SAMBO gets provisional Olympic recognition!

Assuming this works out, why do you think sambo made it in while FILA/UWW Grappling fell WAAAAY short? FILA/UWW already had/has a partnership with the IOC through FS and Greco, grappling enjoys worldwide participation, and its also less likely to be associated with a specific region than sambo is. You would think these are all things the IOC likes.

I think this is great Im just surprised. It wasn't long ago that wrestling in its entirety was on the chopping block and Greco is still on shaky ground. Id love to hear more about this.
 
Assuming this works out, why do you think sambo made it in while FILA/UWW Grappling fell WAAAAY short? FILA/UWW already had/has a partnership with the IOC through FS and Greco, grappling enjoys worldwide participation, and its also less likely to be associated with a specific region than sambo is. You would think these are all things the IOC likes.

I think this is great Im just surprised. It wasn't long ago that wrestling in its entirety was on the chopping block and Greco is still on shaky ground. Id love to hear more about this.

What's up with greco? I always thought the USA was the only country that didn't really do it?
 
Assuming this works out, why do you think sambo made it in while FILA/UWW Grappling fell WAAAAY short?

FILA/UWW grappling had even little adoption among BJJers. Almost all of the elite guys didn't give a shit about it.
 
What's up with greco? I always thought the USA was the only country that didn't really do it?
You mean whats up with Greco as in why is it on shaky ground?

As for the USA and Greco, we do have a pretty extensive Greco program. There are or were even several training situations available to Greco wrestlers that were arguably superior to freestylers i.e. US Army World Class Athletes Program, University of Northern Michigan, and f course the big training center in Colorado Springs. So we do plenty of Greco, its just that American Folkstyle is the dominant wrestling style in America and freestyle is most similar to that.
 
Assuming this works out, why do you think sambo made it in while FILA/UWW Grappling fell WAAAAY short? FILA/UWW already had/has a partnership with the IOC through FS and Greco, grappling enjoys worldwide participation, and its also less likely to be associated with a specific region than sambo is. You would think these are all things the IOC likes.

I think this is great Im just surprised. It wasn't long ago that wrestling in its entirety was on the chopping block and Greco is still on shaky ground. Id love to hear more about this.
I believe the long term plan for UWW is to replace Greco with Grappling, but that is only my opinion.
As for SAMBO, the IOC requirements were met long time ago.
Unfortunately, it is the sport, representing Russia and the delay was purely political (same as in 1980, when SAMBO entered as demonstration and recognized as Olympic event in the Moscow Olympics).
 
FILA/UWW grappling had even little adoption among BJJers. Almost all of the elite guys didn't give a shit about it.
I think there were a few reasons for this, some obvious, others not as much.

-For one, Bjj'ers already had/have a firmly established platform for competition in the exact, specific, art they are trained in. There wouldn't be much incentive to go compete elsewhere (although some Bjj'ers did just that).

-Im not familiar with the scoring structure of IBJJF competitions but the rules in FILA/UWW Grappling made pulling guard a risky proposition. The rules also rewarded high amplitude throws and takedowns more than simple doubles, singles, trips, etc. So wrestlers, sambo guys, judokas, are going to have an advantage there. On the flipside of this, one thing I thought Bjj'ers would like is FILA/UWW Grapping gave points for submission attempts and near-submissions.

I certainly agree that most of the top Bjj guys "didn't give a shit" about FILA/UWW Grappling, however, the sport was spearheaded by Ricardo Liborio. I am sure he could have increased participation greatly with just a few phone calls.
 
FILA/UWW grappling had even little adoption among BJJers. Almost all of the elite guys didn't give a shit about it.
Right but to my point, do you really think they are going to care any more about participating in sambo?
 
I believe the long term plan for UWW is to replace Greco with Grappling, but that is only my opinion.
As for SAMBO, the IOC requirements were met long time ago.
Unfortunately, it is the sport, representing Russia and the delay was purely political (same as in 1980, when SAMBO entered as demonstration and recognized as Olympic event in the Moscow Olympics).
Wow. That is quite a prediction/pinion. Care to elaborate? I can see the attraction to Grappling for Greco guys being that high amplitude takedowns are rewarded accordingly, but that could theoretically be the case for all wrestlers who have the ability throw.
 
