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Another Olympic wrestler returns gold medal in protest
For the second time in two weeks, an Olympic gold medalist has returned their medal in protest of the International Olympic Committee’s decision vote wrestling out of the 2020 Summer Olympics, reports USA Today.
Russia’s Sagid Murtazaliev, who won heavyweight freestyle gold at the 2000 Games in Sydney followed Bulgarian champion Valentin Yordanov, who sent back his gold medal from 1996 Atlanta Games last week.
“The decision to return my Olympic medal was not easy for me,” Murtazaliev said in a letter addressed to IOC president Jacques Rogge and obtained by RIA Novosti. ”With this act I express my solidarity with the millions of athletes and fans of our sport who are condemning the recommendation of the IOC. Our sport is an integral part of the Olympic movement and one of the foundations of both the ancient and modern Olympics.”
The IOC’s executive board is scheduled to meet in May in St. Petersburg, Russia. They will then decide what sport or sports to recommend for inclusion for the 2020 games. A final vote will be conducted in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Some of the candidates are wrestling, baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wushu.
Wrestling goes and rythimic gymnastics and synchronized diving stay?? They are kidding, right??
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LikeNow if they could only replace it with Pro wrestling. Staged, but way more entertaining. Still you have to feel for all the dedicated wrestlers who've been raining for years for their chance in the Olympic spotlight.
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LikeBravo to these two men, they are simply CHAMPIONS!
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LikeRoller sports in a contender? What the hell is the IOC smoking.
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LikeBrownLanet Well, you've got a sport (equestrian) where an animal is the star and yet the horses don't get medals.
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Likestabmasterarson21 BrownLanet good point, so remove that instead of wrestling.
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LikeCharlesSmith1 stabmasterarson21 BrownLanet There are countless others which should be cut first. Synchronized swimming, synchronized diving, rythmic gymnastics, badmitton, steeplechase, race walking...
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LikeDumbest decision in Olympics history.
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LikeI will never watch another Olympics if wrestling is eliminated - it is one of the oldest Olympic sports and its only drawback in 2013 is that it is not the playground of the wealthy IOC.
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LikeI certainly don't agree with the IOC's seeming bizarre decision to eliminate wrestling from the Olympic Games, but really, your disappearance from the space in front of your TV will ultimately have even less effect than these two clowns mindlessly deciding to return something that they invested a substantial amount of their lives to earn. To each his own, but I've always felt people who tune in to the Olympics primarily for one athlete or one sport or yes, even one country, largely miss the point of the Games anyway and are probably better off indulging themselves elsewhere.
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Likeopaque All it takes is NBC to say, "NO! that's not going to fly", and you can bet your sweet behind the IOC is going to change its stance. NBC provides the most revenue to IOC...or it could be a group of broadcasters from countries like Japan, Iran, Russia, Turkey, etc that support wrestling. Money talk$ and BS walk$, too bad IOC corrupt officials don't walk as well.
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LikeI am not sure why they are eliminating any sport, but I wouldn't say that wrestling is any more deserving of inclusion than the other sports it is up against. It would be nice if they all could be there though, I don't see why not. Although since wrestling is one of the original olumpic sports (way back in the days of Athens and Sparta!) it is really sad they would eliminate it. Why not do us all a favor and eliminate curling? (it's a joke, no offense meant towards curlers, it just looks so silly on tv).
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LikeTimothyP Curling is a winter sport and wrestling is a summer one so not sure this is a good example to use. What about equestrian? Is that a sport? Shooting "sports", the plethora of various of gymnastic events...there are plenty to choose from.
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Likeoh no, you dont get to roll around with another sweaty man, boo hoo
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LikeReal stupid comment here from JoeyGotnonuts. Useless simpleton, keep your idiocy to yourself in future.
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Likeopaque Save your words..Donut boy typically posts things on a regular basis to show his lack of intelligence.
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LikeIOC proves it ony cares about money and show- no respect for tradition; quite sad.
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