Ancient Olympic wrestlers would sometimes fight to the death. IOC better understand we’re ready to do that again.

It’s not to late to save Olympic wrestling. Make your voices heard.

Crawling is acceptable.
Falling is acceptable.
Puking is acceptable.
Crying is acceptable.
Pain is acceptable.
Blood is acceptable.
Quitting is not.

Whatever it takes. Wrestlers never back down.

The United States wrestling team and Dan Gable are asking for your help to keep wrestling as an Olympic event. The International Olympic Committee this week recommended dropping the sport – a staple of the games since they began in 1896 – beginning in 2020. A final decision is expected later this year.

A Russian coach furious about the International Olympic Committee’s recent decision to remove wrestling from the 2020 Olympics has made an inflammatory claim about who is to blame for the move.

Speaking to Russian sports site R-Sport, Russian wrestling coach Vladimir Uruimagov said that the IOC’s decision was evidence of a gay conspiracy.

Dan Gable, wrestling legend, talks about the history of American wrestling. The dedication and contribution of wrestlers in their pursuit to become champions.

Share this and spread the message if you would like to see Wrestling remain in the Olympic games.

Three-time NCAA all-American wrestler Hudson Taylor and Athlete Ally are taking aim at homophobia and sexism in sports and working to bring real sportsmanship.

Any sport is about respect. Respecting yourself, your opponent and your team. And respect includes equality.

Since having his own “ah-ha” moment in 2010, Taylor has tried to bridge the gaps between athletes and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities across the country, he said

“My senior year, I wore a human rights campaign sticker on my headgear because I thought it would look cool,” said Taylor, who is now a wrestling coach at Columbia University. “I had no intention of turning it into anything… but in response, I got thousands of emails from closeted kids across country, and that was my ‘ah-ha’ moment.”

For the past two years, Taylor has dedicated his life to being an LGBT ally, focusing his attention on athletics.

Taylor’s journey into activism includes talking with his religious family about being an LGBT ally and fearing his teammates would think he was gay.

“If I can remove or flush out some of the obstacles and explain how I overcame them, then maybe they’ll also take a stand,” he said.

Beat the Streets Columbus Wrestling Photos

WrestlingGear.Com, an online retailer of wrestling apparel and equipment, has donated 100 pairs of kneepads to the Beat the Streets, a program that aims help at-risk kids in urban areas through the discipline and structure competitive wrestling provides.

WrestlingGear.Com announced a charitable donation of 100 pairs of knee pads to the Beat the Streets USA Program, an organization committed to providing at-risk youth the opportunities to benefit from the hard work and structure associated with the sport of wrestling. The knee pads supplied by WrestlingGear.Com will be distributed to newly participating Beat the Streets Program cities.

Jeff Pape, CEO of WrestlingGear.Com, has spearheaded the donation. “We are proud and excited to send 100 pairs of wrestling knee pads to the Beat the Streets USA Program,” Pape says. “With this donation we can play a part in providing at-risk kids with the equipment they need to compete in cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Columbus.”
Pape has a longstanding relationship with the wrestling community. He began his wrestling career in the fourth grade, eventually going on to the Illinois State Tournament quarter-finals before joining the wrestling squad at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Pape founded WrestlingGear.Com in 1998.

I was hoping that Glee would showcase wrestling this season as it would give more visibility to the sport. Glee is such a popular show on TV that it could do a lot of good for the sport that sometimes struggles to stay around. Well they did; sort of.

In the latest episode titled ‘Bad Reputation’ they remade Olivia Newton John’s song ‘Lets Get Physical’ and in the video the guys were wearing wrestling singlets and performing dance moves that sometimes resembled what you might see in a wrestling practice.

Depending on how you look at it, Glee may or may not have promoted amateur wrestling. Sure the guys looked like wrestlers, but it was more about the body than the sport. See for yourself.

I don’t think Glee really promoted wrestling, but it may be as close as it gets.

If you want to check out the full episode of Glee, you can catch it on Hulu.

Matthew Blumberg USA Wrestling

What was the next step after the University of Oregon announced its plans to drop its Div. I wrestling team in July 2007?

There was no debate for retired University of Oregon head wrestling coach Ron Finley. Something needed to be done, and quick.

“Within four days (of being informed of the decision to end the wrestling program), we had the site, SaveOregonWrestling.org, up and running,” said Finley, who continues to serve as the director of Save Oregon Wrestling.

After all, without a website or some other way to inform the wrestling community, how were they going to get their message out?

“From the very start we knew we needed to do something, we needed a way to easily communicate throughout the entire country,” said Finley, adding, “We needed to get our message out.”

Oregon competed one final wrestling season, running out the string during the 2007-08 year. In spite of strong public support for retaining the program, the university and its athletic director at the time, Pat Kilkenny, allowed the Duck wrestling program to join the list of programs which have been dropped.

In the past few weeks, the college wrestling world has been abuzz about head coaching changes at major programs such Iowa State, Penn State, Arizona State and University of Illinois… to the point where many wrestlers, coaches and fans may not realize that at least three college wrestling programs have been axed in April alone.

Earlier last month, Carson-Newman and MIT reported that they were cutting their intercollegiate wrestling programs. Just this week, Delaware State announced it was eliminating wrestling, reducing its roster of intercollegiate sports from 18 down to 17.

“Dropping the wrestling program was a very difficult decision influenced by several factors,” said acting DSU President Claibourne D. Smith. “Like a number of programs around the nation being discontinued in these economic times, it is with regret that the University can no longer field a wrestling program adequate to University and NCAA expectations.”

During the 2008-2009 season, other college wrestling programs getting the ax have included Lawrence College, Norwich University, Portland State, Rose-Hulman, and Wagner College.

In light of these cuts, the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) has announced an action plan, working directly with these programs and affiliated groups to see what might be done at each individual school… with an ultimate goal of reinstating programs.