International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said the system in place that removed wrestling as a sport and subsequently made it a candidate to return for the 2020 Olympics worked as it should have.
"I don't see any shortcoming in the system," Rogge said Friday, according to The Associated Press. "I don't see an error in the system."
The IOC surprisingly announced in February that it was eliminating the sport, which has been a part of the Games since the ancient Olympics in Greece.
Wrestling's candidacy to return, the AP reported, was based on the sport altering its structure and allowing for new rules.
The IOC announced on Wednesday that baseball-softball and squash would be the other candidates for an opening in the 2020 Games and would vote on the matter in September.
If wrestling wins the bid, the Olympics will not add a new sport in 2020.
"You don't go for a new one for the sake of a new one," Rogge said. "Novelty is not the issue, quality is the issue. ... The purpose is to have the best possible Olympic program."
After the vote to eliminate wrestling, several countries, including the United States, worked to save the sport.
In fact, the IOC sport-determination system could be given credit for revamping wrestling as a more viable representative for the Olympics.
The sport's changes included Nenad Lalovic replacing Raphael Martinetti as FILA president, and the inclusion of more women and athletes into decision-making roles, the AP said. Wrestling sport officials also sought to make the competition more fan-friendly.
"This decision recognizes the great lengths to which we are going to reform our sport and address the IOC's concerns," said Lalovic in a statement released after the announcement.
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