Iowa coach Tom Brands responded to the International Olympic Committee’s decision to eliminate wrestling as an Olympic sport in 2020.
“It’s worth and death, because you can’t control death. I feel like we could have controlled this to some degree, get ahead of it a little bit. There were warning signs in the past.,” Brands says.
Brands says he and his fellow coaches are going to fight to get Wrestling reinstated to the Olympics. He says it is up to the United States to lead the fight.
“What we have to do is become unified as a world. It sounds corny kind of, but you know wrestling is third in the number of medals won in the United States behind swimming and track. It’s ahead of gymnastics, it’s ahead of every other sport,” Brands says.
Although the IOC decision isn’t final, it’s unlikely the Committee will vote to return the sport to the Games soon after voting it out. By dropping one sport, the IOC can add a new sport to the program later this year. The surprise decision removes one of the oldest Olympic sports from the 2020 Games.