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Women's wrestling joining that huge Olympic family
By BILL LANKHOF, TORONTO SUN 9/20/2001
The International Olympic Committee has approved a new sport. Women's wrestling is coming to the Olympics as part of a master plan to attract the female demographic.
Not to mention it makes life so much easier for Olympic piggies when they go visiting other cities.
Now when the Olympic geezers sit around the mudpits at the Grope 'n' Grottos of the world they can tell their wives it's just a business meeting. Staying abreast of the competition, so to speak.
Who'd have guessed watching a Jello fight could go on the expense account under "Scouting."
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Olympics to grapple with women wrestlers
September 20, 2001
BY ELLIOTT HARRIS SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
It's not clear whether mud or Jell-O will be involved, but women's wrestling has been added to the 2004 Olympics.
OK, the first part of the previous sentence was an attempt at humor; the second part is for real.
The addition of women's wrestling is pending men's wrestling cutting events. The International Olympic Committee also moved Wednesday to drop one weight division in boxing and rejected new events in some other sports.
"This is the first time we don't increase the number of events on the program,'' IOC sports director Gilbert Felli said. "Until now, we added an average of 20 or more events per games since the 1950s.''
The IOC figures 10,508 athletes will compete in 299 events in Athens, Greece. Last year in Sydney, Australia, 10,655 athletes participated in 300 events.
The IOC board also gave formal recognition to the international federation of tug of war, an event last contested in the Olympics in 1920. Which puts tug of war in the same ballpark as ballroom dancing, golf, rugby, squash and water skiing as sports trying to earn a spot in the games. Rejected was bodybuilding.
Adding four women's events means dropping two men's. If the international wrestling federation agrees to the cuts, boxing and baseball would be the only sports of the 28 in the Olympics without women's events. Since 1996, the Olympics have had softball.
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Women's Wrestling Added to Games
ALAN ABRAHAMSON, L.A.Times 9/20/2001
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday authorized the addition of women's wrestling to the 2004 Summer Games.
As part of a series of moves aimed at managing the number of sports and athletes and setting schedules for the 2004 Olympics, the IOC's ruling Executive Board also gave hope to backers of tug of war that it might one day come back to the Olympic program but denied official recognition to the international bodybuilding federation.
In addition, the board told boxing to cut one of its weight divisions. Final approval of women's wrestling is also tied to a cut in men's wrestling events.
The action by the board affirmed a commitment by new IOC President Jacques Rogge to control the size of the Games--in part by limiting the number of athletes to about 10,500.
Under Juan Antonio Samaranch, the prior president, the number of sports and athletes grew steadily from Games to Games.
IOC sports director Gilbert Felli said, "Until now, we added an average of 20 or more events per games since the 1950s."
The IOC plan for 2004 envisions 10,508 athletes competing in 299 events.
In Sydney last year, 10,655 athletes took part in 300 events.
Felli said he believed the heaviest boxing weight class, super heavyweight, would be the one cut.
Heavyweight boxers would still compete, but boxing officials would have to reshuffle weight divisions.
The board also gave formal recognition to the international federation of tug of war--a necessary designation before a sport can become an Olympic event.
An Olympic sport in the early 1900s, tug of war touched off a major controversy in the 1908 Games when the U.S. team, which lost in the first round, complained that the British team used illegal boots with steel cleats, spikes, and heels. The protest was denied.
Tug of war is now among about two dozen recognized sports--among them ballroom dancing, golf and water skiing--hoping to become part of the Olympic program.
IOC Medical Director Patrick Schamasch, meantime, announced that athletes in endurance sports must take blood tests upon arrival at the Olympic Village at the Salt Lake City Winter Games. Those who fail the tests aimed at detecting drug use would then have to take a decisive urine test for the banned synthetic hormone EPO.
EPO use is of particular concern among these athletes. It increases red blood cell levels, increasing oxygen-carrying capacity--and endurance.
A definitive urine-only test for EPO is expected by mid-November, Schamasch said. It will replace a blood-urine combination test used at last year's Sydney Games; no athlete tested positive for EPO at those Games.
In a related but separate anti-doping initiative, officials had previously said they hope to carry out a pre-Games urine test on all athletes competing at the Salt Lake Olympics.
Finally, Schamasch announced a progress report on a study of 600 dietary supplements bought off-the-shelf at stores worldwide: Of the first 200 jars, 15% to 20%, "higher than we expected," contained substances such as nandrolone or ephedrine, that could produce a positive drug test.
The study was launched in response to claims by athletes that they unknowingly ingested banned substances while using dietary supplements they believed to be within the IOC's anti-doping rules.
