UWW/Olympic qualifier major update

[bnwtwg]

 H/T Vinay Siwach

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by bnwtwg

[bnwtwg]

From the UWW article:

The qualification cycle next year begins with the Pan-American Qualifiers in Acapulco, Mexico from February 28 to March 1. It will be followed by the African & Oceania Qualifiers in Alexandria, Egypt from March 22-24, European Qualifiers in Baku, Azerbaijan from April 4-7 and the Asian Qualifiers from April 19-21 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The World Olympic Qualifier will be held in Istanbul, Turkiye from May 9-12.
 
For the four Continental Qualifiers, the semifinal bouts will serve as the Paris Olympic qualification bouts. No repechage, bronze and gold-medal bouts will be held during these continental events. The finalists of each of the six Olympic weights will earn a spot for the Paris Games and no other quotas will be awarded at these competitions. 

For the World Qualifier, the semifinal bouts will serve as the Paris Olympic qualification bouts and the winners of these semifinals will earn a quota for the Olympic Games. The two winners of the bronze-medal bouts will compete for the third quota of each weight category. No gold-medal match will be held during this competition.

It will be held in a two-day format with the repechage scheduled on the second day. All competing wrestlers on day two will have to go through weigh-ins and wrestle in repechage to make it to the bronze-medal bout. The bronze medalists will then wrestle-off to win a Paris Olympic ticket.

[bnwtwg]

So you have the following (math could be wrong because kids are exhausting):

Already qualified: four medalists at 2023 worlds + winner of true 4th (bronze losers wrestle-off) = 5

2 gold medal contestants per weight for continental qualifiers x 4 continental tourneys. 8 more competitors + 5 previous= 13 total

2 last chance finalists + 13 previous = 15 total

2 last chance repechage bronze wrestling for final spot true-fourth + 15 previous = 16 total

I believe the host country France also gets a spot to any bracket they choose that is not already qualified but that needs to be verified because the IOC sucks, so one bracket will be 17 in that event. 

[bnwtwg]

Final thought is that I absolutely love seeing repechage at last chance. I wish it was true wrestlebacks but this is a great step forward. Pure heart and guts will be on full display day two on the backside. It may be sloppy at times but it will be some of the purest wrestling one can see because I truly believe that will be a deeper competition than some lopsided Olympic brackets.

[Wrestleknownothing]

Does anyone know:

1. When the Pan Am Olympic Games Qualifier challenges need to be in by,

2. When the challenge tournament would be?

3. And in the case of multiple challengers, will the tournament among challengers be the same day as the best of three against the 2023 World Team Member?

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

12 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

So you have the following (math could be wrong because kids are exhausting):

Already qualified: four medalists at 2023 worlds + winner of true 4th (bronze losers wrestle-off) = 5

2 gold medal contestants per weight for continental qualifiers x 4 continental tourneys. 8 more competitors + 5 previous= 13 total

2 last chance finalists + 13 previous = 15 total

2 last chance repechage bronze wrestling for final spot true-fourth + 15 previous = 16 total

I believe the host country France also gets a spot to any bracket they choose that is not already qualified but that needs to be verified because the IOC sucks, so one bracket will be 17 in that event. 

I know that this used to be the case, but I also know that the IOC has been cutting back on host country allocations.  So who knows?

[Tripnsweep]

They should just go to a 24 wrestler bracket. 

[bnwtwg]

2 hours ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

I know that this used to be the case, but I also know that the IOC has been cutting back on host country allocations.  So who knows?

I think, but cannot confirm off memory, is that the host country was previously allocated at all weights across all categories (MFS, WFS, GR) and the update is to one weight per category. But again, I could be wrong. They may have also not published yet because track and field hasn't released the Road To Paris standings yet that will be used in correlation with the Q and q times as a sport:sport comp

[CHROMEBIRD]

France doesn't get automatic qualifiers for wrestling. Not having gold matches at the Continentals and World Qualifier is puzzling. Why not wrestle through for seeding purposes? Maybe I'm not understading the change correctly.

[Wrestleknownothing]

2 minutes ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

France doesn't get automatic qualifiers for wrestling. Not having gold matches at the Continentals and World Qualifier is puzzling. Why not wrestle through for seeding purposes? Maybe I'm not understading the change correctly.

If you are not understanding it correctly, then neither am I. I had the same thought about seeding.

[CHROMEBIRD]

Seems like it would be detrimental to attendance and viewership too. Why watch a tournament where there's no winner?

[mspart]

When they had the mini tourney to get into the US Nationals, they did the same thing.   Finalists did not wrestle, they were just included in the truncated bracket of the US Nationals.   I remember Cary Kolat did a come back and finished well enough to make it to the big show the next day. 

mspart

[bnwtwg]

2020ne olympic global last chance tourney was the same format as the 2024 continental qualifiers: both finalists make it.

The difference is that during that 2020ne tourney they allowed them to wrestle the finals but only two MFS finals matches happened, one WFS bout occurred, and zero greco bouts occurred. So they took the hint and decided to not waste more time than necessary.

Additional context: they wrestled repechage back to bronze and again an overwhelming number of semi losers did not participate in the bronze matches.

You can view all 18 brackets here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_World_Wrestling_Olympic_Qualification_Tournament

 

[MPhillips]

I heard that France was getting the Russian and Belarus spots...

[bnwtwg]

1 hour ago, MPhillips said:

I heard that France was getting the Russian and Belarus spots...

I heard that the IOC bribery auction is still in its early stages and the winner will be announced live at the end of the opening cermonies during the lighting of the olympic torch where they set $13,200,000,000 on fire besting the previous record of $13.1 bil at the Rio games

[gimpeltf]

4 hours ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

France doesn't get automatic qualifiers for wrestling. Not having gold matches at the Continentals and World Qualifier is puzzling. Why not wrestle through for seeding purposes? Maybe I'm not understading the change correctly.

Seeding is by points. They happen at the Continental Championships the week before and at the Last Chance Saloon (oops, qualifier)

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

It is a qualifier.  They are trying to get two guys.  These two guys usually don't wrestle the final anyway.  They just want to go to the Olympics. 

Very unlikely to alter seeds much, as these wrestlers were DNP or low placers at Worlds and continental qualifiers!