Cochrane wrestlers put in an Olympic-sized effort on the weekend to keep their sport from getting swept under the mat.
More than 200 kids aged 5-15 were at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre (SLSFSC) for the Western Canadian Youth Wrestling Championships, hosted by the Cochrane Cowboys Wrestling Club. Joining young athletes from across Alberta were Canadian Olympic and world-champion wrestlers to send a message to the International Olympic Committee, decrying its decision to remove wrestling from its core sports for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. The sport has been a mainstay of the Olympic Games since their inception in ancient Greece in 700 BC. It has been moved to a list of sports which may or may not be selected for inclusion in 2020.
Dean Schmeichel, a Canadian wrestling gold medallist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and Canadian Olympian in 2000 at Sydney, said events like the Cochrane meet are just the beginning.
“We need this massive number of kids to be interested and fall in love with the sport in order to have a national team,” he said gesturing at the legion of wrestlers warming up at SLSFSC’s indoor Philegros Field.
The Cochrane tournament featured five mats in two separate spaces, the bouncing bodies turning the facility into a human popcorn machine.
“The important thing here is I’m at the end of my career,” said Carol Huynh, Canadian Olympic wrestling gold medallist at the 2008 Games in Beijing. “To see these kids, they’re at the beginning of their career. It’s more than just a sport. It’s what you learn. It’s helped me become who I am today.”
Both Huynh and Schmeichel were coaching young athletes at the Cochrane event.
As for the importance of wrestling retaining its core status in the Olympics, Huynh said Cochrane is just one of countless communities rallying behind the sport.
“It’s happening all around the world. You’ll see the ‘Save Olympic Wrestling’ in Mongolia, Russia, Iran, Germany. It’s all over the place.”
Wrestling’s importance in the Games, and relevance to them, cannot be overstated.
“To become the best in the world, at anything, is an incredible accomplishment. These kids need to see those things,” Schmeichel observed.
• St. Timothy High School wrestlers Callum McNeice and Ryan Loeppky won gold medals at the Calgary High School Wrestling Championships on March 2. Both wrestlers advanced to provincials March 8-9 in Edmonton.
