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Donald Rumsfeld is passionate about Olympic wrestling

The International Olympic Committee announced last week that wrestling would not be included as a sport in the 2020 games. Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld was moved by the decision.

So moved, he wrote about it this weekend in the Washington Post:

Wrestling is a universal sport. To compete, all that is needed is an opponent and a flat surface. Anyone can participate, regardless of geography, weather, race, gender, culture or economic background. It doesn’t require a golf course, a swimming pool or a horse. ...

Over my eight decades, I’ve collected a list of maxims and life lessons that I’ve found meaningful and instructive. These eventually became dubbed “Rumsfeld’s Rules.” One of the more recent additions comes from one of the most successful wrestlers in the world, Dan Gable, who won the gold medal in the 1972 Olympics without giving up a single point. “Once you’ve wrestled,” he said, “everything else in life is easy.” Indeed, it’s hard to imagine many other sports that require such focus, discipline and second-by-second attention to the movements of an opponent.

What a clever way to plug a new book. "Rumsfeld's Rules" is the name of Rumsfeld's leadership tome publishing this Spring.

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