The Olympic fate of wrestling will be decided on September 8 in Buenos Aires. The IOC must decide, during a General Assembly that is busier than ever, whether it will keep the discipline in the Games program from 2020, or whether it prefers squash or baseball/softball. Ten days before the vote, the president of the French Wrestling Federation, Alain Bertholom, answered questions from FrancsJeux.
FrancsJeux : Ten days before the fateful date, is wrestling in a good position to keep its place in the Olympic program?
Alain Bertholom: It's hard to say. I am naturally optimistic, so I believe in it. But many parameters will intervene in the choice of the IOC. I am thinking in particular of the other election, the one concerning the presidency of the International Olympic Committee. There may be a form of package, alliances between countries. The context remains very tense, nothing is won.
Did the International Wrestling Federation (FILA) have a “plan” to go all out in the final days before the vote in Buenos Aires?
A FILA delegation is on site. It is made up of around ten people. Among them, one of our former wrestlers, Lise Legrand, bronze medalist at the Athens Games in 2004. Our representatives will lobby, of course, but above all they will take advantage of these last few days to explain to the members of the IOC the efforts that have been made to improve our sport, modernize it and make it more attractive.
Over the last few months, what concrete actions have been taken by French wrestling to help safeguard the discipline?
We went to meet the public, particularly in Paris and Besançon. We also initiated a petition, which collected around 90 signatures. A very respectable figure in a country where wrestling does not have the audience it does in the United States, for example. If wrestling were to no longer be Olympic, it would be like a small death for us in France. We would lose grants and support.
