Paris 2024: Going off-road with wrestling, rituals and reprieves

If it were up to some IOC members in 2013, we wouldn't be sitting here right now, would we?

It's the Champ-de-Mars Arena in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and inside spectators are being treated to an exhibition of Olympic freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.

This is a slight diversion from the norm of the last two-and-a-half weeks. It's an odd sensation being in a venue where there are no members of Team Ireland to keep a watchful eye on.

Indeed, no Irish wrestler has competed in the Games since Seoul 1988 when David Harmon appeared in a couple of matches in the men's 74kg freestyle.

Before him, the only footprint on the mat from an Irish wrestling point was four Olympics in a row from 1952 to 1964.

Wrestling has a long history and was an intrinsic part of the original Olympics in Ancient Greece. In the modern day version, it's been there in Greco-Roman form since the first modern Games in 1896 with the only interruption being Paris 1900. The freestyle form was introduced in 1904 and wrestling in both its forms has been a staple since.

However, in 2013 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to drop wrestling from the core Olympic programme from Tokyo 2020 onwards, prompting outrage globally and even a hunger strike from a former champion in protest.

However, months later the sport would earn a reprieve and earn inclusion for 2020 and Paris 2024 but with some concessions, including more weight classes for women.

Another key aspect was about making matches more of a spectacle by giving an added incentive to those who wrestle with more aggression and intent.

Followers of Gaelic football may recognise that as a Football Review Committee style situation where grappling's answer to Jim Gavin leads the posse in a bid to revamp