Wrestling Likely Out of the Summer Olympics - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

It was one of the first Olympic events, but Tuesday it landed on the chopping block. Olympic committee leaders announced that wrestling will be out of the summer games in 2020.

That announcement left many in the wrestling community shocked. With only room for 26 events the Olympic committee has expressed concerns over the lack of young viewers of the games over the past few years. Also they have said in the past they would like do more extensive limiting of how many athletes they have at the games.  So what might replace wrestling? Potential sports include squash, baseball, softball, and a sport known as roller games.

NDSU's head wrestling coach, Roger Kish says without the Olympics, his athletes have little to aspire to;"ultimate fighting is getting more and more popular among the wrestling community ultimately because there's not a wrestling outlet. For our athletes it's the Olympics, world teams, that's the next logical step for our guys."

It's not set in stone as far as wrestling being out. The Olympic committee meets up again in September where they'll further discuss the likely hood of Olympic wrestling being eliminated. It will likely draw quite a bit of criticism not just in the United States but the world over.