With everything going on surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, the past three weeks have felt more like three months. The sports world has been flipped upside down with cancellations and postponements. The wrestling has been no different. Here's everything we know, we think we know, and what we still have yet to figure out regarding the pinnacle of the sport.

What We Know...

The Olympics have been rescheduled exactly one year later than originally planned

The Olympic Games #Tokyo2020 will be held from 23 July until 8 August 2021.

More information here: https://t.co/ST25uXKglE pic.twitter.com/sQo1TIcH5O

— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) March 30, 2020

In the full press release, it was also mentioned that “the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 would be held in their complete form and not later than summer 2021.” Meaning, no further postponements will be made.

Already Qualified Athletes Will Keep Spots At 2021 Olympic Games

"It is clear that those athletes who have qualified for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 remain qualified. This is a consequence of the fact that these Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, in agreement with Japan, will remain the Games of the XXXII Olympiad.” - Thomas Bach, IOC President pic.twitter.com/bzxOFdPUY4

— Olympics (@Olympics) March 28, 2020

This is great news for the US as we have already qualified 15 of 18 weights. All six of the women’s weights are qualified while 65 kg in men’s freestyle and 77 kg and 130 kg still have yet to qualify. 

The Olympic Qualifying Tournaments Will Be Held Next Year In The Same Cities

In a press release Tuesday, USA Wrestling announced that the United World Wrestling bureau voted Tuesday to preserve the dates and host cities for the remaining qualification events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. While the dates might not be exact, the three continental qualifiers will be in March and the last chance qualifier will be in April.

Olympic Qualifiers in 2021
African-Oceania - March 13-15, Morocco
European - March 19-22, Budapest, Hungary
Asian - March 26-29, Xian, China
World - April 30-3, Sofia, Bulgaria https://t.co/anltNCF772

— Vinay Siwach (@siwachvinay) April 6, 2020

The 2019 World Championships and the Pan-American OG Qualifier are the only two Olympic qualifying events that have occurred so far. All international tournaments that were not championships before June 30 are canceled. 

Athletes Will Not Be Allowed To Transfer Countries Before The Olympics

In the same press release, UWW noted that "no new nationality changes will be allowed prior to the new Olympic Games date of 2021." This clarifies a question that we asked on March 25.

US Olympic Team Trials Are Postponed Until 2021

While we don’t know the exact dates as of yet, the US Olympic Trials will be in 2021. Per USA Wrestling, “at this time, organizers are working closely with local officials and health experts in hopes of rescheduling the event at the Bryce Jordan Center in 2021. Updated event information will be shared as soon as it is available.”

What We Don’t Know...

What Will Become Of The 2021 Worlds?

The 2021 World Championships were originally scheduled for October 2-10 in Oslo, Norway. With the Olympics now set for two months prior to that, one would think that UWW would probably change them to non-Olympic weight World Championships or cancel them altogether. However, on The Bader Show Tuesday, UWW representative Tim Foley said as of right now there are no plans to change the 2021 Worlds. 

Foley did say there will be a meeting between UWW officials sometime this week to discuss the schedule moving forward, however. Hopefully this will lead to answers sooner rather than later.

In 2008 and 2012 there were women’s freestyle Non-Olympic Weight Worlds while in 2016 there were Non-Olympic Weight Worlds for all three styles. 

Who Will Be Qualified For The US Olympic Trials?

As per USA Wrestling on March 27, their qualification procedures are “currently under review for amendments due to the postponement of the Games.”

The only two remaining qualifying Olympic Trials Events that did not take place were the 2020 NCAA Championships, which were canceled, and the Last Chance Qualifier, which “will be moved to a new date and site to be determined” according to USA Wrestling.

Will everyone who already qualified, still be qualified? Will some to requalify? Will 2021 NCAA champions qualify?

For a list of every wrestler who was qualified before the rescheduling of the Olympic Trials, click HERE.

Will The NCAA Grant Another Year Of Olympic Redshirt Eligibility?

Now that 2021 is an Olympic year, will the NCAA allow wrestlers to take an Olympic year? And if so, what criteria will they use? 

Here were the criteria for 2020:

1. Past national team members (top three from the World or Olympic Team Trials)

2. Top eight at the 2019 Senior U.S. Open

3. Top three at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championship; or NCAA champion from a previous year AND top two from the 2019 U23 World Team Trials (must accomplish both).

4. Previous Cadet, Junior, U23 world medalist

The cancellation of this year’s NCAAs and the possible cancellation/postponement of age-level World Championships poses some disruptions to these criteria. 

Will everyone who qualified this year be eligible once again? Last summer Nomad provided a list of wrestlers who were eligible to take an Olympic redshirt this past season, which can be viewed HERE. However, many of these athletes chose not to take their redshirt and competed this year.