2020 Olympic bronze medalist Sarah Hildebrandt (Photo courtesy of Larry Slater; LBSphoto.smugmug.com)Team USA brought home nine medals from the recent 2020 Olympic Games. Along the way, there were several standout statistical performances by individuals and the team in general. The following looks at some of the statistical trends at play and what it could mean for the U.S. on the international level going forward.
Most Match Points
Olympic bronze medalist Sarah Hildebrandt scored 42 points across her four matches at 50 kg, which was the most on Team USA. All three of her victories came via match termination, and she still managed to score seven points in her only defeat. 26 of those points came via her leg lace. Her 26 points via the leg lace were by far the most on the team. Tamyra Mensah-Stock scored the second-most points with the leg lace with six.
Gut Wrench Offense/Defense
While Team USA, particularly the women, were able to rack up points with the leg lace, it was not all positive in the par terre position. The U.S. scored 18 points with the gut wrench from the top with Dake leading the way with six points. However, opponents of Team USA were able to score 28 points with the technique. This was a particular issue for the Greco squad as Artem Surkov and Sergey Emelin both put up six points via the gut-wrench against Alejandro Sancho and Ildar Hafizov, respectively.
Shutouts
Team USA finished with 17 shutout victories in the tournament. Gable Steveson and Dake both contributed three of these victories to lead the squad. On the other hand, in 46 matches, Team USA only failed to score three times: Ildar Hafizov vs. Luis Orta Sanchez, Jacarra Winchester vs. Vanesa Kaldzinskaya and Dake vs. Muhamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau.
Point Differential
David Taylor averaged 2.34 points per minute during the event and allowed only five points in his four matches (0.32 per minute). That left him with a +2.02 point differential, which was the highest on the team. Taylor gave up the first takedown in his quarterfinal match against Myles Amine, but other than that, he did not surrender a two-point score. In the finals against Hassan Yazdani, he gave up a step out, allowed a shot clock point and was hit with a caution.
Hildebrandt averaged slightly more points per minute (2.58), but she allowed 13 points and finished with a +1.79 differential.
Shot Clock/Passive Points
Team USA combined to score nine points via the shot clock in men's and women's freestyle. The team also gave up exactly nine points via the clock in those two styles. In Greco, Team USA earned four passive points while giving up seven. No Team USA wrestler scored more than one shot clock point in a match. However, Risako Kawai was able to best Helen Maroulis with a pair of shot clock points in the 57 kg semifinal.
Four-point Moves
Team USA managed only two four-point moves in the entire tournament. Taylor went feet to back against Ali Shabanau, and Sancho hit a four-point throw against Artem Surkov in his only match of the event. On four occasions, opponents of Team USA were able to put four on the board with a single move. Kadzimahamedau against Dake, Aline Rotter-Focken against Gray, Sun Yanan against Hildebrandt and Kaladzinskaya against Jacarra Winchester. All four of those throws turned out to be decisive as Team USA dropped all four of those matches.
Leg Attacks
The freestyle teams dominated the competition in terms of takedowns via leg attacks. Those attacks earned 112 points across both styles. Opponents managed only 20 points on leg attacks. Taylor and Mensah led the way for Team USA by scoring 20 points each via leg attack takedowns.
In addition to those takedown points, Team USA also scored 13 points via step-outs that began as leg attacks. Kyle Snyder was particularly effective with this technique. He scored six points via the step out in the tournament and five of these scores began as leg attacks.
It was clearly a part of his game plan going into this tournament. In both his quarterfinal and semifinal matches, Snyder started the scoring with a quick leg attack into a step out. He then waited for his opponent to go on the shot clock before turning on his full arsenal of offense. In the finals against Abdulrashid Sadulaev, Snyder was unable to set the tone with an attack into a step out and ended up going on the clock himself.
Thomas Gilman finished with four step-outs on his way to a bronze medal. During many of his domestic matches leading up to the Games, he seemed more than happy to settle for the one-point score. However, at the Games, he made it a point to finish for the full two points, even when going out of bounds, and finished with seven takedowns in three matches.
Gable Steveson Takedown Spree Continues
Per Quant Wrestling, Steveson averaged 4.8 takedowns per minute during this past season at Minnesota on his way to an NCAA title. He carried that momentum into the Olympic Trials. After winning those tournaments, he took on the best in the World at the Olympics. Steveson scored 14 takedowns on his way to the gold medal. Those 14 takedowns came in only four matches, which means his takedown per match rate fell to only 3.5 when taking on the best in the World.
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