Men's freestyle GOAT

[peanut]

[ionel]

Your poll seems inaccurate.  Burroughs didn't get all Gold correct, he had some non gold world/Olympic? 

[peanut]

17 minutes ago, ionel said:

Your poll seems inaccurate.  Burroughs didn't get all Gold correct, he had some non gold world/Olympic? 

Burroughs has ten world-level medals, and seven world-level golds. Six golds are world golds and one gold is Olympic. 

[ionel]

7 minutes ago, peanut said:

Burroughs has ten world-level medals, and seven world-level golds. Six golds are world golds and one gold is Olympic. 

and 2016? 2020?

[Lleynor]

Burroughs has only one Oly Medal. That hurts him, in my book. 
 

Let’s be real. It Saitiev or Medved. Saitiev is the best, by far, in the last 30 years. 

[GrandOlm]

I think Medved going 7 years unbeaten and getting the best of a rivalry with another legend (Ivanitsky) puts him at the top for me. 

[MPhillips]

14 hours ago, ionel said:

and 2016? 2020?

2016

"I left my wife at home with two kids in Nebraska for long periods of time to go to training camps and tournaments in foreign countries, but she did that joyfully, not begrudgingly, because she knew on days like these I always performed. Now I feel like I let her down and I let my family down."

2020

COVID

[mspart]

On 9/19/2025 at 6:21 PM, Lleynor said:

Burroughs has only one Oly Medal. That hurts him, in my book. 
 

Let’s be real. It Saitiev or Medved. Saitiev is the best, by far, in the last 30 years. 

Saitiev did not medal in 2000 Olys.   So what?

mspart

[mspart]

I thnk Burroughs deserves to be mentioned due to his dominance.   I don't know most of those names but have watched Saitiev and that guy was unreal.  If Medved was better, he was unrealer.  

mspart

[Scouts Honor]

um, Bruce? 

[11986]

regarding Beloglazov and Fadzaev, I think they would have been favored for additional Golds at the '84 games but of course the USSR boycotted. Fadzaev also went up a weight one year and lost in world finals to Kenny Monday, dropped back down and won worlds two more times and another Olympics. 

here's Beloglazov rag dolling Barry Davis in the world finals one year. 

 

[Scouts Honor]

wrong

Edited Wednesday at 07:44 PM by Scouts Honor
wrong

[PortaJohn]

27 minutes ago, mspart said:

I thnk Burroughs deserves to be mentioned due to his dominance.   I don't know most of those names but have watched Saitiev and that guy was unreal.  If Medved was better, he was unrealer.  

mspart

Hard to judge because of the era Medved wrestled in and after watching some of his clips I don't know if he'd even make Russias national team.  With these GOAT list I always approach it with the Babe Ruth effect. Have to judge them based on the era they wrestled in.  

[GrandOlm]

6 hours ago, Scouts Honor said:

um, Bruce? 

Why? 

He lost a lot and doesn't have the gold medals to compare to people on this list. 

[nhs67]

I went the Tank.

He would have 2-3 more were it not for hypocritical politics controlling how our sport allows (or doesn't allow) people to wrestle.

[Scouts Honor]

lets talk about the russians for a second and compare to the US

back in those days.. the russians should have dominated.

americans were lucky to spend about 1/4 of their time honing their skills

the russians.. that was their job... and it was their life if they didn't do it.

now the americans have the money and time.. but it's still not their life.

 

so as for Bruce... 13 medals? that's pretty amazing in my book.

[reversaloffortune]

John Smith is still better than Burroughs

[ionel]

On 9/24/2025 at 1:56 PM, PortaJohn said:

Hard to judge because of the era Medved wrestled in and after watching some of his clips I don't know if he'd even make Russias national team.  With these GOAT list I always approach it with the Babe Ruth effect. Have to judge them based on the era they wrestled in.  

Maybe you need to review the meaning of AT.  And for others and OP ... if you didn't gold ever time in your era them maybe you don't satisfy the AT requirement.  

Edited 8 hours ago by ionel

[mspart]

7 hours ago, reversaloffortune said:

John Smith is still better than Burroughs

I don't disagree.   Smith had quite the run. 

mspart

[mspart]

On 9/24/2025 at 12:56 PM, PortaJohn said:

Hard to judge because of the era Medved wrestled in and after watching some of his clips I don't know if he'd even make Russias national team.  With these GOAT list I always approach it with the Babe Ruth effect. Have to judge them based on the era they wrestled in.  

I feel that people with those gifts would have capitalized no matter then era.   The fact the sport wasn't as finely honed then as it is now doesn't mean Medved couldn't have excelled today with his apparent gifts and work ethic.   But in the end you do have to judge how they fared against the competition of the day they were in. 

mspart