Voice of the Quakers

Sweet lat drop from JPN for the win. Leg position and back arch (and 360 view) were just outstanding. Also, looks like a great crows for this session. Vibes were poor leading into these games, but it looks like the French are showing out for these events.

A six match session at 3P. Olympics gotta get their money.

KGZ with the last second TD! JPN is out of the running for gold. KGZ-NGR in the other semi opposite of Elor.

KGZ getting work done over JPN in the 4th women's quarterfinal.

I thought so, too. It was actually "Koumba" for the French wrestler who lost to NGR on the women's side.

Some of these challenges are really desperate, if understandable.

I believe the Cuban Chilean has just advanced to the semis without scoring an offensive point in his first two matches. This is a problem. Makes me respect Lopez's low gut on the Iranian that much more.

Wild match in the other quarter opposite Elor. PRK makes massive comeback when Indian opponent hurts her shoulder. Thought the Indian could've handled the situation (stalled) better. Elor will crush the North Korean in her semi.

16-man tournament. Opportunity to run a true double elimination with no wrestler competing in more than three bouts per day. But, FILA/UWW have never cared to use/understand the American bracket (you should've seen some of their attempts in 1995-96) and they never will.

He is. Left Cuba because he was behind Lopez. Smart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasmani_Acosta#:~:text=Acosta started wrestling in Cuba,and the Cerro Pelado International.

It's been a long time since I've seen a wrestler just refuse to engage the way the Pole did against Elor. Almost backed straight out of the ring in the first 10 seconds. Could've easily been DQ'ed if Elor pressed the issue. But, Elor is smartly conserving her energy.

Back on topic, for better or worse. This article is worth your time. https://nypost.com/2024/08/02/opinion/issue-of-olympic-boxer-imane-khalif-is-complex-but-still-one-of-fairness/

As I mentioned in a thread regarding the ban on Russia - if the IOC had banned them for the rampant cheating during Sochi it wouldn't be tying itself into knots trying to ban them for these Paris games - the solution here is simple. The next time an Iranian refuses to compete against an Israeli, the IOC should throw all of the Iranians in that sport out of the games and tell Iran if it happens in another sport the entire country will be banned from Paris and LA. I don't care what your politics are. The Olympics are supposed to be about sport and above politics. (I know, I know). The Iranians are the ones refusing to compete due to politics so they are to blame. This nonsense has now spread to other countries and other sports (judo, with the lack of sportsmanship shown to Israeli competitors) and it has to stop.

Winkler had the A standard, but he only finished 8th in the 100 Fly last month (that was his best finish of the four events he entered at trials) and the US by rule can only take the top two finishers so long as they have the A standard (which they almost always do). So, he transferred to Germany mere weeks ago to compete in this year's games. He had represented the US in junior events. Of note, here are the ages of the swimmers who finished in front of him as of 12/31/24 (Winkler is 18): 28 (Dressel) 17 (Heilman) 22 (Rose) 27 (Harting) 21 (Hayes) 29 (Murphy) 22 (Miller) 18 (Winkler) You can assume four of those swimmers will attempt to make the 2028 games. And, the pipeline is producing plenty of fast kids who will challenge this group then. So, like our wrestling ex pats representing Mexico, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere, Winkler shuffled off to Germany. I think he will be the first of many US swimmers to find another home.

I think we are going to see more transfers moving forward. The entrant cap (852 total swimmers) essentially requires all swimmers to have an "A" standard to qualify for entry. You're no longer going to see countries be able to send good (by international standards) and not great swimmers to the games. Of note, Kaii Winkler, a Florida native and the top recruit in the HS class of 2024, just changed his athletic nationality rom the US to Germany after he finished 8th in the 100 Fly in the US Olympic Trials so he could compete in this year's games. (He is a dual citizen.) His best days are ahead of him, and he would've had a great chance to make the US team in 2028. But, he's made the unfortunately smart decision that it will be a lot easier to qualify out of Germany than the US moving forward. And, unlike with wrestling, once you compete for one country as a senior athlete it is almost impossible to compete for another.

I knew Jerry Brisco relatively well in the past - I used to coach his kids in high school when I was living in Tampa. Jerry told me the WWE loves recruiting wrestlers because they know how to work; that is, in a world of independent contractors and free spirits, they could count on wrestlers to show up to practice and events on time, put in the work, follow direction, etc. After that, some could pick up the stagecraft and some could not. As far as the name change for TMS and Chas Betts/Chad Gable, the WWE wants to control as much of the creative product as it can. No need to pay Chas Betts more to license his name for merchandise, etc., when the general public doesn't know he is. Changing Gable Steveson's name, on the other hand, would've been futile.

