WBEZ | olympics

Grappling with an IOC decision that makes no sense

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:00:00 -0600

One of the oldest sports in the world was kicked to the curb a couple of weeks ago. The International Olympic Committee removed wrestling from its list of 25 core sports. Now the wrestling world is in a battle to try to get it restored so it will be part of the Olympic Summer Games in 2020 and beyond.

It was really quite a shock that one of the oldest sports (and one that seems so synonymous with the Olympics) was put on a list of seven sports on the chopping block.

There are two more IOC sessions before the fate of the seven sports is determined. Only one will get a chance to get a stay of execution. The IOC executive board meets in May and a final decision will be made in mid-September.

The seven sports in danger are:

Karate

Roller sports

Climbing

Squash

Wakeboarding

Wushu (Chinese martial arts)

Baseball/softball

Wrestling

Come on, just seeing wrestling on this list even looks wrong. All the other sports are newer to the Summer Games. Wrestling was an original.

The threat to Olympic wrestling is being felt on the college and high school too.

There are 77 (soon to be 78) Division I college programs in the U.S. The Big Ten Conference is considered the best in the country. Northwestern University wrestling coach Andrew Pariano told me he would really like to know the reasoning behind this decision. Last summer, Olympic wrestling wasn’t on television. It was only available online. That should have been a tip off. Pariano and his staff had an Evanston restaurant put it on a flat screen TV.

“The actual event was extremely well attended it was a difficult ticket to get in London,” he said.

Which makes anyone wonder, why it was diminished to wind up online?

On the high school level, Fremd High School assistant wrestling coach Ruben Hinojosa looked at the decision for what appears to be the root of it.

"My thoughts on the IOC removing wrestling are confused and wondering why they would remove one of the oldest sports in the games, I have learned that when things just don’t make sense it comes to money and politics, so I would guess these two things have something to do with their consideration,” Hinojosa said.

With the Olympics isn’t it always politics and money?

For one Palatine High School wrestler, Matt Buffo, that isn’t on his mind. But losing the dream is.

“When you wrestle all the coaches say the goal is to aspire to get to the Olympics,” Buffo said. “The dream is always the Olympic gold and now it isn’t, because they are taking it out.”

The high school sophomore loves the sport that his father Bob, a former wrestler, turned him on to.

It is emotional for me too, since my late father wrestled at a Chicago Public High School in the late 1940s. Now my nephew, Jeremy, wrestles in junior high school.

Wrestling is one of the purest forms of competitions. It is one-on-one, you are in a weight class and its strength against strength. It's tough physically, and according to Buffo, mentally.

"Your team can cheer you on, but it is basically just you, you are making the decisions, ‘Are you strong enough to push yourself to get that extra two (points) before the period is over-or are you just going to huddle there and wait for the clock to run out,'" he said.

If the sport does not survive the Summer Games after 2016, how will it impact the sport? Coach Pariano believes the collegiate level will respond.

“We may ban together to become stronger, because if there is not an International style, the pinnacle would be an NCAA champion,” Pariano said.

However, there are still concerns expressed by Hinojosa.

“I think eventually this may impact scholarships at the college level, but I truly believe that wrestling will be back in the Olympics,” he said.

And that is the hope of the huge wrestling community. Pariano pointed out there is two hundred countries that participated in wrestling at the Olympics. It made it one of the most diverse sports at Games. USA, Russia and Iran are all being very vocal trying to reverse the IOC’s decision.

So it still goes back to the question as to why wrestling is on the cut list. Is it because it is not one of the glamour sports?

Not exactly, according to Hinojosa. “I am not sure if glamour has anything to do with it," he said. "There are still sports in the Olympics like speed walking, archery, shooting, etc… that are not too glamorous.”

However, in an era of appealing to the viewing audience and retaining sports that can put money in the coffers of the IOC, it is a plausible thought.

For Buffo and the rest of the wrestling world that IOC decision will be like a match.

“When you win it is one of the best feelings, when the ref raises your hand and you see the points go up for your team," Buffo said. "When you lose it is pretty upsetting.”

Here’s hoping the wrestling world will have their hand raised in September.

