Statement from Lee Roy Smith, Executive Director of the NWHOF:

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Statement from Lee Roy Smith, Executive Director of the NWHOF:

The IOC has alerted a silent giant in the world of sport that will protest its Executive Committee’s recommendation to eliminate the sport of wrestling from the 2020 Olympic Summer agenda.

The International and National Federations of Wrestling need to request an investigation into the decision making process of the IOC’s Executive Co...mmittee decision.

Their decision was not justified by the criteria they claim to use for these decisions. The IOC Executive Committee meeting in St Petersburg this May will determine a more accurate picture of our sports future on the 2020 Olympic agenda.

Global participation is vibrant in one of the Olympic Movements stewards of the flame. The sport of wrestling has 180 participating countries in comparison to Modern Pentathlon, which has 53 countries. In fact, Wrestling has more global participation than many of the other core sports on the current Olympic agenda.

The sport has had to prove its relevancy time and again and has prevailed. That is why we are mankind’s oldest sport. The interpretation of the word “Wrestling,” means to survive. The IOC has found a way to unite countries like America, Russia and Iran in a battle of sport relevancy.

It would be a tremendous support to our case for inclusion if our “friends in the media” around the world would spotlight our case for inclusion and the decision making process of the IOC's Executive Committee and its IOC membership in determining this agenda item.