maligned

I get the annoyance with what the scoreboard reads, but the wrestlers know mentally the bonus value of scoring or giving something up in certain moments. And the wrestling shows it. If it's 3-3 with one guy's name underlined, the wrestling on the mat reflects a score of 4 to 3--it doesn't matter what the board says.

Before I read your assessment at the end, that's about how I had it mentally too as I read thru the matchups. Good post

You got your 92kg wish.

Most of the Olympic content, including wrestling, is still viewable on Peacock. It's hard to imagine NBC releasing much of that content for free on YouTube at the same time.

He's obviously phenomenal, but not everyone at 97 is a little soft in the middle like him. He fills out the weight better at 92 in my personal opinion. But again, he's so explosive in the lower half, he still out horsepowers guys at 97.

It's hard to know where his fitness level is; but if he's fit, it's hard to imagine DT having the horsepower to hang with Sad. He has so much lower half power and speed even against the competition at 97, where he's slightly overweight. At 92, he's probably at his most ideal weight class. When he's fit, he finishes scores against everybody with execution that makes them look like they're standing still or not resisting from bottom. But, yeah, fitness is the question for me. DT seems fit--possibly more fit than at OTTs. If Sad is a slightly reduced version of himself, DT will make it very interesting.

@nhs67 @Truzzcat Aitmukhan is entered at 97kg at U23s. Assuming that means zero chance we see him at 92 at senior worlds.

This thread has been running for many years with thousands of posts--fueled by multiple Iranians who follow Iranian media. @Irani just moved it here a few days ago from the previous spot that it was hosted at IndianaMat.com for the last 2 years. Before that it ran for a long time on TheMat.com forums before they were dissolved. There just hasn't been much going on yet for the other Iranian regulars to hop back on. Below is a link if you want to look at the 3,000+ posts from the past 2 years. A few decent discussion points from recent U17s and U20s--and obviously plenty of discussion during the Olympics. https://indianamat.com/index.php?/forums/topic/62268-iran-wrestling-news/#comments

Aitmukhan hasn't competed below 97kg since worlds last year. Before this thread moved here, other Iranians were commenting on how huge Aitmukhan looked at 97kg at U20s. Seems he took a while to mature physically. That could be why he jumped levels so fast last year--and could mean we won't see him at 92kg again.

It's been going strong the last 2 years on IndianaMat.com, ever since it had to leave The Mat--but the amount of people adding anything to the discussion outside of about 5 core Iranian fans is limited there.

Very good points. I'll just refine what I was saying by clarifying that 1) I was more talking about freestyle (some of which doesn't apply to your discussion...your points are valid for some of his free, plus his folk issues, nonetheless, of course), and 2) I'm talking about "anytime" setups and attacks rather than opportunistic ones (I think you'd agree an over/under trip generally falls into that category...it's telegraphed for miles late in a match if the other guy isn't looking for scores). His "lack", as you agreed, is "anytime" outside or upper-body setups and attacks.

Retire. No. But does he need to evolve considerably a la Kyle Dake in his mid/late 20s to become the best--definitely. It's not about "opening up" as so many say. The only attacks he has confidence with are straight-on, lower-half attacks off of ties in close. He's never developed an outside game and he's never developed any attacks above the waist. When he faces a long, athletic guy that can keep space or a physical guy with good head/hands defense, he looks like he's not "opening up" because he simply doesn't have the weapon in the holster to fire anything. If he'd ever added the constant threat of a strong Russian tie series for trips and throws, for example, he'd be an Olympic champ, in my opinion.

Tamyra Mensah-Stock was very dynamic and used a powerful blast double at times--although singles maybe more often. Kennedy Blades hits highlight reel doubles.

Japan are becoming 1980s/1990s Russia below 70kg. They are the first name you look for on the bracket. They're getting close to our and Russia's level at 70 and 74kg also, as evidenced by the waxing Dake took at the Olympics.

People are mocking you on this thread for this comment. To spell it out: freestyle is different from folk style. Getting caught in a trap-arm gut wrench in freestyle is the same as getting cradled with an arm trapped in folk. Either you did something stupid or your opponent set you up perfectly. Either way, it's a death sentence and you earned it, knowing ahead of time that it's lights out if you get caught there. I will say that someone's comment about possibly limiting leg laces to 2 or 3 turns isn't something I love (again, if you're not a freestyler, see my first paragraph to understand)--but it's something I could stomach. Most of the time, a multiple-time leg lace is earned. However there are cases where leg laces are awkward and the only way not to get injured is to give up the 4 turns. A wrestling match shouldn't be decided based on the equivalent of being forced to tap out. It should be the move itself that causes the scoring, not the necessity of avoiding injury. Still, 95% of leg laces are earned or naively given up and deserved by both participants.

I think you accidentally mislabeled that image: It's actually a picture of the lactic acid army that viciously attacked and slaughtered PD3 once his cardio defenses fell off a cliff.

My point was that he was openly discussing other changes that are on the table but made clear his personal closed-mindedness about changing weight classes.

Agreed, 100%. Sometimes we can get too caught up in future implications. They should definitely take pride in earning some hardware.

Exactly. It's just that. Even in women's, where they are more skilled compared to the rest of the competition--and where the weights don't go comparatively nearly as high--they've historically won 45% of gold medals available at 65kg and below and only 22% in the upper weights. In weightlifting, where China is so dominant worldwide, they just this year won their first men's Olympic medal higher than 81kg EVER. There just simply isn't the volume of taller, muscle-dense, naturally bone-dense, athletic individuals in these documented smaller stature Asian nations.

I agree with this, but I would ask the question: Which is more satisfying? 10 Top 5, 9 medals, 1 gold 8 Top 5, 7 medals, 3 gold We're very happy, but Iran aren't sulking much either. I admit I'm a little jealous of their 3 golds despite our hardware.

The Japan thing isn't a mystery. They have 2 medals in 150+ tries since 1984 over 74kg. Only 6 freestyle men in 650+ medals over 74kg since 1984 were from documented smaller stature Asian wrestling nations (i.e. Mongolia, China, Japan, India, N/S Korea). At U20s, Japan took 3rd place as a team with only 6 points from 5 weights above 74kg. Similar performance to their 3-man 2nd place finish at the Olympics.

In Flo's Paris interview with Uww president Lalovic, he made it seem like there was no reason to change anything and said it will take a very strong argument to persuade the board of any changes--despite being clear and open about other significant changes on the table that will probably pass. Maybe this was just his personal opinion, but it made me think nothing will change for this cycle.

In 150+ attempts since 1984, Japan has won 2 world-level men's freestyle medals above 74kg. In fact, from roughly 650 medals above 74kg since 1984, only 6 men have won medals from documented smaller stature Asian wrestling nations (meaning Japan, India, N/S Korea, China, Mongolia). With half of weights above 74kg, Japan's men will never come close to team gold again unless they can duplicate their perfect performance in a 6-weight olympic year like this year.

Where did you see this? He's listed on the brackets on Flo and UWW. He's also listed in the upcoming match list on UWW.

He was only up 6-4 before the fall in the quarters too.