Music: {allcanada} Wrestling Canada says Olympic battle continues

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

{allcanada} Wrestling Canada says Olympic battle continues

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The president of Wrestling Canada is comforted that his sport is on the shortlist for a possible return to the Olympic program.

However, Don Ryan knows the battle is still far from over.

"We are happy and extremely relieved that the IOC executive board has voted to keep wrestling for the final vote in Buenos Aires in Argentina," Ryan said. "We as a community have worked extremely hard in the last four months to be where we are today."

Wrestling was dropped from the 2020 Olympics earlier this year but won a reprieve Wednesday and made the IOC shortlist for potential inclusion in the Games along with squash and a combined baseball-softball bid.

"Eight sports were on the ballot for this first vote, and we are thrilled to see wrestling as one of the three moving on to the final round," said Ryan, also a FILA Pan American Council vice-president. "We have not won the battle yet, we must continue as a community to persevere in our efforts."

Canada's Carol Huynh and Daniel Igali — both Olympic wrestling champions — were part of the six-member team at Wednesday's IOC presentation in St. Petersburg, Russia.

"To put it in terms of wrestling — we've won the first round," Ryan said. "We must now win the second round to claim victory, and that won't be so easy. The race will be tight and everyone will show up ready to fight.

"We now have to keep the momentum as a community, keep our spirits high, stay motivated and continue to push for wrestling."

FILA, the international wrestling federation, has undergone leadership changes and some new rules have been adopted for the sport in an attempt to modernize it. Whether that's enough to knock off the two other remaining bids is uncertain.

Baseball and softball were both previously played at the Olympics and have united as one bid. Squash, meanwhile, came up short in its two previous bid attempts.

Canadian men's squash champion Shawn Delierre was pleased that his sport is a contender again.

"I'm smiling right now," he said from Montreal. "That's about it. It's just a small smile inside and a patient wait until September for that bigger news."

Squash is currently played at the Pan Am Games and Commonwealth Games.

Canadian squash player Stephanie Edmison, who won gold in the team event at the 2011 Pan Ams in Mexico, said the shortlist announcement was "fantastic." She added that Olympic participation would be the most amazing experience for any squash player out there.

"It would be what every athlete in Canada would be training for in squash," she said. "It would be by far the largest event and just the honour of playing for your country on such an international stage — there wouldn't be words to describe it really."

Baseball Canada director general Jim Baba added he was also quite happy to hear the news.

"Adding baseball beside the Olympics again would be a great thing," he said from Ottawa.

The IOC will make its final decision Sept. 8 in Buenos Aires.

Canadian women's wrestling team coach Leigh Vierling said the initial reaction to the sport's removal from the Olympic program was shock. But he felt the international wrestling community came together from the grassroots to the high-performance level.

"We're cautiously optimistic at this point," he said on a conference call. "But I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't ecstatic when I saw that shortlist and I saw wrestling on it.

"Because there were a whole lot of people around the world that were sitting on pins and needles today waiting for that announcement."