Should the U.S. be the best country in the world for men's freestyle wrestling?

[Jim L]

12 hours ago, NormMacDonald said:

If colleges switched to freestyle and Greco, we’d see scholarships going to a lot of foreign born athletes like what happens in track. I think it would make our Olympic teams better but would make it harder for American born wrestlers to get scholarships. 

The counter to that is that NCAA T&F is world class and the US athletes compete with the best in the world in college. The US is by far the best in the world in T&F. There was Olympic T&F event where this year's NCAA 5th made the final. I don't remember which one as there were so many NCAA place winners making the finals and winning medals.

I don't have statistics, but I would bet there are 10x the number of Americans on T&F scholarships v. wrestling

 

 

[Scouts Honor]

in T & F

they dont have to compete against 3 judges who usually dont like the us

lol

[1032004]

On 8/16/2024 at 7:37 AM, Jim L said:

The counter to that is that NCAA T&F is world class and the US athletes compete with the best in the world in college. The US is by far the best in the world in T&F.

I’m sure we’re the best overall but there are quite a few events where we’re not:

800: 1 total medal since 1996 (bronze).  Kenya has won the last 5 gold medals (4 different guys), last US gold 1972

5000: last gold 1964, zero medals between 1968 and 2012.

10000: last gold 1964, 2 total medals since 1968

Marathon: last gold 1972, 2 total medals since 1980

Discus: no medals since 1984, last gold 1976

Hammer throw: no medals since 1996, last gold 1956

Javelin: no medal since 1972, last gold 1952 (only one ever)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_athletics_(men)

[billyhoyle]

On 8/16/2024 at 4:37 AM, Jim L said:

The counter to that is that NCAA T&F is world class and the US athletes compete with the best in the world in college. The US is by far the best in the world in T&F. There was Olympic T&F event where this year's NCAA 5th made the final. I don't remember which one as there were so many NCAA place winners making the finals and winning medals.

I don't have statistics, but I would bet there are 10x the number of Americans on T&F scholarships v. wrestling

 

 

The other counter is student visas from Iran and Russia are not likely to be easy to get. You also don’t usually see many Japanese students in undergrad or grad school because English is not as commonly taught there as it is in Korea, China, and Europe, although maybe some of the better youth wrestlers would try to learn it to get a scholarship. 

[Caveira]

If it wasn’t for that pesky folkstyle…. How did we possibly win u17 worlds?

U17 MFS:

3
3
3 5th Place

WORLD TEAM TITLE!

[alex1fly]

20 hours ago, Caveira said:

If it wasn’t for that pesky folkstyle…. How did we possibly win u17 worlds?

U17 MFS:

3
3
3 5th Place

WORLD TEAM TITLE!

Hahahahaha I wondered if someone would point this out. Personally I like to think that the U17 team read the threads here and wanted to impress people.

[Caveira]

2 hours ago, alex1fly said:

Hahahahaha I wondered if someone would point this out. Personally I like to think that the U17 team read the threads here and wanted to impress people.

I mean.  These guys are hs guys.   Who only know folkstyle and somehow pulled off 6 medals and 3 addl medal matches somehow.   It’s nothing short of a remarkable miracle if you ask me.  
 

If you read some of the doomsday posts above they probably learned freestyle on the plane trip over to the competition lol.    How did they even learn parteere is not referees position    I joke.  

[The Kid]

3 hours ago, alex1fly said:

Hahahahaha I wondered if someone would point this out. Personally I like to think that the U17 team read the threads here and wanted to impress people.

You know the best guys wrestle freestyle.  You don't seriously think folkstall was the defining factor in their recent freestyle success? 

Edited August 26 by The Kid

[alex1fly]

9 minutes ago, The Kid said:

You know the best guys wrestle freestyle.  You don't seriously think folkstall was the defining factor in their recent freestyle success? 

My post was tongue in cheek. I just think it’s fun to watch people armchair reform the entire sport.