The International Olympic Committee on Sunday said wrestling has finally found its way back as an additional sport for the Summer Olympic Games of 2020 and 2024.
A statement from the IOC said its members voted for wrestling with a simple majority of votes cast in the first round at its 125th Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The decision was made after IOC agreed on the 25 sports which will form the core for the 2020 Games to be hosted by the city of Tokyo.
The statement said: “The Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles made a presentation to the Session, along with the international federations of baseball/softball and squash.
“They were all shortlisted by the IOC Executive Board in May following an extensive evaluation by the Olympic Programme Commission.”
It quoted IOC President, Jacques Rogge, as saying wrestling has shown great passion and resilience in the last few months.
Rogge said: “I will like to offer my congratulations to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles.
“Wrestling has shown great passion and resilience in the last few months, and its officials have taken a number of steps to modernise and improve their sport.
“This includes addition of more women and athletes in decision-making positions, rule changes to make the sport more exciting and easy to understand, and increase in the number of women’s competitions.
“We are pleased with their reaction and happy to have wrestling on the Olympic programme in 2020 and 2024.”
The review of programmes in the Olympics was part of IOC efforts to ensure the Games remain relevant to sports fans of all generations.
In order to control the size, cost and complexity of the Games, the Olympic Programme was capped in 2002 at 28 sports, approximately 300 events and a target of 10,500 athletes.
Also, a systematic review of the Olympic programme would be conducted after every edition of the Games to provide regular rejuvenation of the Games while maintaining continuity and consistency.
The concept of a core group of 25 sports with a maximum of three additional sports was adopted in 2007.
Two years later, golf and rugby sevens were added to the programme of the Rio 2016 and the 2020 Olympic Games.
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