Follow Cheryl on Twitter @CRayeStout and Facebook Cheryl Raye Stout #AtTheGame

IOC could drop wrestling from Olympics

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:32:00 -0600

Local wrestling coaches are upset over the International Olympic Committee’s recommendation to cut the sport from the 2020 Games.

Drew Pariano is the head coach for Northwestern University’s wrestling program. He was excited to be in London this past summer to watch alumnus Jake Herbert compete in the games. The sport has a deep Olympic history going back to ancient Greece.

So it came as a shock to Pariano when the IOC announced it might cut the sport.

He says the Olympics are what wrestlers aim for.

"Those hopes and dreams are big in kids lives and it’s big in wrestling because that’s the pinnacle. It’s not the WWE or whatever you call it. True wrestlers love the idea that one day they could become an Olympian," he said.

Pariano says wrestling is an important sport around the world especially in countries like Uzbekistan and Iran. He says wrestling will likely continue to be popular in the U.S. and there will still be world championships even if the IOC eliminates it, but it would be a shame if it were no longer in the Olympics.

Wrestling joins seven other shortlisted sports fighting for a spot in the 2020 Olympics. Those include baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wushu. Leaders of each sport will make their case before the Executive Board of the IOC at a meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia in May.

The IOC will decide later this year which events won’t make the cut.

All eyes on the Olympics, but what to watch?

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 06:00:00 -0500

The Summer Olympics has always been a “must-watch” TV event – now it’s a “must watch” event online and on Twitter, too. If you have more than 3,000 hours to spare in the next two weeks or so, there will be plenty of sports to choose from – but it may be a challenge to figure out what events are playing when and how to prioritize. Here are some suggestions.

Swimming

NBC will dictate what they want to highlight, of course, and most likely it will be highly decorated swimmer Michael Phelps. He’s won 16 Olympic medals – 14 gold – and rightly he should be spotlighted. Phelps has an opportunity to smash the record for most medals won by an Olympian, plus this is his final games. Who doesn’t love watching someone make history?

Phelps’ success is reminiscent of another great U.S. swimmer; Mark Spitz had an amazing Olympics in 1972 in Munich, winning seven gold medals. His poster – posing in American flag swim trunks, gold medals and trademark mustache – was on many a teenage girl’s wall. (Yes, I had one.) Unfortunately his terrific performance was overshadowed by the massacre of 11 Israeli coaches and athletes by Palestinian terrorists. Spitz’s accomplishments were seemingly re-discovered during the 2008 Beijing Games as Phelps set swimming records; much has changed in 40 years, but athleticism still rules the Olympic Games.

Another American swimmer to watch is Ryan Lochte; he may have some keen battles with Phelps in the 200 and 400 individual medleys. Keep an eye on 17-year-old Missy Franklin, too. She’ll be the first woman to compete in seven events and is expected to have a breakout performance. Phelps has called her a “stud”. . .I guess that would be a compliment? It has been a difficult emotional time for Missy; she is a high school student from Aurora, Colo.

Gymnastics

Who will be the next Shawn Johnson, Mary Lou Retton, Bart Connors or Paul Hamm? Gymnastics is always at the top of the list for many Olympics viewers. In ’08 host country China won gold for both teams; the U.S. men took team bronze and women won the silver. This summer the U.S. men’s Olympic team has one “old guy” – 26-year-old Jonathan Horton, who will anchor the team with Danell Leyva and John Orozco. The women have the 2011 individual world champion Jordyn Wieber and the top Olympic qualifier Gabby Johnson to lead. Look for one of these athletes on a Wheaties box near you if they become the darling of the games.

Soccer

The U.S. men’s team did not qualify for the Olympics – but the U.S. women’s team did. Hope Solo and the rest of the team are still smarting from their World Cup loss to Japan last year on penalty kicks. That would make for a fantastic gold medal match-up.

Boxing

This sport is the newest entry for women these Olympics. Some of America’s greatest male boxers have gone on to Olympic glory: Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), Sugar Ray Leonard and Evander Holyfield. This time around there are no American men favored in any of the weight classes, but there are three women’s weight classes and the U.S. has a top competitor in the middle weight division – Claressa Shields with a 26 and 1 record. Boxing may not be everyone’s cup of tea but this one piques my interest.

