Franck: Breaking down what makes Russia so good

It might sound so obvious it's not worth saying, but the World Championships of freestyle wrestling is one tough tournament. And it seems to get tougher every year. Much has been said about Russian wrestlers emigrating and competing for one of the former Soviet Republics -- making those teams even stronger. At the Worlds, teams now face a bunch of Russians instead of just one. Looking at how former Russian wrestlers dominate the medal count, it's a difficult point to argue against.

Russia's Denis Tsargush defeated Jordan Burroughs 9-2 en route to winning his third World title (Photo/Martin Gabor)

On top of that, the rest of the world is also improving. At the World Cup in March, Mongolia split 4-4 in matches with Russia and lost on criteria. It was not Russia's top team, but still it was telling of of Mongolia's improvement. That they had three wrestlers reach the bronze-medal match at the World Championships shows that they have athletes that are in the mix with the best in the world. And Mongolia is not alone in the strides they have made.

In the United States we might be focusing on Jordan Burroughs not taking home his fourth gold medal, but it's worth noting that 2013 World champs Hassan Rahimi of Iran, David Safaryan of Armenia, Reza Yazdani of Iran and Khadshimourad Gatsalov of Russia all failed to repeat in 2014.

With such a logjam of talent and determination at every weight class it's truly remarkable that Russia was able to dominate the competition. Other countries may field a number of Russian wrestlers, but there is only one Russian national freestyle wrestling team. This year they had five freestyle World champions, a bronze medalist and two ninth-place finishers. It seems almost impossible. And it therefore seems very worthwhile to look at Team Russia and mull over what makes them so good right now.

Coaching transition period is over

Russia finished second at the 2013 World Championships and although they had the unofficial highest team point total at the 2012 Olympics, only earned one gold medal and they left disappointed. During these two years, much was said about the loss of head coach Dzambolat Tedeev -- that without him Russia had lost a step in his replacement Mahomed Guseynov. Regime changes aren't always smooth and it can take time to get a system in place. With Russia back to old form in separating themselves from the field, it's difficult to imagine any criticism of Guseynov seeming valid.

Eight weight classes instead of seven

Russia obviously has the deepest pool of freestyle wrestling talent in the world. When the weights were reduced to only seven classes, it gave other countries a shot at catching Russia. When a favored wrestler is upset, the smaller field makes it more difficult to make up the points. Last year Iran won when there were seven weight classes. Although Russia dominated Iran this year 62 to 45 in points, if the added weight class (70 kilos) was not around, the score would have been 52-45 -- within striking distance if Iran had a slightly better tournament. But Khetik Tsabolov showed up for Russia in this new weight class and obliterated the field. He's been around, but that Russia could pull him out of thin air and have him peak like that speaks volumes of their stable.

Diversity of attacks

Watching a highlight reel of the Russian National freestyle tournament is very different than watching a highlight reel of the NCAA tournament -- or any major folkstyle tournament for that matter. One of the main differences is the scrambles. Funk has really evolved in folkstyle wrestling over the past few decades and many of the wild scrambles you see are of the 'I'm going to stop-you from scoring even though you're nine-tenths of the way to getting a takedown' variety in which wrestlers dive for ankles and drag them across their chests while rolling on their backs.

The scrambles in a Russian highlight video -- as action-packed as they may be -- always are conscious of back exposure. Moreover, there is always this wonderful tension that someone could be launched into the air even if it's not a traditional throwing position.

That throws are seemingly part of the default arsenal of a Russian wrestler aids them greatly and makes them far more complete than the non-throwing wrestler. And it allows Russians to narrow their plan of defense to simply leg attacks.

Precision

Part of the reason Russians excel at throws is that their wrestling is so precise. If you mess up a throw you can wind up on your own back and give up big points. That's why Russians stress hitting throws (and all moves for that matter) with extreme precision. This precision is stressed at a very young age so that it is second nature by the time an athlete reaches the senior level.

Russia's Khadshimourad Gatsalov throws Ukraine's Alen Zaseev in the gold-medal match at 120 kilos in 2013 (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Wrestlers from the U.S. -- even at the senior level -- are more about shock and awe. Jordan Burroughs doesn't "pick his spots." He doesn't need to perfectly set up every shot and score off all of them. It's just difficult to stop his fifth shot after fending off the first four. Ditto with Cael Sanderson's ankle pick. Stephen Neal was countered for two points off of his first double leg attempt in the gold-medal match of the 1999 Worlds. He then got foot-swept to go down 3-0, but his doubles were so relentless that eventually he scored off them and won.

