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Wrestling is Better Than It Ever Was By Darren Miller N othing says mano-a-mano like the sport of wrestling. That's what made waiting its fate from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) so trying. Wrestlers have no teammates on the mat. If they need a takedown, it's up to only them to execute a move. The IOC pinned the sport in February, eliminating it from the Olympic Games lineup of 28 sports. The sweat and toil that followed from the wrestling community wasn't an uncommon ethic for its participants, but what caused nervousness is that the final outcome was in someone else's hands. Forty-eight votes from the IOC were needed for wrestling, baseball-softball, or squash to return to the Olympics on a provisional basis. Wrestling received 49 to win in the first round of the secret balloting. Baseball-softball got 24 votes and squash 22. "I would say this is the biggest match I have had to battle," said former UI head coach Dan Gable, winner of two NCAA titles and a 1972 Olympic gold medal. "Little things made the difference; we needed 48 votes and we got 49 for the first-round success. All those little things added up for victory." UI assistant coach Terry Brands, a two-time NCAA champion, two-time world freestyle champion, and 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, says with his personality, if there is a problem, he likes to air it out immediately. That made the seven months of uncertainly a stressful time for him. His advice to the sport of wrestling is similar to advice he gives Hawkeye wrestlers. "We're going to get better every day," Brands said. "Do not relax. This is an everyday process and we need to continue to be proactive." Brands called the official decision a "high heart rate feeling." "I feel like I'm getting ready to wrestle a match," he said. "I feel I'm preparing for a match from a week out, I feel like I'm a week done with a match, I feel like I just got done wrestling a match, I feel like I am wrestling a match — it's an extremely emotional feeling. It was something you couldn't control, which makes it difficult." On Feb. 12, the IOC's executive board shocked the wrestling world by eliminating it from the Olympics Gable, one of the most famous wrestling icons in effective in the 2020 Tokyo Games and beyond. the world, embarked on a diligent campaign to keep Wrestling was originally removed because it ranked the sport he loves in the Olympics. When the IOC's low in many areas, including popularity with the public decision was announced Sept. 8, Gable stood frozen, and global television audience. The reaction from the staring at a television set while his grandson — International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles representing the future of the sport — cheered wildly. (FILA) was to replace president Raphael Martinetti with Serbian Nenad Lalovic. Rules were modified to "I like to win, but that was a little too close," said Gable, become more viewer-friendly; weight classes were who spent his career dominating everything in his added. path. "The biggest thing wrestling had to learn was that we can't stand alone, even though we do on the mat. There are people we need to answer to. That's how the world works." 27