Wrestling With Corruption at the Olympics

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Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- It has been scarcely a week sincethe International Olympic Committee announced its intention toexclude wrestling from the 2020 Summer Games, and the campaignto “Save Wrestling” is in full swing.

Donald Rumsfeld and John Irving, both former wrestlers,took to the op-ed pages to celebrate the sport’s Olympic legacy(which dates to the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C.) and itscurrent popularity. Raphael Martinetti, the ineffectualpresident of wrestling’s international federation, FILA, hasbeen ousted. Millions of dollars have been raised -- Wall Streethas a lot of former high school and college wrestlers -- tounderwrite a push for readmission before the IOC makes its finaldecision in May.