Although COVID-19, aka “coronavirus,” was first detected in China approximately two and a half months ago, the virus did not begin to substantially change American life — including the great sport of wrestling — until just last week. 

Everything can change in just a few days. 

Here’s the timeline to prove it, as experienced right here on FloWrestling: 

March 9, 4 AM

Fresh off a ridiculously amazing Big Ten tournament in Piscataway, NJ, and generally buzzing about the conclusion of conference tournaments across the country with the likes of EIWA, Big 12, SoCon, Pac-12, and MAC, David Bray took a look at the biggest stories from the weekend. Everyone was gearing up for two weeks of lead-up to the NCAA Championships.

March 11, 3:45 PM

Two days later on Tuesday afternoon, NCAA president Mark Emmert announced that the NCAA Championships would see limited attendance due to the spread and health concerns surrounding COVID-19. Looking to expand the sport to more fans, NCAA Wrestling had scheduled the tournament at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, with a capacity of over 66,000 people. The news that fans wouldn’t be attendance was a huge blow, but at least (so we thought) there would still be wrestling. 

March 11, 8:25 PM

The NCAA brackets are released. We’ve got analysis, debates, matchups we’re looking forward to, and everything to break down.

March 12, 10:48 AM

The Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic is canceled. The night before, NBA star Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus minutes before tipping off against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and commissioner Adam Silver immediately called a hiatus to the league, sending shockwaves throughout the sports world. The rest of the following day was filled with cancelations. The FloWrestling Slack room was not a fun place to be.

March 12, 4:12 PM

Just a few hours after the PWC was canceled, the NCAA announced that winter and spring championship tournaments would be canceled. That was it: there would be no NCAA Wrestling Championships. 

March 13, 4:47 PM

Almost exactly 24 hours later, the Olympic Team Trials were postponed. Originally scheduled for April 4-5 in University Park, PA, on the campus of Penn State, there has been no firm date for a rescheduled event.

From Sunday, March 8, to Thursday, March 12, the wrestling world went from Gable Steveson winning the heavyweight crown at the Big Ten championships in New Jersey to having no NCAA Wrestling Championships at all. 

From here on out, this article on FloWrestling is going to be our central hub for keeping you informed and up-to-date with everything that is happening with COVID-19 and the sport of wrestling. Events, tournaments, Olympic-related news in the lead-up to Tokyo 2020 (or whatever year the Olympics end up happening!), anything and everything can be found right here. We’ll make sure to include pertinent links to content related to these things, and keep you in the loop with how we’re doing everything in our power to fill the event void with content, news, workouts, videos, reruns, analysis, and everything in between.

If there are any events or information you think we should be aware of, email Hunter Sharpless at hunter.sharpless@flosports.tv.

The First Huge Domino To Fall: NCAAs Canceled

The NCAA Championships wasn't the first wrestling event canceled, but the biggest and best college tournament was certainly the biggest and most shocking event canceled. For many of us, this was one the reality hit home that COVID-19 wasn't a flash in the pan — this virus changed everything.

The fallout from the end of NCAAs has been insane. I encourage you to revisit some of the FRL episodes from the days right after to hear more reactions from wrestlers, coaches, and all the Flo guys. A large part of the conversation has been about NCAA eligibility next year for the seniors who missed out on their chance at NCAAs. The first news out of the gate is that there will be some sort of effort — though we don't know exactly what that looks like yet — to grant relief to those seniors. That doesn't mean, of course, that every wrestler would take advantage; many might have jobs or other endeavors already lined up.

We will update with more news as it comes in.

Olympic Qualifiers Postponed — What About Tokyo?

On March 13 the Olympic Team Trials were postponed, and the two next logical questions are, first, whether/when a make-up date will be decided; and second — the far bigger question — is Tokyo 2020 actually going to happen? If it does happen, when is it going to happen?

Before we get there, though, some good news: The Pan Am Qualifier in Ottawa, Canada, did not get canceled. Our very own brave Daniel "the Wrestling Nomad" Lobdell visited the Canucks to gather content and observe the first U.S. Olympic qualifiers. Here is the full results page, and here is the landing page with all the great and juicy content Nomad gathered.

On March 17 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released a communique stating that there has been no decision to cancel Tokyo 2020 thus far. Here is part of their statement:

"The IOC remains fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and with more than four months to go before the Games there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage; and any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive."

The Africa and Oceana Olympic Qualifiers have also been postponed.

High School & Youth Wrestling

As we mentioned above, the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic was one of the very first wrestling events to be canceled. Just today, the 2020 NHSCA High School Nationals were postponed.

Here are other events that have been either canceled or postponed:

• Girls Folkstyle Nationals (postponed)
• Reno Worlds (postponed)

March 18 Update

The 2020 U.S. Marine Corps U.S. Open has been postponed. See the tweet below which links to the full article.

POSTPONED – The USMC U.S. Open in Las Vegas will be postponed, with plans to reschedule

?: https://t.co/ljJGCAY6JH pic.twitter.com/wY2fH9uSsM

— USA Wrestling (@USAWrestling) March 18, 2020