Yetanother commented that Bjj guys "didn't give a shit" about UWW Grappling. My response posed the question; do you think Bjj guys are going to be any more likely to participate in sambo than in Grappling?
 
Wow. That is quite a prediction/pinion. Care to elaborate? I can see the attraction to Grappling for Greco guys being that high amplitude takedowns are rewarded accordingly, but that could theoretically be the case for all wrestlers who have the ability throw.
Lets say that I rarely comment with emotions.
Instead, I happen to work with people who know how things move behind the scenes.
And the opinion is that popularity of Greco is lower than submission grappling (mind that I said POPULARITY, not the infrastructure of the sport or participation at this point), besides the money UWW is investing in Grappling.
Important thing is that the blueprint is there and when the need arises, UWW will look to replace Greco with something, appealing to the younger crowd, which is Grappling.
It is sad, because Greco was my first sport and I still love it to bits.
And as unfortunate as it is, once Greco is not an Olympic sport, it will most probably be practiced only recreational.
 
Yetanother commented that Bjj guys "didn't give a shit" about UWW Grappling. My response posed the question; do you think Bjj guys are going to be any more likely to participate in sambo than in Grappling?
Since when a Sherdog poster represents the opinion of every BJJ athlete out there?
Top level athletes will compete anywhere they think they can win medals, money and recognition.
If UWW Grappling become Olympic sport, there will be a carnage to win a spot in each category in the nationals for all teams.
People really underestimate the logistics and government subsidies of Olympic sports...
Here is another prediction:
If BJJ or UWW Grappling becomes Olympic, the top spots in all categories will be dominated by East Europe, Russia and the Stans, within 2 Olympic cycles.
The only reason they are not at the moment is exactly, because they dont give a shit at the moment.
Once its a state sponsored event...
 
Since when a Sherdog poster represents the opinion of every BJJ athlete out there?
Top level athletes will compete anywhere they think they can win medals, money and recognition.
If UWW Grappling become Olympic sport, there will be a carnage to win a spot in each category in the nationals for all teams.
People really underestimate the logistics and government subsidies of Olympic sports...
Here is another prediction:
If BJJ or UWW Grappling becomes Olympic, the top spots in all categories will be dominated by East Europe, Russia and the Stans, within 2 Olympic cycles.
The only reason they are not at the moment is exactly, because they dont give a shit at the moment.
Once its a state sponsored event...

If UWW Grappling was an olympic sport tons of BJJers would fight in it, and a lot of the BJJers like Roger Gracie would unretire.
Because it's not most elite guys don't give a shit.
 
Lets say that I rarely comment with emotions.
Instead, I happen to work with people who know how things move behind the scenes.
And the opinion is that popularity of Greco is lower than submission grappling (mind that I said POPULARITY, not the infrastructure of the sport or participation at this point), besides the money UWW is investing in Grappling.
Important thing is that the blueprint is there and when the need arises, UWW will look to replace Greco with something, appealing to the younger crowd, which is Grappling.
It is sad, because Greco was my first sport and I still love it to bits.
And as unfortunate as it is, once Greco is not an Olympic sport, it will most probably be practiced only recreational.
"Lets say that I rarely comment with emotions.
Instead, I happen to work with people who know how things move behind the scenes."

Im actually familiar with some of your work. I believe I have your interview with Eddie Goldman NHB on my favorites list and plan on listening to it soon. I knew your name from Sherdog and encountered some of your stuff while during research for a series of articles I am working on hopefully to be published by Intermat. I believe it was my research into Noriaki Kiguchi that led me to some of your stuff.

