DENVER – Trent Watson was watching in August as Jordan Burroughs struggled for wrestling gold against Iran’s Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi. He was, of course, rooting for his fellow American.

But he kept seeing himself on the mat. Watson, a Coronado High School sophomore, pictured the day when he might wrestle for gold.

Earlier this month, the International Olympic Committee shut down Watson’s and other wrestlers’ visions. The IOC removed wrestling from the 2020 Olympics. A battle is raging for wrestling’s return.

Saturday at Pepsi Center served as an advertisement for the virtues of wrestling. A large, properly rowdy crowd gathered to watch big men, little men and in-between men struggle for state supremacy.

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But something was missing.

For decades, the finest high school wrestlers could gaze hopefully at a long ladder to the peak of their sport. Not many would climb to the top, but the possibility was there.

The IOC sawed off a considerable section of the ladder. I realize the sport is too beloved to ever die, but wrestling has been diminished. There’s no way around this bitter truth.

Watson concluded a superlative season with a state title in 106-pound competition. He talked quietly before the match about his disillusionment.

“A lot of people have dreams,” Watson said. “And the Olympics were always a possibility.”

Not anymore.

Adrian Cordova, Watson’s Coronado teammate, was shaking his head in disbelief a few minutes before his match in the 120-pound finals, which he lost.

“It bothers me a lot because of my dreams that I had as a kid,” Cordova said. “All I wanted to do is wrestle in the Olympics one day, and this shuts it down.”

Wrestling is what the Olympics should be about. The sport is genuinely international in scope. I sat in Olympic wrestling venues this summer in London surrounded by women and men from all over the globe.

The sport offers opportunity for men (and women) of all sizes. Watson is not destined to play in the NFL or NBA, where extreme bulk is the greatest virtue. In wrestling, he has the opportunity to reign in Colorado.

He should have the opportunity to rule the world.

Pine Creek coach Billy Gabel talked in calm voice about the IOC’s decision, but his emotions were evident.

“It angers me that they are trying to steal this from us,” Gabel said. “… When they try to take this away, it takes away another dream from these kids.”

Coronado coach Matt Brickell believes the soul of the Olympics is at stake, and I agree with him. The leaders of the Olympic movement are fixated with adding glitz. They want celebrities from golf, tennis and rugby.

“Wrestling doesn’t have that professional glitter,” Brickell said. He offers this observation as a compliment to his chosen sport.

There is something pure about the state finals of any high school sport. In wrestling, an athlete steps on the mat for an extremely brief opportunity to define his high school career.

I talked Saturday night about wrestling with Rulon Gardner, who delivered one of the U.S.’s great Olympic moments. In 2000, he conquered Russia’s unconquerable Alexander Karelin for Greco-Roman gold.

But he was talking about another moment he will never forget. In 1989, Gardner won the heavyweight title at the Wyoming state tournament.

“It was a night of innocence,” he said. “A night of elation. A night of perfectness. A night when all the work was worth it.”

On that perfect night, there were no limits to how far Gardner could climb.

Those grand days are gone, at least for now. The top rungs of the wrestling ladder have been sawed off.