Wrestling out of 2020 Summer Games

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - One of the oldest Olympic sports has been dropped from the 2020 Summer Games.

Wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling have been part of the Olympic games since they began in ancient Greece around 800 B.C. But now they've been scratched off the list of Olympic sports, and it's left the wrestling world in shock. The sport has only been excluded once before.

Jim Beichner, UB's head wrestling coach, says the wrestling community was blindsided by the decision of the International Olympic Committee to drop wrestling. Considering the sport's growing popularity for men and women in the U.S. and abroad, Beichner says it's a mistake.

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"Russia, China, Japan, all over the world, the Middle East, wrestling is a very big part of their cultures, and our culture," Beichner said. "It is a big hit for the sport of wrestling, and we hope somehow it is reversed."

UB's head assistant wrestling coach Matt Lackey has competed internationally and he suspects wrestlers got "out-lobbied" by interests representing other Olympic events - like the Pentathlon - that was rumored to be on the bubble.

"They had a lobbying group, and they even thought about flying out for the decision, and I don't know that we had anything like that going on," Lackey said.

Lackey says international competition fosters a spirit of camaraderie among wrestlers that transcends the sport itself.

"The spirit of the Olympics, what everybody talks about, is bringing countries together, and staying above the fray, over the political battles. It is where athletes come together to be athletes, and be sportsmen, and that is what you get out of that," Lackey said.

Unlike other high school and college sports, wrestling offers few professional opportunities, so reaching the Olympics is the top of the heap. What does the future hold?

Lackey said, "We are fighters, and I know that the wrestling community - not only here in the United States, but across the world - is not going to take this lying down."

The governing body for wrestling will apply for re-admittance in the Olympic Games, later this year. Ironically, they are competing with seven other sports for a slot, including American's pastime: baseball.

A decision should be announced by September.