Track and field

There is nothing like being in the Olympic stadium for track and field, when there is more than one event happening. You see some incredible competition and a split second determines a medal. It’s always a must in my book. In ’96 in Atlanta it was terrific being in the stands as Michael Johnson blazed first across the finish line in both the 200 and 400 meter final with his gold shoes. Like 2008, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt is still a track star to watch; but countryman Yohan Blake beat Bolt in the time trials. Their showdown could be one of the biggest Olympics highlights.

American Allyson Felix is a favorite in both the 100 and 200 meters race, but she almost didn’t make the team for the 100 meter race. In the qualifying trials, Felix crossed the finish line with her training partner, Jeneba Tarmoh, in a dead heat for the final spot. They were going to have a run–off but Tarmoh decided to back out.

Strange-but-true track and field trivia tidbit: You may know Bruce Jenner as Kim Kardashian’s step-father, but his real claim to fame came in 1976. He became a star in the Montreal Olympics when he won the gold medal in the decathlon. It is one of the most grueling events, and at the time when Jenner won, the most prestigious. Aston Eaton broke the world record at the U.S. trials this year and he is the favorite in London.

Other

What else to catch? Fencing, biking, equestrian, diving, field hockey, water polo, volleyball, wrestling? Weight lifting, judo, taekwondo, basketball (although as I wrote in a prior blog – not a fan of the men’s)? Canoeing or rowing? They’re all events that you may find interesting. So many sports, not enough time in the day. I have crossed off synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics, so that should give me an hour of sleep the next few weeks.

The business and politics behind the Olympics

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:08:00 -0500

Olympics is still a bit of a dirty word in Chicago—many still feel the sting of a failed bid to host the 2016 games. But, it turns out, the Olympics’ taint, especially as it relates to its governing body, the International Olympic Committee, reeks ‘round the world. The IOC describes itself as the “supreme authority of the Olympic movement” and a catalyst for collaboration between all parties of the Olympic family, i.e., national committees, athletes, broadcast partners, sponsors and even the U.N. And like most families, it’s had its fair share of drama over the years; especially when it comes to its domineering American cousin, the U.S. Olympic Committee.

A seven-year battle between the IOC and the USOC ended this spring when the two agreed on a new long term revenue-sharing deal. Many felt that the U.S.’s slice of the Olympic pie was too big. And as a result, many believed, the IOC kept its fat American cousin from coming back for seconds by blocking any and all U.S. cities—namely New York in 2012 and Chicago in 2016—from hosting the games. The new deal is indeed a diet for the USOC; it reduces the U.S. share of broadcasting rights and halves the American share of the IOC’s biggest sponsorship deal.

But, says the Nation’s Dave Zirin, the IOC did Chicago a favor. As President Obama headed to Copenhagen to help make Chicago’s case before the committee in 2009, Zirin scrawled a warning to the president and Chicago.

To greater or lesser degrees, the Olympics bring gentrification, graft and police violence wherever they nest. Even without the Olympic Games, Chicago has been ground zero in the past decade for the destruction of public housing, political corruption raised to an art form, and police violence. Bringing the Olympics to this town would be like sending a gift basket filled with bottles of Jim Beam to the Betty Ford Clinic: over-consumption followed by disaster.

Many saw Obama’s trip to Copenhagen alongside longtime Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley (then enjoying a 35 percent approval rating) as a tip of the hat to the Gipper. Ronald Reagan opened the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, which were the first privately-funded games—very Reaganomic. Zirin does not consider the ’84 games a success; in fact, he connects the 1992 L.A. riots to the ’84 games.

Whereas Michael Payne, the former and first-ever IOC marketing and broadcast rights director, marks the ’84 Olympics as a turning point for the games—that the president of the L.A. committee Peter Uebberoth ushered the Olympics into the modern era by creating a private partnership funding mechanism for the near-bankrupt Olympic movement.

Zirin and Payne shared their views on Afternoon Shift as part of an hour-long look at the business and politics behind the games. Host Steve Edwards was also joined by ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson, U.K.-based sports marketing whiz Simon Chadwick and WBEZ's very own Niala Boodhoo, who is in London for the festivities.