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Wrestling possible for women in 2004
Star Telegram 9/20/2001
The IOC gave its approval to adding women's wrestling for the 2004 Olympics but told boxing to cut one of its weight divisions and rejected new events in a number of other sports.
The moves Wednesday by the International Olympic Committee must still be adopted by the sports' international federations before they are applied to the schedule for the Athens Games.
Because the addition of women's wrestling is tied to a cut in men's wrestling events, final approval is not a certainty.
The IOC plan, approved by its ruling executive board, envisions the participation of 10,508 athletes competing in 299 events in Athens. In Sydney last year, there were 10,655 athletes in 300 events.
The IOC gave its approval to the addition of four women's events in wrestling. But, in return, two men's wrestling events would have to be cut.
The IOC also introduced maximum quotas in track (2,000 athletes) and swimming (1,300). In Sydney, 2,146 track and field athletes and 1,448 swimmers competed.
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Women's wrestling could join 2004 program
By Vicki Michaelis and Gary Mihoces, USA TODAY 9/20/2001
Women's freestyle wrestling will be added to the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday. But in keeping with new IOC President Jacques Rogge's desire to cap the number of athletes to help control the Games' size, men's wrestling and boxing will be asked to cut divisions to make room.
Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling, said that while "we are 100% behind adding women to the Olympic program," the IOC's decision "pits our women's discipline against our men's discipline."
After the 1996 Olympics, the weight classes in freestyle and Greco-Roman men's wrestling were cut to eight from 10, a move USA Wrestling saw as a concession toward getting women's wrestling into the Olympics, Bender said.
In order to add four women's classes, the IOC said two more men's classes and one boxing division will have to be cut.
The moves must still be adopted by the sports' international federations before they are applied to the schedule for the Athens Games.
Because the addition of women's wrestling is tied to a cut in men's wrestling events, final approval is not a certainty.
"I'm happy they want to put the women in, but I don't agree at all with dropping men's weight classes," said Tina George, a member of the U.S. women's wrestling team.
"This is the first time we don't increase the number of events on the program," IOC sports director Gilbert Felli said. "Until now, we added an average of 20 or more events per games since the 1950s."
The IOC plan, approved by its ruling executive board, envisions the participation of 10,508 athletes competing in 299 events in Athens. In Sydney last year, there were 10,655 athletes in 300 events.
"To control the size of the games, we have to control the number of events," Felli said. "We need to keep to a maximum of 10,500 athletes and 300 events."
Felli said the international wrestling federation may not agree to the reduction.
"If we are going to be tough, we will tell them, 'If you want to include women and increase the quota, then you must also eliminate the other events,"' he said.
Of the 28 sports on the Olympic program, boxing and baseball would be the only ones left without women's events. However, women's softball has been played since 1996.
The most significant cut proposed Wednesday was in boxing, with the elimination of one weight division, a total of 26 boxers.
Felli said he believed the heaviest weight class — the super heavyweight category — would be the one to go. Heavyweight boxers would continue to compete, but the decision would force a reshuffling of the various weight divisions.
In Sydney, there were 310 boxers competing in 12 divisions. In Athens, there would be 286 fighters in 11 classes.
The IOC also introduced maximum quotas in track (2,000 athletes) and swimming (1,300). Those two sports have often surpassed their quotas, with 2,146 track and field athletes (over the 2,000 limit) competing in Sydney and 1,448 (over the 1,273 limit) in swimming.
Rejected were requests for new events or additional teams in swimming, baseball and tennis.
Meanwhile, the IOC board gave formal recognition to the international federation of tug of war. The sport was contested at six Olympics between 1900 and 1920.
The mainly symbolic recognition does not mean tug of war will become an Olympic sport again. Tug of war is among two dozen recognized sports — including ballroom dancing, golf, rugby, squash and water skiing — hoping one day to get on the Olympic program.
The board rejected official recognition for body building. Two years ago, the IOC gave the sport provisional acceptance despite body building's reputation for steroid use.
Among the IOC's other announcements:
All endurance-sport athletes will have to take blood tests before the Salt Lake City Olympics, and those who fail will have to have a urine test for EPO.
Preliminary results from an IOC-commissioned study of diet supplements show that 15-20% contain banned substances, including nandrolone.
Security update: Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney told the IOC executive board that broader airspace restrictions are likely to be among whatever changes are made to security plans.
While expressing confidence in the plans, IOC officials asked Romney for assurances that all foreign athletes will be able to clear U.S. immigration.
A confirmed list of participating countries won't be available until January, but the Muslim countries of Pakistan and Iran have sent notification that they would like to send delegations to the Feb. 8-24 Winter Games. Afghanistan is banned from Olympic participation after being suspended by the IOC in October 1999 because its Olympic committee could no longer function under the Taliban regime.
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