Opinion | IOC has sold soul to the (TV) devil

I love the game of golf and have little interest in wrestling. But we are talking Olympics in summer, not Augusta in April. In a somewhat bewildering move, the International Olympic Committee has decided wrestling was not sexy enough and bedevilled by weak TV ratings so it will be out come the 2020 Summer Games in order to allow other sports, like golf, into the fray.

There is an understandable chorus of shock and outrage and much is now being made of the fact that wrestling has been a core sport in the Olympic movement since the first modern Games in 1896. But wrestling dates back much further than that and was one of the core sports in the Ancient Olympics in 776 BC. Still this is 2013 and the IOC issued a simple press release this week announcing its executive board recommended wrestling not be included "on the list of core sports".

The IOC release went on to state: "In an effort to ensure the Olympic Games remain relevant to sports fans of all generations, the Olympic Programme Commission systematically reviews every sport following each edition of the Games." And with that the IOC refused further comment, other than to say wrestling now joins seven shortlisted sports - baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, rock climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wushu - in applying for inclusion as the one additional sport in 2020.

Most thought the seemingly elitist modern pentathlon, a five-sport competition featuring pistol shooting, swimming, fencing, equestrianism and cross-country running, would get the axe. Few anticipated it would be wrestling and not surprisingly the backlash is taking a nasty turn.

Russian wrestling coach Vladimir Uruimagov called the decision "a blow to masculine origins". He claimed the IOC executive board was a loosely aligned group of homosexuals. "If they expel wrestling now," he said, "that means the gays will soon run the whole world."

Organisers of the Gay Games were quick to point out, however, that wrestling has been a core event at their gathering since the first games were held in 1982. And it's also worth noting that in the first Olympiad in 776 BC participants wrestled nude and were covered in olive oil to help celebrate the achievements of the human body.