The unlikely coach of Kenya's top runners

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 10:19:00 -0500

Potbellied and unassuming, 63-year-old Colm O’Connell doesn’t look like the kind of guy who trains world class athletes. But among those under his tutelage is Kenyan David Rudisha, the reigning world champion of the 800-meter race and presumed gold medalist in the London Olympics. In addition to not looking the part, O’Connell eschews new-fangled techniques like measuring runners’ lactate threshold and maximum oxygen consumption. His is a more intuitive technique. Oh, and did I mention he’s an Irish priest?

In a profile for the August edition of Outside Magazine, London-based writer Ed Caesar chronicles how O’Connell became “the most successful running coach in history” and something of a celebrity in Iten, the Kenyan village that produces many of the country’s top athletes. Having lived in Iten for decades, the priest knows the complexities of dealing with vulnerable young people looking for a way out of extreme poverty.

Of the priest’s unorthodox style, Caesar writes:

He will never coach a school-age pupil who isn’t in school full time. He won’t coach more than four or five professionals at a time, and he’ll only coach would-be pros who came through his junior program. And he — not Athletics Kenya nor the dozens of European and American managers who have flooded into the Rift Valley looking to sign talent and make money on lucrative races — will decide his athletes’ event schedules.

Unlike other coaches, O’Connell receives no payment for his work. According to Caesar, he’s unlikely to cheer on David Rudisha in London; he relies on the generosity of others when he needs to travel.

Cesar joins us Wednesday on Worldview.

Worldview 7.25.12

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:32:00 -0500

Wednesday on Worldview:

For the last 40 years, relatives of victims and others have been pleading with the IOC to acknowledge the fact that 11 Israeli athletes were murdered during the 1972 games in Munich. The clamor from a wide variety of groups hoping to get a moment of silence during the opening ceremonies on Friday has been building. Television host Bob Costas announced that he will conduct his own moment of silence during the NBC broadcast. But the IOC has said it will not allow a moment of silence because the opening ceremonies are not the appropriate place for statements or sadness.

Worldview takes a look at the role politics have played at the Olympic games with Alfred Senn, author of Power, Politics and the Olympic Games.

Then, writer Ed Caesar explains how a mild-mannered Irish priest came to train some of world’s greatest runners in the Kenyan village of Iten.

On our Global Notes segment, Eight Forty-Eight and Radio M host Tony Sarabia tells us about Brazil’s "good old fashioned country music" called forro. The accordion driven music that at times sounds like its coming from the bayous of Louisiana is gaining new found popularity in New York City.

Worldview 1.6.12

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:57:00 -0600

Hungary’s conservative Fidesz party overhauled the central European nation’s constitution and passed laws that consolidate power. The changes may violate the Lisbon Treaty, which governs E.U. membership. Kim Lane Scheppele, who studies comparative constitutional law, tells Worldview she’s rarely seen a full-blown democracy so recklessly dismantled. Also, Rio de Janeiro is set to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. But the process of turning Rio into a “global city” involves demolishing buildings and evicting residents of Rio’s slums, known as favelas. Worldview talks with Theresa Williamson, executive director of Catalytic Communities, an organization dedicated to bringing visibility to favela communities. And film contributor Milos Stehlik reviews The Conquest, a film about French President Nicolas Sarkozy's rise to power.

United States says no to 2020 Olympic bid

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:58:00 -0500

American fans of the Olympics will have to travel abroad for at least another decade if they want to cheer from the stands at one of the world's biggest sporting events. The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) announced Monday that there will be no American bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Actually, the news was Tweeted by USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky. "I can confirm the US will not be bidding for 2020 Olympic Games," Sandusky wrote to his Twitter followers.

Sandusky told NPR, "our focus is on other things," including preparations for next year's summer games in London and ongoing negotiations for a new revenue-sharing arrangement with the International Olympic Committee. "That precluded us from being focused on any sort of bidding process," Sandusky added.

The 2020 bidding begins on September 1, when the IOC accepts nominations from national Olympic committees. In the past, the USOC staged extensive domestic bidding competitions before selecting American candidates. No such process was launched in advance of next week's IOC deadline.

Olympic boosters in Tulsa, Dallas, Las Vegas and Minneapolis expressed interest in a 2020 bid. There was also lingering interest in Chicago and New York, which failed to win bids for the 2012 and 2016 games.

