Many Stunned By Olympic Wrestling Plan

The 2020 Olympics games are years away, but they are already making worldwide headlines.  The International Olympic Committee wants to drop wrestling from the competition. 

Stop by any wrestling room in KELOLAND and you'll find it's wall-to-wall with energy and commitment.

"I'm going to wrestle in high school, then I'm going to try to wrestle in college, and hopefully one day I can wrestle for the Olympics team," Simon Tiede said.

But for 10-year-old Simon Tiede and young wrestlers worldwide that dream may be shattered. An Olympic committee is recommending removing wrestling from the Olympic tradition.  Those tied to the sport are grappling with the news.

"You have to be an overall amazing athlete to be able to be a wrestler, so it really would be a great disservice to wrestling as a sport to not have it in the Olympics, I think," mom Miranda Tiede said.

"I just don't agree with it.  It's an individual sport and that's the last goal.  It's just like winning the Super Bowl for anybody in the NFL.  Olympic gold medal is the top dream for any kid out there who is a wrestler," youth wrestling coach Dylan Larson said.

The former wrestler says shattering that ultimate dream could trickle down and hurt the sport on all levels.  That's why the wrestling world is hoping an eventual reversal can be made before their sport is pinned.

"I hope they reconsider and figure stuff out because it is one of the only sports I watch in the summer Olympics," Larson said.

“They should keep it and they shouldn't get rid of it because a lot of people like it.  There's also some who don't but there's a lot of people who do so they should keep it," Simon Tiede said.

And that's a hope made by youth wrestlers all around the world.

There is some hope for wrestling fans.  Wrestling organizations from around the world already plan to lobby the committee.