Melanie Fischer

Wrestling Summit:

“You never let a serious crisis go to waste.”  Rahm Emanuel

There’s a crisis in wrestling and not since the 1970’s and Nixon’s Ping-Pong Diplomacy, has the sporting world presented such a tremendous opportunity to make progress on a political stalemate.  Wrestling is on the chopping block as an Olympic sport and, as noted in several media outlets, wrestling is one of the few areas that the US and Iran agree.

Wrestling has been historically Iran’s best sport 38 out of their 60 olympic medals have come in wrestling.  For those who live in the part of the country where wrestling does not include jumping off the top rope and use of the “sleeper hold,” the USA is also are a wrestling power, with USA wrestling lagging only behind USA track & field and USA swimming & diving in the US Olympic medal count.  Perhaps as significant is that wrestlers often come from Red states Iowa and Oklahoma and the republican portion of swing state Pennsylvania.

So how about a good home and home wrestling match with the US and Iran.  Imagine a scene where Senators Tom Harkin, Chuck Grassley and Tom Coburn along with celebrity writer and wrestler John Irving, and former wrestlers Bruce Baumgartner and Rulon Gardner host an Iranian contingent of wrestling advocates and politicians.  Of course, there would be the main event, a dual meet with our top olympic hopefuls squaring off against the best of Iran.  Sounds like good ratings, good politics great relationship building.  In between matches, Harkin can work on pinning the Iranians into giving up their nuclear weapons program.

TEXT BY:  Daniel Rubenstein