G'Angelo Hancock (aka Tavion Heights) has had a couple very impressive matches on NXT on TV.

I think some of the posters are underestimating the importance of Scubb's stat.

The plot thickens... https://uww.org/article/uww-reallocates-16-olympic-games-paris-2024-quotas Eligible and invited athletes with a Russian passport Nachin MONGUSH (MFS 57) Shamil MAMEDOV (MFS 65) Arslan BAGAEV (MFS 86) Abdulla KURBANOV (MFS 125) Alan OSTAEV (GR 87) Magomed MURTAZALIEV (GR 97) 5 Male Allocations Remain Natalya MALYSHEVA (WFS 53) Veronika CHUMIKOVA (WFS 57) REFUSES INVITATION Alina KASABIEVA (WFS 62) Elizaveta PETLIAKOVA (WFS 68) 1 Female Allocation Remains Eligible and invited athletes with a Belarusian passport Yahor AKULICH (MFS 74) REFUSES INVITATION Uladzislau KAZLOU (MFS 97) REFUSES INVITATION Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (GR 97) Dzmitri ZARUBSKI (GR 130) REFUSES INVITATION 3 Male Allocations Remain Viyaleta REBIKAVA (WFS 53 - ?) She’s competed at 50, but BLR qualified 53. REFUSES INVITATION Krystsina SAZYKINA (WFS 62) REFUSES INVITATION 1 Female Allocation Remains

As a former wrestler, current swim dad, and longtime media researcher, I find all of the analysis here spot on. Two points to add: 1) The Olympics may be a sporting competition but the audience is atypical for a sporting competition, often skewing female and heavy on light sports viewers. For these viewers, swimming is easy to understand, easy to follow, and individual stories resonate over team sports (the Miracle on Ice and the Dream Team excepted). Plus, the ability to follow a single competitor over a multi-day competition is a plus in drawing attention. (The wrestling competition is actually only two days shorter than swimming - 7 v 9 - but once one of our competitors is done they're done.) 2) That being said, the swimming community is perpetually frustrated by its inability to market their sport outside of the Olympics. The show at Lucas Oil Stadium this week is awesome, but long term I wouldn't doubt many would rather have the the regular cadence of big dual meets, the annual party that is NCAAs and the regular TV coverage wrestling gets. For all of our complaints, think about the last time you saw a college swim meet on TV - you probably haven't. And, if you think college wrestling duals don't attract fans, check out a college swim meet. Or, check out the NCAA swim meet - ESPNU replayed it last night and it was strictly a friends and family audience.

Wouldn't be surprised if Tanelli is making more as the head assistant at VT than he was as HC at Columbia even before cost of living adjustments. Not even sure Columbia is paying Pritzlaff more than what he was making at Rutgers That being said, unless your name is David Taylor, this is the type of risk one needs to take to be a head coach. There are a lot of assistant coaches seemingly waiting for the perfect opportunity to move to the head chair. And they will keep waiting, and waiting, and waiting... Best of luck to Pritzlaff. The more competition in the Ivy League, the better.

Everybody is getting what they deserve here. The AINs were the IOC's silly solution to the harder decision they wanted to avoid - whether to exclude an entire country from the Olympics due to non-sporting/political events, in this case Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Thus, the ridiculous concept of Russia and Belarus sending wrestlers to the Euro qualifier with a wink and a nod that they were from Russia and Belarus but wouldn't actually be representing Russia and Belarus. On the flip side, the AINs allowed Putin and Lukashenko to act like everything was normal and that they could send their best athletes with the assumption that would all be cleared after qualification. Then, Ukraine called the IOC's bluff and demanded Sadulaev's exclusion from the Euro qualifiers. I doubt Sadulaev is more or less invested in the invasion of Ukraine that any of the other Russian wrestlers despite his friendship with Kadyrov - the Chechen wrestlers seem to keep their focus close to home, and if Putin calls you probably respond because you don't want your family to be thrown off of the top of a skyscraper - but Ukraine knew they would put a spotlight on the issue with the callout for Sadulaev. So here we are. All of this nonsense when the easier decision would've been for the IOC to expel Russia years ago given the rampant state-supported doping program uncovered during the Sochi games - a ban that would've put the focus on the sporting competition and not world politics. How do people this stupid get to be in charge of anything? At the end, I hope Bey gets a shot at a quota.

Don't feed the trolls.

Coleman Scott has released a statement. All class. https://twitter.com/CScott60kg/status/1789007721053774330/photo/1