It was worth the fight

All that for this. Threatened with exclusion by the IOC Executive Board last February, the fight saved its head and its future on Sunday afternoon in Buenos Aires. The General Assembly of the Olympic institution preferred it to squash and baseball-softball, when choosing a sport to include in the program for the 2020 Games. A return to square one, therefore. Logical, credible and justified. But little to the advantage of the image of the IOC.
In detail, the members of the IOC gave 49 votes to wrestling, against 24 to baseball–softball, which made common cause, and 22 to squash. An unequivocal result, but almost known in advance. It was being said almost everywhere, for several weeks, that the fight would remain in place.
Upon arrival, wrestling gained tremendous publicity, so unexpected for a discipline with little media coverage. And she discovered allies and supporters all over the planet, including Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. The other two candidates spent big on lobbying and communications, for zero results. As for the IOC, it revealed a certain incomprehension between the majority of members and the small group of decision-makers of the executive board.
A gap that Jacques Rogge tried to explain by pointing out the shortcomings of the struggle and its international federation. “I can’t see into the heads of each of my 14 colleagues on the executive commission,” suggested Jacques Rogge. However, during the discussions, I knew that the governance of the International Wrestling Federation at that time was not optimal: there was no athlete with the right to vote on the executive council, nor at the level of the The general assembly, no athletes' commission, no woman on the executive council and the rules lacked clarity and were not necessarily understood by the general public. There were a number of things that were inadequate and that is why the executive board made this decision. »
For the struggle, these seven months of crisis were saving. With its back against the wall, FILA blew away the dust that had ended up covering its competitions and regulations. Its weight categories have been changed, the duration of fights reduced, its governance reformed.
“It is an understatement to say that today is the most important day for our sport in three thousand years of existence,” dared Nenad Lalovic, the new boss of the Federation, while addressing the members of the IOC . The struggle has learned the lesson. »
Consequence of this "affair": the Association of Summer Olympic Federations (ASOIF) wishes that in the future the examination no longer covers sports as a whole, but all competitions and disciplines of all sports . Some that are too similar could thus be eliminated to make room for new sports, in order to remain within the limit of 10.500 athletes set by the Olympic charter.