Alexander karelin

The Russian wrestling legend Alexander Karelin has joined the campaign to keep wrestling as an olympic sport in the 2020 games.

The three-time olympic champion wrote a letter published this Tuesday at FILA’s website.

Considered by many as the best of all times, Karelin gives his reasons why wrestling needs to stay in the olympics.

On February 12th, the International Olympic Committee voted by secret ballot to recommend that wrestling be dropped from the Olympics in 2020.

The IOC executive board met on May 29th in St. Petersburg, Russia, and selected Wrestling, Baseball/Softball, and Squash as the list of sports to be considered for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics.

The IOC general assembly will meet this September in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to vote to select the sport(s) for the final spot(s) in the 2020 Olympics.

Read the letter:

A Rhetorical Question : Why wrestling?

Wrestling is a great sculptor of body and soul.  It helps to develop fragile and clumsy children and teenagers into a strong, goal-oriented young man or woman with confidence in themselves.

Wrestling is a way of finding a purpose in life and it gives you respect and the acknowledgement of others. In a Poet’s words, “Wrestling is always overcoming yourself, who you were yesterday and determining who you will be tomorrow”.

Wrestling is an everlasting engine that determines the development of each of us. Who knows how sweet is a taste of hard work? And when we win we will do anything to repeat and live through these moments again.  Wrestlers never stop on their accomplishments. If  a maximum is reached in sport, wrestlers will continue to look and find a use for new energy, talent and ideas in all life’s variety.

Wrestling teaches us to be friendly, to be honest and demanding of yourself, and thousands of my colleagues can undersign these words and values.

Russian literary classic Vissarion Belinsky says, “Wrestling is a condition of life.” The sport of wrestling personalizes these words not just for athletes, but also for the huge army of our fans around the world.

Alexander Karelin

Now watch a video of Karelin in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHOA-VrcRZU