Decatur High Athletic Director Hopes Wrestling Remains in Olympics

The news came the day before the Georgia State Wrestling Championships. 

In a secret vote, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board decided to eliminate wrestling–one of the sports included since the Olympics' inception– from the Olympics, starting in 2020. But many actively involved in a grassroots movement and those whose hope for the sport just won’t go down for the count may be enough to keep the sport in the international elite competition.

Decatur High Athletic Director Carter Wilson is one of those hopefuls.

"I'm hopeful about the grassroots movement that's taking place to get it (the board's decision) reversed before 2020," Wilson said.

He said the sport should remain as part of the Olympics because "it's a legitimate sport and it's been part of the Olympics since its inception."

He knows just how important and instrumental the sport of wrestling can be to young athletes.

"It's one more opportunity for students to participate in athletics," Wilson said. "You want to be able to participate in the highest possible level, and the Olympics is the highest possible level."

According to this piece from The New York Times, about 270,000–including 8,200 young women­– high school students wrestle in the U.S. That’s up about 40,000 students over the last decade.

"I'd hate to see them lose that," Wilson said about aspiring young wrestlers dreaming of one day competing in the Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee meets again in May in St. Petersburg, Russia and will have its final vote in September.