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Battle Plan Wes Battle Fought For The Sport He Loves I By Mike Scandura magine countries like the United States, Russia and Iran having representatives sitting at the same table and trying to agree on something as simplistic as the time of day. Even in that case, it might be an exercise in futility. But when representatives from these countries sat down to discuss the fate of wrestling in the Olympics, they were all on the same page. "We brought together three countries that usually don't get along very well," said Wes Battle ('98), who in March was named Chief of Staff of the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling (CPOW). "They don't agree on many things. But they were able to unify for this cause for wrestling. "There were eight sports that were trying to get the three slots in the September vote [of the International Olympic Committee]." The IOC dropped wrestling in February, which didn't leave much time to persuade its members that wrestling should be reinstated. "The 15-member IOC Executive Board voted to eliminate wrestling," said Battle, who wrestled at Virginia from 1995-98. "[CPOW] had to mobilize to convince the board, which was going to have another vote at the end of May that we wanted to give it another chance. "It was a seven-month campaign from when wres- i26-27.Wes Battle.indd 1 tling was kicked out of the Olympics in February until it was reinstated in September [for the 2020 Olympics]. A lot of man-hours were invested. It culminated on Sept. 8 in a 30-minute presentation, but I think the work was done before that." According to Battle, a coalition involving 177 countries that have a governing body needed to band together "to convince the IOC that wrestling was not only a sport with a great legacy, but also a sport for the next century as well." What made this task even more difficult was the fact that the U.S. Olympic Committee wasn't exactly supportive of CPOW. "It was an uphill battle," said Battle. "We didn't have the full support of the USOC. We felt they would say yes, but that baseball and softball should be included so they stayed out of the fray." The flip side of the equation was that Olympic committees from around the world didn't share the same sentiment of the USOC. "We were encouraged by the world-wide outpouring of support for wrestling," Battle said. "We were able to leverage that support. "We were buoyed by that. But I wasn't confident until that final vote on Sept. 8." The first hurdle that had to be cleared occurred May 29 at a meeting of the IOC's Executive Board. "Once we got through that, we had to widen our 11/5/13 2:08 PM