lu1979

I thought it was remarkable that Zhumalove had to beat 4 guys (as opposed to the normal 3) to get to the finals and every one was an expat Russian.

No reasonable unbiased person who follows FS wrestling would have said Lee was a favorite going into these Olympics. Many Americans (including me) hoped and thought he could win due to his age group and college resume. After Ugaev and Micic withdrew Higachi and Abakarov had to be considered co favorites based on FS resumes and recent results. Both ended up on the other side of the bracket from Lee. Abakarov wrestled like crap (damned near lost to Fafe from Guinea-Bissau) Higachi is a great wrestler and he had a tight competitive match with Spencer which he pulled out win. Would the result have been different if Spencer opened up more? Possibly but we will never know.

Higachi didn't wrestle a 1st round match. The bracket showed an Iranian there but I guess he didn't show up. Go DC!!!

Susaki is around 24 yo - but she does now understand massive favorites being upset.:)

Agreed but anywhere on the bottom half of the bracket would be a worse draw.

I was really pleased with the draws for Spencer and Brooks. With the new bracket at 57 you have Higuchi, & Abakarov both in the top half along with the Indian Aman who I think is one of the best guys. I think the bottom half of the bracket is a bit easier. Brooks gets the # 1 seed from Kazakhstan but is opposite Yazdani, Amine & Kurugliev. I don't think we could have asked for much better than that.

I wonder how heavy she got after the first days weigh in. She must have really blew up in weight. She probably had 12 hours between her last match and weigh ins the next morning.

Not correct - Sarah will now wrestle the Cuban for Gold and Susaki will wrestle the Ukrainian woman who lost in the 1/4 finals for the Bronze on that side

Brooks drawing the #1 seed is the best gift we could have asked for. He is opposite side from Yazdani, Amine & Kurugliev. The Kazak is tough but he is the type of guy you have to beat if you want to be an Olympic medalist. I am very happy where Aaron and Spencer landed in the brackets.

You are correct - Sadulaov did this a lot when he was younger and was the best I've seen at it - the idea is to throw it by - I will have to watch the NK/Ind match again to see if that is what it appeared she was attempting. It is also possible to intentionally try to torque your opponents arm in a way that goes against the elbow joint. VoQ is correct also - it is ruthless out there - when the Mongolian scored her go ahead TD against Stadnik it was with a brutal shot where head went straight through Stadnik's face. They let it go but it could have been called back as a head butt. I think that was what Kyle Dake was referencing when he mentioned JB in a recent interview. It's a tough sport.

that is really a shame - he looked so good at last years WC - I was hoping he would do well and hoping him and Spencer might be on opposite sides and meet for the Gold.

Can you expand on this comment? Have you seen any reports that Micic is not competing? Thanks for info and sources.

Navy and Army have had very large rosters in the past - I think doing a sport may be required at the academies. I wonder how this will impact them.

I am pretty sure I saw Coon, Dake and Bey in addition to Parris in the Opening Ceremonies - I did not see Lee myself.

Now that is a brilliant comment - A high school kid going into his junior year who has already beaten 4X AA and NC Anthony Ashnault in competition has a ceiling of low AA. This is an truly example of what the word inconceivable is suppose to be used for.

It doesn't seem that the Class of 2021 Big Board is doing that well - So far they have 6 total AAs with one National Champ. The Class of 2022 BB has 12 total AAs with 3 NCs. The Class of 2023 BB already has 6 AAs despite most of the Class not competing yet.

That Egyptian Olympic GM wrestler at 96Kg had a couple of years where he was really dominant and I remember him launching people

57 - S Lee USA 65 - Musakaev Hung 74 - K Dake - USA 86 - H Yazdani or Ghasampour Iran 97 - Tazhudinov Bahrain 125 - M Parris USA

Right now I would put Iowa and Ohio St fighting for 2 with OSU right on their heals - behind them ASU, Nebraska and NC St all have potential to move up into trophy contention.

The greatest example is Bruce Baumgartner - never won the state title in NJ but won NCAAs (3X finalist) and became one of the greatest heavyweights ever in FS. Also I believe both Keith Gavin and Pat Santoro would qualify.

Cael wouldn't be likely to win at any other program unless he got some of his current or prospective N Lions to follow him. If the all of the current and incoming studs stay at PSU the lucky guy who inherits that job will be the next guy to coach his team to a national title. On the other hand if Cael goes just about anywhere and all his boys follow him .....

I certainly would not include RBY on that list - he couldn't have been cutting that much as a 4 year 133 lb. guy when he is wrestling FS at 125.

I know this was around for a long time but I have seen it used by other countries extensively. Bajrang of India was particularly nasty with this move. The problem is that many FS refs will blow it dead before you can use it. Back in Schultz's era you had significantly more time to work in par terre.

That is not true - both Yianni and Vito ORS in 2020 as did Dayton Fix - their focus was on Olympic gold. Alirez did that this year. Jon Trenge ORS back in 2004. Many schools will work with their athletes to do whatever the athlete thinks will help them achieve their goals.

They don't take anyone from the Asian Games - like Pan ams they have a separate Asian Olympic Qualifier (which Amouzadi wouldn't be in as Iran is already qualified at 65kg) - Mongolia sent a wrestler named T Tseveensuren to the AOQ and he lost to Akmatliev from Kyrgyzstan who made the finals. The other guy to qualify there was the Japaneese wrestler K. Kyooka