This isn't to say all U.S. wrestlers don't throw or aren't precise. Kendall Cross, Les Gutches, Reece Humphrey ... all gifted with amazing back arches. But high-amplitude throws are often not only not rewarded in folkstyle, but penalized (see Reece Humphrey vs. Lou Ruggirello in 2009) and it makes it difficult for us to catch up in freestyle. In Russia, throws seem to be part of life. When Khadshimourad Gatsalov went from 96 kilos to 120 kilos in 2013 he was still able to throw larger opponents with relative ease.

Tactics and strategy

For the purpose of this article I'm defining "tactics" as decisions made during a match and "strategy" as decisions made before a match begins. Obviously, senior level wrestlers need both against top competition, but wrestlers tend to fall into one category or the other. Jordan Burroughs, while certainly aware of the strengths of his opponents, has said he almost prefers to go into a match blind. Indeed, many of his choices are tactical based on the landscape of the match at that moment. Someone like Brandon Slay was a true student of video and had very specific and customized strategies based on who he was facing.

Russian wrestlers are skilled at both. Make no mistake, against any sort of serious opponent, Russian wrestlers are supremely coached on what they need to do to win.

Obviously, strategy comes more into play with rematches. In the 2003 Worlds, Stephen Abas beat Mavlet Batirov in pool competition. They met again in the 2004 Olympic gold-medal match and Batirov and his coaches had completely broken down Abas' technique. (Interestingly, in the semis of the 2006 Worlds, Mike Zadick seemed supremely aware of Batriov's arsenal and executed a brilliant game plan for the win.) Strategy and tactics are seemingly essential to winning at this level and Russia clearly gets this.

No free looks/know when to peak

As I have stated above, rematches are huge at the senior level. The adjustments that an athlete can make from wrestling someone are very significant. This is often apparent at the World Team Trials or Olympic Team Trials, where an athlete can make changes after a lopsided loss within a few hours (like Jordan Burroughs vs. Kyle Dake in 2013).

Russia seems to intentionally not send their A team to many events. Although the timing of the 2014 World Cup had a bit of a conflict with the European Championships, Russia traditionally doesn't send their best lineup there. One Russian wrestler who did wind up going to the World Cup and was selected as the World team member was Viktor Lebedev. At the World Cup he had the match of the event, beating 2013 World champion Hassan Rahimi of Iran in a match where he used great tactics. But Lebedev and Rahimi met again in the quarters of the Worlds and Rahimi made strategical adjustments and got revenge.

This scenario is typically what Russia tries to avoid ... and most often does. Russia's lineup in 2014 was very decorated -- not filled with new faces -- but their starters had appeared sparingly at tournaments and sometimes they didn't bring their A game. The Khetik Tsabolov that got beat 9-0 at the World Cup didn't seem to be the same guy who won the gold medal at the Worlds 10-0 last week.

Even with both the World Cup and the World Championships in the U.S. in 2015, I wouldn't be surprised if Russia sent a team of mostly non-starters to the World Cup in April. It's become their MO.

Moreover, Russia is showing up at the Worlds with surprise moves. I certainly didn't expect to see Russia with that many fireman's carries this year. And for all the opponents who got hit with them, it's now too late to do anything about it. And next year it will be something different.

Much of the above is nothing new. But it's worth breaking down and repeating. I find it important to stress that despite this year's results I do believe USA Wrestling is going in the right direction. The two injuries that happened to U.S. freestyle wrestlers at the Worlds seemed significant and result-changers. And the less-than-hoped-for finish at the Worlds doesn't erase the amazing finishes by Team USA's Cadet, Junior and University World teams this summer. American high school wrestling is better than ever and it is producing more freestyle stars at a younger age. In 2008, Henry Cejudo was really the only name in the conversation. Now there's a handful. Nothing is going to happen overnight, but because of how high Russia has set the bar, it's a thrilling challenge.

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Franck: Breaking down what makes Russia so good

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