Numbers aside, Fargo is a great proving ground for many of the nation's wrestlers who otherwise have limited opportunity to compete against more established powerhouse athletes. This reach means that upsetting top-ranked competitors isn't just a measure of personal pride, it's also a way to accelerate scholarship opportunities, or even just link up with fellow wrestlers who can provide more insight on training opportunities, camps and overseas trips.
The networking and potential scholarship money driven out of the Fargo experience has kept the tournament relevant for several decades, but in a media-driven world the tournament can also provide (and help create) long-term media exposure for the stars of tomorrow. For example, while fans may have to rely on photos and grainy footage of Logan Stieber competing at the Fargodome, it's now possible for future megawatt all-stars to have the full extent of their amateur and professional journey captured by camera. Just look at video of Hayden Hidlay and Zahid Valencia meeting in the Fargo finals in 2013.
As discussed in this space before, media attention has its own drawbacks, but for a sport that often fails to excite those outside its closed ranks extending storylines lends storytelling among a larger variety of media outlets. From documentaries, to simple photo essays and interviews the access to the athletes from an earlier age, and in one location, can improve the visibility of the athlete and sport.
Yet, there is one complication to wider distribution: location.
Fargo is synonymous with the wrestling experience in America, but maybe a change of cities could pump up more interest? USA Wrestling would not willingly move to a more populous or well-trafficked city for the abstract idea of more butts in the seat, but if they could strike the same deal, get more entries and lower the transportation costs for member states it might be appealing. No matter how media beneficial, a move of venues is unlikely, and at the very least a threat of moving could be continued leverage to keep terms amendable.
As of now, the system isn't broken (entries are growing), but when looking forward 5-10 years placing the nation's most attended tournament in a more centralized and visible location could create more revenue and eyeballs. The only way to protect ourselves is to keep focused on growth and capturing more attention.
To your questions …
Q: Are you surprised Nico Megaludis left Penn State to train? What do you suspect contributed to the decision?
-- Mike C.
Foley: According to his interview with Pittsburgh Sports, it was a combination of professional, personal and wrestling. Megaludis has his business in Pittsburgh, has a close relationship with his father and family, and wanted to make a change in training environments. In the article he seems to be describing a situation in which he could get more attention at Pitt and also live a more balanced lifestyle. That's a mature outlook, and probably a necessary one in a sport that can take everything away from you with one ill-timed injury, or bad performance.
Also, there is the issue of an emergent Nahshon Garrett …
Nahshon Garrett (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Q: I was super impressed with Nahshon Garrett at Final X. Obviously, the world stage is completely different. Do you think Garrett has a chance to medal in Budapest?
-- Mike C.
Foley: More than anything else Garrett needs some overseas matches and training camps. While he runs a risk (low in my estimation) of being scouted, he will learn to both tighten up his scrambles and more effectively choose his scoring opportunities. The actual skillset won't improve much over the next 12 weeks, but with proper training and exposure his tactics and mat intelligence can skyrocket.
I think 61 kilograms is one of the more competitive weight classes in the world and though there are winnable matches I have trouble predicting Garrett would outperform Beka Lomtadze (Georgia), Ghazimurad Rashidov (Russia) or Vladimir Dubov (Bulgaria) and whichever Japanese wrestler shows up in Budapest. Possible, but less than 50 percent likely.
Q: Final X. Any improvements you'd make?
-- @ShogunofSonoma
Foley: New cities, tighter schedule (as possible), and maybe a TV broadcast. Each has their upside, but overall I think that USA Wrestling and Flo did a great job with the new format.
Q: Who was the most impressive Cadet freestyle wrestler across all countries at the World Championships? Did you see any future superstars?
-- Mike C.
Foley: The Japanese women's team. Good grief, the level of talent throughout their program is phenomenal. The Iranian men's freestyle and Greco-Roman team also performed well in winning their titles but nothing as dominant as Japan taking home six of 10 gold medals in women's wrestling. If I had to guess, your next superstar would be in that group of Japanese women.
However, Amir Zare (Iran), who beat Greg Kerkvliet, is on pace to be a monster at 125 kilograms come Paris 2024, or maybe sooner.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Cadet Word Championships at 110 kg: Amir Zare (Iran) vs. Greg Kerkvliet (USA)
It's entertaining, and Cormier will get PAID.
Q: Who wins: Brock or Cormier?
-- Joe E.
Foley: First, let us recognize that Daniel Cormier is an undefeated two-division UFC champion. His "losses" to Jon Jones were both erased after Jones was found to have been on steroids. Like someone on Twitter wrote, you don't think less of Carl Lewis because he lost to a 'roided Ben Johnson at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
Daniel Cormier is the greatest fighter to have ever stepped in the Octagon. He's faced all opponents and come away with two belts. What else could he do?
As for Brock, I know that he is very much limited in his skill set when compared to Cormier, but you can't discount his size. Cormier was OK coming up against Stipe Miocic, but Brock has a type of strength that could give Cormier real issues in cage positioning. Also, he'll need to expend a tremendous amount of energy for any takedown efforts.
I still think Cormier wins by KO, but for that to happen Brock still needs to face his fiercest opponent yet: WADA.
Q: What is the current state of UWW officiating?
-- @smcfee1961
Foley: In total there are something like 3,000 officials with United World Wrestling licenses. The vast majority of these referees never attend an international tournament as they have yet to rank high enough internally, or with UWW, to take the mats.
Those who do are typically rated 1 or 1s, which is the highest of the ratings given to the referees. In fact, referees must be 1s to be considered for the Olympic Games. Recently a lot of work has been put into the grassroots education of referees with introductory courses being launched around the world, including India, China and North Korea.
That development and the movement of the referee oversight away from the political arm of the organization has already shown a lot of positive outcomes. There seems to be new blood in the mix, fewer of whom feel as beholden to their national federations. Exceptions occur, but in large part the on-the-mat calls have seemed fair in 2018.
There are A LOT of matches in wrestling. The Cadet World Championships alone had close to 800 matches. There will be mistakes, oversights and bad referees, but it shouldn't distract from the larger intention to clean up the body and make it a dependable unit come Budapest and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo,.
Q: What do you think of Sarah Hirshland becoming the new CEO of the USOC?
-- Kevin M.
Foley: While news of Sarah Hirshland's hire will focus on her becoming the first woman to be the permanent CEO of the USOC, the focus will shift quickly to the work she has in front of her, including a gymnastics body under siege and an Olympic Games in 2028.
Hirshland comes from the United States Golf Association where she was the chief commercial officer in charge of global rights, communications and a number of other high-level departments and interests. Prior to serving at the USGA Hirshland was at the Wasserman Agency in LA where she worked with Olympic kingmaker and NBC-connect Casey Wasserman -- an association that no doubt aided her campaign for the USOC's top job.
The next 18-24 months will be crucial for Hirshland and the USOC. Preparation for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo will include red-hot media attention on the gymnastics and swimming federations -- each dealing with controversies far outside their normal level. How she leads the organization through this period and what steps she takes to prevent future crisis situations will indicate the strength of the USOC and the Olympic movement at-large.
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