Wrestling Floors Opponents With First Round Victory

Wrestling has retained its place on the Olympic sports programme after winning a clear-cut victory over its two rivals in the Argentinean capital.

On a day described by Nenad Lalovic (pictured), President of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), as "the most important in the 3,000-year history of our sport", wrestling polled 49 votes to win in the first of a possible two rounds of voting.

Baseball-softball came second with 24 votes, with squash third with 22.

The decision means wrestling will take its place at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, as it has at all Olympics since 708 BC, with the exception of Paris 1900; there is a chance, indeed, that the sport could be thrust quickly into the spotlight in the Japanese capital, as a possible source of the host nation's first gold medal of the Games.

Universally perceived as the likeliest winner in this three-way contest, it was little surprise that wrestling took few risks in its presentation to International Olympic Committee (IOC) members.

Lalovic himself, who more than anyone has revived the sport's prospects since its surprise ejection from the list of Olympic core sports in February, was dignified and presidential.

FILA President Nenad Lalovic promised that wrestling had learnt from its scare of nearly being axed from the Olympic programme and would continue to modernise

Afterwards, he offered his "sincere gratitude" to "each member of the IOC that voted to save Olympic wrestling", while appealing to the sport to "remain united to make certain we live up to the expectations that have been placed on all of us by virtue of this vote".

There is no doubt the sport would do well to heed his plea: though it was a comfortable victory, IOC members left the presentation team in no doubt that they would remain very much under scrutiny with a string of probing questions relating to rule changes, gender parity and other "mistakes", including allegations of corruption, that first got wrestling into trouble.

"We have made mistakes," Lalovic admitted, "but we decided to listen and learn.

"We are aware of our mistakes and they will not happen again."

One hallmark of a winning presentation which shrewdly did not dwell too much on wrestling's unique Olympic heritage, was an air of authenticity stemming from a sense that the athletes who spoke contributed heavily to writing their own scripts.

Sydney 2000 gold medallist Daniel Igali spoke candidly of how his enthusiasm for the Olympics as a child in Nigeria was instilled partly because it would mean he got to fly on an aeroplane.

Canada's Beijing 2008 gold medallist Carol Huynh admitted with a smile that wrestlers could be "maybe just a little stubborn", adding: "It takes courage to step out on the mat with that tight singlet on".

Wrestling's pitch also featured what was possibly the first "appearance" at an IOC Session by rap artist Dizzee Rascal, whose song "Scream it from your heart" provided a stirring soundtrack for one of the films.