USA Mens soccer out of the Olympics...will USA win any gold in wrestling?

[mckbln]

The biggest problem with US wrestling...and US judo for that matter, is that there is no real dedicated, centralized effort to develop the sport/athletes. The funding also sucks. If you are an american male/female in judo, freestyle/Greco wrestling, you simply can't be competative unless you travel to NUMEROUS overseas tournaments...and it COSTS.

[justaguy]

Originally Posted by mckbln

The biggest problem with US wrestling...and US judo for that matter, is that there is no real dedicated, centralized effort to develop the sport/athletes. The funding also sucks. If you are an american male/female in judo, freestyle/Greco wrestling, you simply can't be competative unless you travel to NUMEROUS overseas tournaments...and it COSTS.

Title __

That is all.

[Blonjuan44]

I recall that last time a big issue was that they couldn't get wrestlers to train at the Olympic training centers instead of clubs like sunkist etc. Although I don't agree thats a big issue their 1 freestyle gold came from someone who committed to the training center - by the way, what is he up to now? Last I read he was going to switch to boxing I thought, or possibly mma...

[golden eagle 157]

I think USA wrestling has been trying to address some issues we have here at home. The problem comes down to money and popularity. USA wrestling has been trying to increase the popularity of freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling among our own population. Most of our high school and younger kids do NOT wrestle international style at a committed level.Our most committed wrestlers who wrestle year round and compete in international style still commit 7 months to folkstyle wrestling. Same with our top collegiate wrestlers. By the time most of our wrestlers commit 100% to international style wrestling they are 22-24 years old and for the most part only have 1 Olympic cycle in them (4-6 years).

The other is the lack of money and opportunity costs our athletes must endure. Their is very little money to be made. The training stipends are pretty small and the ability to get a decent paying assistant coaching position is also minimal. So many guys who still want to compete choose MMA where they get sponsors to pay for training and ultimately become prize fighters. Soon, if not already, many of our top college wrestlers will swear off international style altogether because they would rather spend their off-seasons doing Jiu Jitsu and kickboxing to develop skills for the next level where they will get paid. Then there are those individuals that are sick of being broke college athletes and don't want to be broke international athletes and chose to enter the workforce.

[golden eagle 157]

Originally Posted by Blonjuan44

True, but now that they have broken into a bunch of "whats-it-Stans" they basically have multiple Russian entries - if the US had 10 entries they would do better also. Illinois would basically have their own Olympic team.

And yes Google=American, but they have some extreme political leaning and the UK office was heavily involved in some to the middle east "Spring" stuff. Not a big fan of politics in general, so I go Yahoo over Google +plus I pull for the underdog.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1008617.html

Google is an American company; however they are multinational company that likes to reroute profits through countries with lower tax rates to avoid paying the higher US tax rate.

[lauden swain]

Originally Posted by Blonjuan44

True, but now that they have broken into a bunch of "whats-it-Stans" they basically have multiple Russian entries - if the US had 10 entries they would do better also. Illinois would basically have their own Olympic team.

Yes, the Soviet Union fractured into satellite countries but Russia is the most powerful wrestling country in the world. At the World Championships, just a few years ago, the contingent of Russia won every single weight class but one. Yes, a gold medal at every weight class but one and they captured a silver medal in that weight class. The country lost a total of one match in the entire tournament. Unbelievable.

Two years ago, the freestyle team was not good at Moscow. They failed to medal in a single weight. Last year in Istanbul, they were terrific in earning a team trophy. A much different squad both years. What team will represent this year in the Olympics?

Burroughs ia a very talented wrestler with high aspirations. What will he do after the world has seen him once already?

It will be interesting to see exactly who shows up in Iowa City.

As far as the greco program goes, I predict another dismal performance that will result in change of leadership at the national level. Sincerely hope that this isn't the case but after the recent performances at the world championships, another poor showing will probably result in some heads rolling.

Lauden

[wrestlersdad]

Originally Posted by lauden swain

Yes, the Soviet Union fractured into satellite countries but Russia is the most powerful wrestling country in the world. At the World Championships, just a few years ago, the contingent of Russia won every single weight class but one. Yes, a gold medal at every weight class but one and they captured a silver medal in that weight class. The country lost a total of one match in the entire tournament. Unbelievable.

Two years ago, the freestyle team was not good at Moscow. They failed to medal in a single weight. Last year in Istanbul, they were terrific in earning a team trophy. A much different squad both years. What team will represent this year in the Olympics?

Burroughs ia a very talented wrestler with high aspirations. What will he do after the world has seen him once already?

It will be interesting to see exactly who shows up in Iowa City.

As far as the greco program goes, I predict another dismal performance that will result in change of leadership at the national level. Sincerely hope that this isn't the case but after the recent performances at the world championships, another poor showing will probably result in some heads rolling.

Lauden

Help me with the timeline...I thought two years ago Herbert won a silver at the worlds after winning his second NCAA title and then last year Burroughs won gold after his second NCAA title. Did I miss a year or was that not the world championships?

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by lauden swain

Yes, the Soviet Union fractured into satellite countries but Russia is the most powerful wrestling country in the world. At the World Championships, just a few years ago, the contingent of Russia won every single weight class but one. Yes, a gold medal at every weight class but one and they captured a silver medal in that weight class. The country lost a total of one match in the entire tournament. Unbelievable.

Two years ago, the freestyle team was not good at Moscow. They failed to medal in a single weight. Last year in Istanbul, they were terrific in earning a team trophy. A much different squad both years. What team will represent this year in the Olympics?

Burroughs ia a very talented wrestler with high aspirations. What will he do after the world has seen him once already?

It will be interesting to see exactly who shows up in Iowa City.

As far as the greco program goes, I predict another dismal performance that will result in change of leadership at the national level. Sincerely hope that this isn't the case but after the recent performances at the world championships, another poor showing will probably result in some heads rolling.

Lauden

The best Greco Roman coach in the country is stuck in Boise, Idaho running a kids club and selling dummies. I hate to agree with you, but I do.

[lauden swain]

Originally Posted by wrestlersdad

Help me with the timeline...I thought two years ago Herbert won a silver at the worlds after winning his second NCAA title and then last year Burroughs won gold after his second NCAA title. Did I miss a year or was that not the world championships?

Two years ago, the World Championships were in Moscow. Herbert was defeated by a young but very talented Cuban first round. USA was shut out of medals in both free and greco.
Last year, Cael Sanderson defeated Jake at World Team Trials and then lost in Bronze match at World Championships in Istanbul. The freestyle team wrestled a great tournament taking third in the team race.

[lauden swain]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

The best Greco Roman coach in the country is stuck in Boise, Idaho running a kids club and selling dummies. I hate to agree with you, but I do.

Yes, Ivan Ivanov is the best greco coach in the USA. Not sure if that fractured relationship could be mended enough to put him in the national leadership position.