The global wrestling community was taken down to the mat earlier this week, with news that their sport may not be included in the 2020 Olympics. But some are optimistic that the move could bring much needed changes to the sport.
In 1984, Rapid City native Randy Lewis wrestled in the biggest match of his life, the Olympic Championship.
"Baseball wants to win the World Series, the people who play basketball want to be the NBA champions, the people who wrestle and run track want to win the Olympics," Lewis said.
Lewis dominated his Japanese opponent to bring home the gold. It's an opportunity that may not be there for future wrestlers, as the International Olympic Committee announced that the sport has been dropped from the 2020 games.
"I think the world is going to see an unbelievable response from wrestling," Lewis said.
Lewis sees this latest decision a result of 30-years of new rules that the wrestler says have hurt the sport.
"People who used to love watching freestyle wrestling can't stand watching it now. It's very hard even for me being around the sport and watching everything. I can watch a match and don't even know what's going on, at the end of the period you don't know who won that, why did they score it that way?" Lewis said.
The sport is governed by the international group known as FILA. Lewis hopes that the IOC's decision to cut the sport from the 2020 games will serve as a wake up call for the organization and help get wrestling back on the mat.
"We're going to do things that are going to actually make wrestling a lot better in the long run because of this, and I do believe that wrestling will be in the 2020 Olympics," Lewis said.
There is room for one additional sport in the 2020 Olympic Games. But wrestling will need to compete with other sports including baseball, karate, and wakeboarding.
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