run the IOC but I do know who we do need. We need a pro American IOC president like Juan Antonio Samaranch which, as president, awarded the US two Olympic games in a six year stretch. The US was awarded four Olympic games in a 22 year stretch, 1980, 1984, 1996 and 2002. Jacque Rogge, current IOC President from Belgium is pro Europe and anti western. The USA has been awarded no Olympics under his leadership. Included were two failed USA bids, 2005 New York City and 2009 Chicago. Chicago was eliminated in the first round of IOC voting to host the 2016 Olympics that were awarded to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and New York was eliminated in the third round that gave us Paris and London as finalists for the 2012 games.


Lastly, Adam Nelson of the USA moved up from silver to gold in the shot put at the 2004 Athens Olympics because Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine was stripped of the gold medal for doping.
Doping tests can be done and redone as more substances are identified. Eight years later medals switch hands yet again. I'm sure there will be more dopers found from the 2004 games. Stay tuned.