It's Back: Wrestling Rejoins the Olympics

IOC votes to reinstate it for 2020 Games
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 8, 2013 11:35 AM CDT
It's Back: Wrestling Rejoins the Olympics
Antonio Castro, right, son of Cuba's Fidel Castro and member of the World Baseball Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC), speaks during the sports' presentation during the 125th IOC session in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013. During the meeting members will elect a new sport choosing...   (Victor R. Caivano)

Just seven months after it got dumped by the IOC, wrestling has been officially reinstated for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, reports the AP. The sport swatted away challengers for a spot at the Games with ease: Wrestling won 49 votes to 24 votes for baseball-softball and 22 for squash. "Today is the most important day in the 2,000-year history of our sport," says the president of wrestling's governing body. "We feel the weight of that history. Remaining on the Olympic program is crucial to wrestling's survival." Wrestling has been at every Games except 1900, and dates to the ancient Olympics. (More wrestling stories.)

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