In the summer of 1996, the eyes of the wrestling world weren’t transfixed on ratings or politics. They were locked onto 27-year-old American Kurt Angle, who was putting the finishing touches on one of the most decorated careers in the sport’s modern history with an Olympic gold medal victory in Atlanta.

Now, the concern in the wrestling world is whether the sport’s tradition can earn it a spot in the 2020 Games and beyond — and it’s all Angle’s icy blue eyes are focused on.

“It’s all about politics and money, and there’s no more tradition or history that really interests the IOC [International Olympic Committee], or at least that’s the way it’s basically perceived now,” lamented Angle, who at 44 is on top of an entirely different world of wrestling.

There wasn’t much left to prove after Angle defeated Abbas Jadidi of Iran for the gold in ’96. He had already captured whatever championships there were at any level: a Pennsylvania state championship with Mount Lebanon High School, two NCAA championships for Clarion University, a gold medal in the World Championships, and the Olympic gold. He had risen so high in the sport that his head was crashing against the ceiling.

So, sports colleague supreme John Dudley once commented how there’s no middle ground when it comes to a youth’s initiation into wrestling.

He meant amateur wrestling, by the way. Not the Hulk Hogan/Rowdy Roddy Piper/Nature Boy Ric Flair/Sgt. Slaughter/Captain Lou Albano variety that once hoarded the attention of my Strong Vincent brethren.

I don’t remember John’s quote verbatim, but it was something along the lines of how you only needed one gym class session on the mat to learn if mankind’s oldest known sport was for you or not.

Win or lose, you immediately knew in your gut if you wanted to try it again.

Well, after all-the-way-back-to-kindergarten friend Brian Lipiec gleefully mangled my guts, I can emphatically tell you I never wanted to try it again. Since then, the closest I ever came to a half nelson was watching that Ryan Gosling movie of the same title.

Still, I’ve come to appreciate the sport since I began covering scholastic wrestling in the mid-2000s.

No, make that sincerely appreciate.

Basically folks, you have to have a different mindset to wrestle. And I mean that as a compliment.

As a life-long wrestler and supporter of wrestling, my first thought when hearing the Olympic committee had canceled wrestling for the 2020 Games was “this can’t be true.” Wrestling is an original Olympic sport, and one of the only true amateur sports still left in the world. In case you haven’t heard, wrestling has indeed been cut from the 2020 Olympic Games.

What does it mean? My first thought is outside of America, where wrestling in some countries, Russia and Iran, is the national sport. Some young people in these countries use wrestling as a way of escaping poor living conditions. Thinking about that puts a little perspective on the magnitude of the decision.

Wrestling may not be the biggest spectator sport, and no one expects to get rich doing it. And most who do it, do it just for the competition and the potential Olympic glory. America is the only country where wrestling is available in middle school, high school, and college; every other country has the Olympic Games.

For many young athletes in East Tennessee, football just makes sense.

Wrestling? Not so much.

Hunter Fortner, one of four local boys who won AAU Spring Youth Nationals on March 23 in Kingsport, said he’s learned they’re not so different — but not without a few surprises along the way.

“I got a flyer for it at school,” said Fortner, of his first exposure to wrestling as a second grader. “I thought it was WWE stuff at first. It was really weird. I didn’t really get it.”

Now an eighth grader at Holston Middle School and two-time AAU All-American, Fortner said it all makes sense.

“It’s like football,” he said, while crediting coaches Joe Reep and Tim Pittman as well as teammates for helping him along. “It’s a contact sport that keeps me in shape during the winter. “A takedown is kind of just like tackling, but there’s more technique,” he added.

It’s clicked with others in the area as well. Six-year-old Mason Shields (35-pound tot division), ten-year-old Colby Dalon (75-pound midget division), and sixth-grader Tyler Jay Holmes (112-pound junior division) each won nationals in their respective classifications. The event included competitors from more than a dozen states.

The Bahamas Amateur Wrestling Federation (BAWF) has joined with federations around the Americas in a campaign to reinstate wrestling as an Olympic Sport.

The executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted in February to drop wrestling from the Olympic program as of 2020. The surprise decision was a significant point when the Pan American Council of Associated Wrestling (CPLA) met in congress April 4 in Panama City, Panama. The Bahamas joined 27 countries at the congress, where several actions to campaign for the sport’s reinstatement in the Games were discussed.

“Wrestlers around the world are initiating programs in their countries and joining with other countries to save our sport,” said Clarence Rolle, president of the BAWF after attending the CPLA Congress. “Wrestling is popular around the world. We have 177 countries with recognized federations and wrestling is an original sport of the Olympic Games. It is an important link between the ancient Games and modern times. It is not even possible for us to imagine the Olympics without wrestling.”

Dana White

There was a time in the not-to-distant past when Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was two million dollars in the hole. Today, it’s several billion in the black, thanks to the efforts of promotion president Dana White (and the checkbook of the Fertitta brothers).

Now, White tells NBC Sports he’s taking on a new fight.

“[Wrestling] needs to be more fan-friendly, it needs to be more exciting. I’ve met with a lot of the top guys in wrestling. Actually I met with them last Tuesday, and yeah, the UFC is joining the fight to help save Olympic wrestling. Not just Olympic wrestling, but colleges are dropping wrestling now. High schools have been dropping wrestling… I’ve personally funded tons of wrestling programs, and the UFC has funded tons of wrestling programs for high school kids. It’s in the discussion phase. These guys are going out and fighting the fight, and whatever they need from me and what I think I could do, [I'll do].”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board voted earlier this year to have amateur wrestling cut from future games in an effort to overhaul the entire program, focusing on “popularity, finances, tickets sold and governance” (see why here).

Every pro was once an amateur.
Every expert was once a beginner.
So dream big. And start now.

It may be a long hard journey, but it’ll be worth it in the end. Never give up.

Jordan Burroughs began his wrestling career as a five year old and by 24 he has won an NJSIAA state title, two NCAA championships, a world championship and a gold medal at the London Olympics. Burroughs spoke with The Star-Ledger this week to talk about the International Olympic Committee’s decision to drop wrestling from the Games beginning in 2020, his recent experience in Iran at the wrestling World Cup and a March weekend, in 2006, when he won his state title.

The Star-Ledger: Some have said the reason for the IOC’s decision to cut wrestling is that is too elemental a sport and it doesn’t appeal to the general public for that reason. As a participant and a fan of wrestling, what is it that you appreciate about the sport?

Jordan Burroughs: I definitely appreciate the individual aspect of it. It is one of the few sports that is hand-to-hand combat. Everything you do is based upon your own training. If you have weakness, it is exposed, and your strength is evident. Unlike, say, football or basketball, it’s you on your own. When you compete, the commitment you’ve made to sport will show.

ConU Olympian David Tremblay Says Goodbye to University Wrestling After Half-Decade in Maroon and Gold

Now in his fifth year with the Stingers, Tremblay is one of the most successful wrestlers in the team’s storied history.

Last summer, Tremblay represented Canada at the London Olympics, finishing 14th in his weight class after a difficult draw in the tournament.

Earlier this month, Tremblay won his fifth consecutive gold medal at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Championships in London, ON—making him only the third wrestler ever to win gold in each year of eligibility for the CIS. Tremblay was also named Outstanding Male Wrestler of the tournament.

Now, as Tremblay is finishing up his last semester at Concordia and his sparkling Stingers career comes to an end, his teammates and coaches are contemplating life after David.

“We’ll have to find another David Tremblay—and that’s not easy,” said Rob Moore, assistant coach of the Concordia wrestling team.
“There’s always a rebuilding period,” Moore continued. “That’s the nature of university and high school sports.”