MARQUETTE, Mich. — When he heard the news last Tuesday, Barrett Stanghill retreated to his dormitory room on the third floor of Meyland Hall at Northern Michigan University and reconsidered his future. The executive board of the International Olympic Committee had voted to eliminate wrestling from the Summer Games, starting in 2020, and Stanghill found it almost impossible to process.

“I was pretty upset,” he said, measuring his words.

Stanghill, 18, is part of a cadre of elite wrestlers who train and study at Northern Michigan, the home of the United States Olympic Education Center for Greco-Roman wrestling — the only facility of its kind in the country. Unlike other college programs, which operate under the umbrella of the N.C.A.A. and compete in the more mainstream freestyle wrestling, the Greco-Roman specialists here train in virtual anonymity. There are no dual meets against top programs like Iowa or Penn State. There are no N.C.A.A. titles to be won. The Northern Michigan wrestlers are preparing, quite simply, to become Olympians.

That became problematic last week, when the I.O.C. voted to drop wrestling from the Games. Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling will be contested at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, but both disciplines will be excluded from the 2020 Games unless the sport wins an appeal. There is a chance that the I.O.C. could reverse its decision at a board meeting in May. A final decision will be made in September.