Since the tournament, there has been lots of constructive discussion on what the U.S. freestyle movement needs to do in order to be more successful. How do our freestylers get where they (and we) want to be? The short answer is that there are no easy fixes to more medals and World titles.
Breakup of the USSR
It's difficult to overstate the impact the breakup of the Soviet Union has had on international wrestling. In the days of the USSR, wrestling enthusiasts would often claim that the toughest competition in the world was, in fact, the Tbilisi tournament held annually in Georgia. The challenge of the competition was that you had to face a Russian in each and every round. The World Championships of today are similarly loaded with Russian (or formerly Russian) talent, but it's arguably more difficult -- since the wrestlers on the teams of these former Soviet republics are each able to gain more international experience.
Could Lee Fullhart do some damage at the World level, if given the opportunity?And although the might of the former Soviet Republics are hard on everyone (in 2003, Russia finished fourth and watched Georgia win the title) there is the distinct possibility of Russia being able to stack their lineup even more by cherry-picking seasoned talent from other former Soviet republics. There was much talk in international wrestling circles that (2003 World and 2004 Olympic champion) Artur Taimazov of Uzbekistan would be wearing a Russian singlet this year in Hungary. From 2000 through 2002, Taimazov only lost to David Musulbes of Russia in world competition. When Musulbes was no longer around and Taimazov was winning gold, he would regularly defeat Russian team member Kuramagomed Kuramagomedov. It therefore made sense to merely reclaim Taimazov for mother Russia.
That Taimazov remained a competitor for Uzbekistan this year (and also didn't perform well) doesn't change the fact that the free-floating nature of former Soviet republic citizenship has made the worlds significantly more difficult than in the past. And that if USA indeed becomes a threat to dethrone Russia, that their lineup could instantly become even stronger.
Free looks?
In speculating how the U.S. can be more successful, one simply must look to Russia and examine the habits that contribute to their dominance. A reoccurring trend for Russia is that they give the competition scarce few opportunities to see their top team members in action, or more importantly, actually square off against them.
The ability of world-level wrestlers to make adjustments against an opponent from match to match is huge. Gigantic. But a simple way to prevent an opponent from dissecting your technique is to not show it to them and only break it out on special occasions.
It's been a long-standing tradition for Russia to not send their top guys to the World Cup. Similarly, this year's European championships featured only three of the seven Russian team members who competed in Hungary. Although Russia didn't win either event, please don't shed any tears for them. Their four-champion, 54-point 2005 World team title most surely eases the sting of not winning either of those less-important competitions. And it also shows that they know where their priorities lie.
So should USA, similarly, hold back our top guys from international competitions? Probably not. Our needs are different and any and all international experience does us more good than harm. The rest of the world doesn't need to break away from a career of risky folkstyle habits. We want American wrestlers to face the world's best and get crotch-lifted off a head outside single when it's NOT for a world medal. Otherwise, we'll learn the lesson too late.
But will such lessons simultaneously let the world get a "free look" at our own wrestler's current bag of tricks and allow them to come up with a counter-strategy down the line? Probably, but it's a risk we have no choice but to take.
Focus on freestyle/sticking with it
One obvious obstacle for the American freestyle movement is the lack of a full career committed to the discipline. As I see it, the issue is twofold. At the beginning of a wrestler's career, time is (at best) split between folkstyle and free (or, obviously, Greco-Roman). Moreover, a young freestyle wrestler's experience is mostly national, where they aren't threatened by the same types of scoring holds (or, more importantly, counters) that they'll see in other countries. But in all honesty, I'm not convinced this is our World Team's biggest problem. At the senior level, our top folkstyle-bred wrestlers ARE able to succeed internationally. It takes some time to adjust, but many do what it takes and get the job done. It didn't happen overnight, but Gutches, Sammie Henson, Brandon Slay, Kerry McCoy, etc. all eventually were able to turn the world's best from par terre.
Can our youth freestyle movement improve? Certainly. In fact, we've got a ways to go. Perhaps I'd nominate HOSTING more international events before adding more competitions abroad. Given our non-freestyle-from-birth situation, having our young athletes face opponents with more experience in the style is lesson enough without having to deal with being in a strange land. While our junior world teams have indeed struggled, when we hosted the event in Las Vegas, we did quite well.
In my honest opinion, the bigger problem could well be that many American freestyle careers end too soon. The worlds are obviously an incredibly difficult event, where the tiniest aspects -- both those that you have control over and those that you do not -- cost you a match. However, the more times a wrestler attends the worlds, the greater the odds are of finally putting together a tourney where you do everything right and the breaks fall your way. A good example would be Arif Abdullaev of Azerbaijan, who didn't medal at all at the Worlds until 2003, where, at the age of 35, he took home the gold at 60 kg.
Please don't mistake this as an attack on those who choose to leave their shoes in the center of the mat. I don't begrudge the decision. Again, our situation in the U.S. is different than many parts of the world. American wrestlers simply don't have the same incentives to keep at it year after year. Champion wrestler counterparts in foreign countries are important people, getting all kinds of accolades and money. In the U.S, our top guys simply don't get similar respect.
Tolly ThompsonOne cannot overstate the extent to which Real Pro Wrestling aids in this cause. RPW was taped after the Olympics and the rosters featured names of guys I thought were done -- at least for now. But it makes perfect sense. If you're one of these guys, why not show up and try and make some cash while getting slick TV airtime?
More importantly, training for RPW is in complete harmony with training for a conventional freestyle career. RPW was wise to keep the weights the same and have rules that were similar to FILA's (although RPW's push-out rule came first). If RPW can succeed, I really think that will give more of our top wrestlers an excuse to keep chasing world titles, which will help our overall performance.
Not so bleak
The bottom line is that this year's worlds are not the end of the world. Like the previous quadrennials, we'll probably do better in the next two years and peak at the Olympics. That's been the trend and it makes sense. Many wrestlers end their careers at the Olympics and new U.S. talent generally needs the full four years of freestyle experience to finally get into sync. Can we be at the top and win titles? I think so, but it's a tougher task than ever and there are really no easy answers.
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