Soccer has the FIFA World Cup. Tennis has the majors. Golf has the majors. Football has the Super Bowl. Basketball has the NBA. These major sports all have established leagues for professionals and amateurs, so why do they have a spot in the Olympics.
The Olympics isn’t the most coveted title in these sports. Every year the Olympic committee votes, and every year someone gets let down. A sport endangered of being cut is very close to my heart, wrestling. I grew up with it, the first 8 years of my life were in a college wrestling room, watching my dad coach his team and the countless hours continue to this day. Wrestling meant every thing to my dad; he was an Olympian, Pan American winner, World champion, Olympic coach, and Division 1 coach. In February 2013, they dropped wrestling, softball, and baseball. In May, they allowed the three sports to be short-listed. However, in September they voted the return of wrestling.
My point is that it isn’t fair that basketball, tennis, football (soccer), and golf all take spots on the summer Olympics outline for sports. They all have leagues that the whole world participates in. I can’t say for all of the sports that an Olympic gold is the ultimate title, but I can tell you for a fact that in wrestling, both freestyle and Greco-Roman, it truly is.
These “smaller” sports, that maybe don’t make boatloads of money, need the Olympics. It means so much to so many people, fans, athletes, and families. They deserve spots, they don’t have professional leagues, and can’t fill entire stadiums, and they need the support of the Olympic games. The whole point of the Olympics is to bring people together, so shouldn’t less popular sports be included?