"And the opinion is that popularity of Greco is lower than submission grappling (mind that I said POPULARITY, not the infrastructure of the sport or participation at this point), besides the money UWW is investing in Grappling."
I can see this being true. Since you're not basing this opinion on participation or infrastructure Im guessing its based more on things like web traffic, views, overall perception, etc?

"Important thing is that the blueprint is there and when the need arises, UWW will look to replace Greco with something, appealing to the younger crowd, which is Grappling."

As much as I can see this being reality, its still really hard to wrap my head around. So many countries love Greco. Probably as much as they do freestyle. Especially Russia, and Russia holds a lot of sway in the IOC. But the fact remains, even wrestling fans sometimes get bored watching Greco, and grappling resonates much more with the MMA fanbase which is obviously huge.

"It is sad, because Greco was my first sport and I still love it to bits.
And as unfortunate as it is, once Greco is not an Olympic sport, it will most probably be practiced only recreational"

Indeed it is very sad if it happens. Especially for countries like Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, etc who are hugely successful in Greco and not nearly as much in freestyle. Even sadder when you consider that Greco has the potential to be tremendously exciting, but only at times.
 
If UWW Grappling was an olympic sport tons of BJJers would fight in it, and a lot of the BJJers like Roger Gracie would unretire.
Because it's not most elite guys don't give a shit.
Of course they will.
Then again, each Olympic sport has only one spot per category, per country.
So, the brackets in countries like Brazil and USA will be really tough.
Roger Gracie might be able to win, but as I said, once the sport is Olympic, the top level athletes in EVERY country will have lots of monetary benefits to participate.
And that is what Sherdog posters dont understand- country like Kazakhstan, Mongolia or Armenia will be medaling big time within 2 Olympic cycles.
 
If BJJ or UWW Grappling becomes Olympic, the top spots in all categories will be dominated by East Europe, Russia and the Stans, within 2 Olympic cycles.

If gi BJJ was in the olympics do you think the Brazillians would stop being a force in the 2nd olympic cycle?
 
"Lets say that I rarely comment with emotions.
Instead, I happen to work with people who know how things move behind the scenes."

Im actually familiar with some of your work. I believe I have your interview with Eddie Goldman NHB on my favorites list and plan on listening to it soon. I knew your name from Sherdog and encountered some of your stuff while during research for a series of articles I am working on hopefully to be published by Intermat. I believe it was my research into Noriaki Kiguchi that led me to some of your stuff.

"And the opinion is that popularity of Greco is lower than submission grappling (mind that I said POPULARITY, not the infrastructure of the sport or participation at this point), besides the money UWW is investing in Grappling."
I can see this being true. Since you're not basing this opinion on participation or infrastructure Im guessing its based more on things like web traffic, views, overall perception, etc?

"Important thing is that the blueprint is there and when the need arises, UWW will look to replace Greco with something, appealing to the younger crowd, which is Grappling."

As much as I can see this being reality, its still really hard to wrap my head around. So many countries love Greco. Probably as much as they do freestyle. Especially Russia, and Russia holds a lot of sway in the IOC. But the fact remains, even wrestling fans sometimes get bored watching Greco, and grappling resonates much more with the MMA fanbase which is obviously huge.

"It is sad, because Greco was my first sport and I still love it to bits.
And as unfortunate as it is, once Greco is not an Olympic sport, it will most probably be practiced only recreational"

Indeed it is very sad if it happens. Especially for countries like Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, etc who are hugely successful in Greco and not nearly as much in freestyle. Even sadder when you consider that Greco has the potential to be tremendously exciting, but only at times.
Correct.
I will always love Greco and do my best to teach people the benefits of the style.
That been said, for people, unfamiliar with the sport, it looks like sumo (which I also love, but I know Im in the minority).
Lets say that those are just variations of the future, nothing is sure, but reading the possibilities and acting accordingly is what makes the big sport world move.
 
If gi BJJ was in the olympics do you think the Brazillians would stop being a force in the 2nd olympic cycle?
I am sure about it.
Brazil will always medal, but will not be as dominant as now.
Example: Judo.
Japanese are far from dominating the judo world for generations now.
 
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