U.S. Olympic bidding has stalled, in part, because of an ongoing revenue-sharing dispute with the IOC. American corporate sponsors and television networks generate the biggest share of Olympic income and the USOC traditionally takes the biggest cut — 12.75 percent of the TV money and 20 percent of sponsorship revenue. But other national Olympic committees resent the arrangement, especially as some struggle to train athletes and get them to the Olympics.

After the failed New York and Chicago bids, the USOC vowed to improve its tattered relationship with the IOC, including the pursuit of a new formula for dividing up Olympic revenues

"We believe it's important to complete the revenue-sharing agreements with the IOC before moving forward in the bidding process," Sandusky told NPR.

That also applies to an American bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

"Until that deal is done we would not be in a position to potentially bid," Sandusky said.

Groups in Denver and Reno-Lake Tahoe have expressed interest in 2022 bids.

Neither the USOC nor USOC would discuss the revenue-sharing negotiations. Sandusky only said talks are ongoing.

The last American city to host a Summer Olympics was Atlanta in 1996. In 2002, Salt Lake City hosted the winter games.

At least four international cities have committed to bids for 2020: Rome, Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul. Olympic officials in South Africa announced last week they would not nominate a host city. Officials in Dohar, Qatar have indicated they may still submit a bid.

Chicago's own Olympic superstar: Johnny Weissmuller

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:15:00 -0500

Chicago did not land the Olympics, but our city was home to one of the greatest Olympians. His name was Johnny Weissmuller. He was a swimmer. And he never lost.

There always was controversy over where and when Johnny was born. The best guess is Romania in 1904. But he spent a good chunk of his childhood in Chicago, growing up in the old German neighborhood near Lincoln and Webster. After a short spell at Lane Tech, he dropped out of school and went to work in various odd jobs.

Johnny had started swimming to improve his physique. When he was 15 he landed a spot on the swim team at the Illinois Athletic Club. One story says he practiced by doing laps in the river around Goose Island.

His first competition was the 1921 Amateur Athletic Championships. Though only a rookie, he won every event he entered, with ease. Over the next few years, each swim meet was the same thing--Weissmuller against the field. The field always lost.

He set speed records, broke them, then broke them again. At the 1924 Olympics he won three gold medals, and shared a bronze as a member of their water polo team. In the process he outraced the legendary Duke Kahanamoku, for years recognized as The World's Greatest Swimmer.

But that honor belonged to Johnny Weissmuller now. Back home, he continued winning any competition he entered. Bookies stopped taking bets on his races. The only action they'd accept was on how much time Johnny might shave off his latest world's record.

He was at the Olympics again in 1928. He entered two freestyle events and claimed two more golds. By now Johnny had won 52 amateur championships and set 67 different records. He had never been beaten in formal competition. With nothing left to prove, he retired from swimming.

The scrawny teen had built himself into a 6-foot-4 hunk. For a while Johnny modeled for a bathing suit company. Then, in 1932, he went to Hollywood to star in the movie Tarzan the Ape Man. The film was an unexpected hit, and Weissmuller went on to make a total of 20 Tarzan stories.

He was a terrible actor, and he knew it. Still, being Tarzan had its perks.

In 1958, years after his last movie, Weissmuller was at a golf outing in Cuba when his party was suddenly captured by rifle-toting rebels. Johnny smiled at them, then let loose his famous movie jungle-yell. The rebels stopped, smiled back, and began calling out "Tarzan! Tarzan!" Then they gave Johnny an armed escort back to his hotel.

Johnny went through five wives and a lot of money in his life, but never lost his charm or sense of humor. In his later years he wound up in the traditional sinecure of the down-and-out athlete, working as a greeter at a Las Vegas casino. Chicago's greatest Olympian died in 1984.

Female boxer aims for the 2012 Olympics

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:59:00 -0600

There aren't a lot of female boxers in the ring. But, "Eight Forty-Eight's" Alison Cuddy was able to catch up with one at the Chicago Boxing Club in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood. Twenty-two year-old Kristin Gearhart is a junior at the University of Illinois at Chicago and hopes to qualify for the 2012 Olympics, when women’s boxing will be included for the very first time.

She’s training hard to meet that goal and she started by telling Cuddy about her daily workout.