Cael Sanderson says wrestling should get back to basics
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USA Today ()
05/02/2013
Penn State coach Cael Sanderson talks to David Taylor during the 2013 NCAA Championships in Des Moines.
May is "World Wrestling Month" -- at least that's what the sport's international governing body has decreed.
So how to celebrate? Jake Herbert, who won silver at the London Games, tweeted two suggestions: "wear (your) singlet to school? family wrestling match?"
All excellent ideas.
As for Penn State coach Cael Sanderson, who won Olympic gold in 2004, he kicked off the occasion on the Nittany Lions' Coaches Caravan, a pep rally of sorts for fans headlined by football coach Bill O'Brien that makes stops at various East Coast cities.
Sanderson's team just won its third consecutive national title, but on the Olympic stage the sport is on life support. The IOC executive board surprisingly recommended the removal of wrestling from the Summer Olympics beginning in 2020. The IOC will meet from May 24-27 in St. Petersburg, Russia, to decide which sport or sports to recommend for 2020 inclusion among eight candidates: wrestling, baseball/softball (as a joint bid), karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wushu. The final vote will be made at the IOC general assembly in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
"The fight's definitely on," Sanderson said Wednesday.
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