U.S., Russia and Iran work to save Olympic wrestling

5/14/2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS
From left: Silver medalist Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi, from Iran; gold medalist Jordan Ernest Burroughs, from the United States; bronze medalist Soslan Tigiev, from Uzbekistan; and bronze medalist Denis Tsargush, from Russia, participate in the medals ceremony for men's 74-kg freestyle wrestling competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London, last August.
From left: Silver medalist Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi, from Iran; gold medalist Jordan Ernest Burroughs, from the United States; bronze medalist Soslan Tigiev, from Uzbekistan; and bronze medalist Denis Tsargush, from Russia, participate in the medals ceremony for men's 74-kg freestyle wrestling competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London, last August.

UNITED NATIONS  — American, Iranian and Russian wrestlers hope their unity will sway the IOC to keep their sport in the Olympics.

The three nations with often tense relations off the mat will compete in an exhibition at Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday. They appeared together today at the United Nations to talk up the value of wrestling. The International Olympic Committee has recommended the sport be dropped for the 2020 Games.

U.S. coach Zeke Jones says: “We’re going to show the world that the United States, Iran and Russia, through the vehicle of wrestling, can bring people together.”

This is the fourth straight year a major wrestling exhibition has been held at a famous New York City locale to raise money for charity. But the event takes on an added significance after February’s unexpected IOC decision.