Rahman Amouzad

[Pa in Taiwan]

I don't know if Amouzad will be the GOAT of Iranian wrestling. I don't know if he'll be at 65kg for the 2028 Olympics. I don't know if he'll be at 65kg next year, but it won't surprise me if he is. I just want to say "Thank you" to him for providing some excellent wrestling in the 2025 World Championships and looking pretty much like a freight train against all his opponents, except perhaps Sujeet. He made a pretty strong statement this year. I feel the same way about Zahid, and I think DT has really provided an excellent environment and fantastic coaching to enable him. NCAA wrestling is only going to get more interesting and less PSU dominated with DT at Oklahoma State. Thanks, Zahid. Thanks, Rahman. Thanks, Amir Zare. Thanks, Trent Hidlay. Thanks, Kyle. Thanks, Kota Takahashi. Thanks to the other champs as well, though I haven't really watched their matches yet. How about North Korea? They have made a strong showing this year, taking a gold in men's freestyle and medals in women's freestyle as well. 

[Pa in Taiwan]

And congratulations to the Islamic Republic of Iran for winning the team title. People tend to value the individual gold medals more, but to put forward a team that could produce a team title with fewer golds than the US is quite remarkable. They are young, as well. This bodes well for the future of freestyle wrestling. 

[fishbane]

18 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

I appreciate your points about outliers which are valid for someone hoping to chase history. However, you can also look at the list and see how many won before 20, before 23, and disappeared entirely. 65 is so tough and has such a short shelf life but also such an amazing high-level peak. There is a reason it is consistently considered the toughest weight in the world. Here is to hoping that Amouzad makes history and we all witness a rarely seen sustained level of greatness.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_and_Olympic_Champions_in_men's_freestyle_wrestling

You're right that part of the reason there is such turnover at 65kg is that it is really competitive.  57kg and 65kg cover what was 4-5 weights before, so athletes have fewer options.  The heavier Olympic weights have not changed nearly as much and the changes that have occurred have made them less competitive.  Since 1997 the top 4 weights (74, 86, 97, and 125kg) have remained essentially the same and the biggest change was to put two extra weights in that range (79kg and 92kg) for the world championships.  So at the high end the 4 weights have remained unchanged with 6 at worlds, meanwhile at the low end what was 4 Olympic weights is now only 2 and goes up to 4 at worlds.

I think we'd see more 3xer+ around 65kg if there was another weight or two.  Over all weights about half of 2x champs win a 3rd title (48%) and half of those (28%) win a 4th.  Only 10% win a 6th.  I think Amouzad is a better than average 2x champ.  Whether he's the greatest ever Iranain I am less sure, but I think the greatest ever Iranian should be able to win 4 titles even at 65kg. 

Hopefully he can stay at 65kg through 2028.  Don't forget to register for the ticket lottery so you might be able to catch it in person! https://la28.org/en/ticketing.html

[Eagle26]

He was so fun to watch at this tournament and extremely impressive (other than his conditioning lol). I wouldn’t doubt him, but I have to agree with others that are saying it will be a difficult path for him. It’s historically tough at 65-74, and he probably is caught in the middle. Can he put on enough size to be an effective 74? Can he stay small enough to be effective at 65 in 2028? I highly doubt the latter. Heavyweight definitely seems to have more longevity, so the odds would say Zare has a better chance for that title.