So why did the American wrestling community have such outsized expectations?
For starters Americans have a habit of shorting the talents of other countries. We are the nation that created football to eschew rugby and also gave birth to basketball and baseball, from which, until recently, few other countries excelled. We believe that our dominance in these sports is exemplary of our elevated sporting greatness. To further the point each of the professional championships in the coordinating leagues is called "World Championships," which, of course, they are not.
To quote a Dutch speed skating coach ...
Wrestling fans, largely due to the growth of scholastic style and re-doubled focus on the talents of our team members, have missed witnessing the development of individual talents and teams around the world. We've been so busy looking in the mirror to fix our hair that we forget to look out the window to see if it's raining.
The wrestling media in America has been focused on Aaron Pico, Kyle Snyder, Jordan Burroughs and the NCAA. Meanwhile Abdulrashid Sadulaev runs roughshod over the world and hardly gets a nod.
Tervel Dlagnev earned his second bronze medal of his career, and was one of two medalists for Team USA in men's freestyle at the World Championships (Photo/Larry Slater)American wrestlers and their fans will need to start looking overseas for more competition. They need to see their opponents with more consistency and be ready to acknowledge that the current training methods might be inadequate. We are a diverse nation of talented wrestlers, financial resources and willpower, but to go forward we will need to be modest about what is and is not possible and set expectations that are more rational with what is possible.
If not, then the failures of 2014 will be repeated in Las Vegas, if not in medal count then at least in aggregate disappointment.
Q: At the World Championships in men's freestyle, Russia took home five golds (65, 70, 74, 86, 97) and one bronze (125). Talk about death row! The only two weights they didn't medal, they had No. 2 Lebedev (knocked out by No. 5 Rahimi who took third) and No. 3 Bogomoev (knocked out by Bonne who took third). Absolutely incredible team from top to bottom.
Is this the best team performance at a World Championship? If not, what team/year would you put ahead of them?
-- J. Kreisel
Foley: The 2007 Russian team won a whopping six gold medals at the World Championships held that year in Baku. The only non-champion was Irbek Farniev at 66 kilos, who took home the bronze.
The Russians have a better system by which to prepare their wrestlers to compete at the World Championships and Olympic Games. We know that their dominance isn't just driven by money, or some Dagestani bloodline that makes them more creative and powerful. That would be a convenient excuse, but the overwhelming evidence points to a superior training system -- everywhere their system has traveled nations have been successful (Cuba).
We can complain about their dominance, or sit back and appreciate their effort, either way the simple truth remains that the American system is inferior to the Russian system. While I think that our system is excellent for the promotion of collegiate wrestling, it's not the best formula for creating World and Olympic champions.
Q: What's your prediction on number of World titles Abdulrashid Sadulaev wins before he retires? My prediction is six.
-- Mike C.
Foley: Ten. Hell, maybe one hundred.
Sadulaev is an athletic and brutal technician who scores in bunches. In every match I've watched he's hunted for the fall, worked to extend his lead and took moderate risks to ensure dominance.
In summation, as a wrestler Sadulaev is competing on a different planet.
What's even more troubling for 86-kilo wrestlers around the world is that he's modest and humble -- characteristics sure to have a positive effect on his dominance.
Sadulaev will win next year's World title and he will win the 2016 Olympic gold medal. Of this, I'm one-hundred percent convinced.
After Rio he will receive a big payout from the Russian government. For some Olympic youngsters, like Asgarov of Azerbaijan, the money can satiate the desire to compete and to win. Assuming that Sadulaev is driven by a desire to be the best wrestler on the planet, I see him able to extend his World title streak to seven in Tokyo.
Still, I am hopeful that a wrestler emerges who can test Sadulaev's seemingly unavoidable dominance. I'd be thrilled if that wrestler was Ed Ruth.
Q: Do you think there is any chance Helen Maroulis or Adeline Gray become MMA fighters? I know Randi Miller dabbled in MMA, but it would be fun to see either Maroulis or Gray in the UFC someday.
-- Mike C.
Foley: Nah.
Yes, there is always a chance that our athletes will pursue MMA, but I don't have any reason to suspect that Helen or Adeline would be the most likely of targets.
Lineage and looks matter in a promotion-based sport like MMA, which is likely why you chose attractive World medalists for your options, but the appeal of MMA is fading for men, and for women has remained somewhat subdued. If the UFC and others were interested in talent they'd have sought out our female wrestlers years ago. The UFC is only interested in making money off Ronda Rousey armbars -- not actual competition.
Until I hear about one of our athletes dabbling in jiu-jitsu or taking striking classes, I'm confident that their athletic careers will be made on the mat and not in the cage.
Q: Why didn't the ref stop and review the dispute when Brands threw the brick during the Ramos match? Brands threw it, the ref picked it up and threw it back into the corner, then Brands threw it back in, more so to make a point (which I thought was pretty cool and going crazy the entire time to get the score fixed) but Ramos was definitely screwed on that second exposure, clear two points, granted still not enough to win.
-- Frank C.
Foley: Tough call.
Remember that in freestyle wrestling you get one set of points for one technique. There was either an initial exposure or a takedown. Were it the former then it should have been just two, the latter and it was two and two.
The failure might have been the referee's, but you can see in the video that Coach Brands waited too long to challenge the call. In fact, he waited almost 20 seconds into the restart to throw the challenge brick. At that point you are no longer allowed to challenge the call on the mat, which is why the brick was returned ... twice.
Multimedia Halftime
Link: Big gift to F&M
How to NOT get thrown to your back ...
Kiddie TaeKwanDo
Link: Every gold-medal match from Tashkent!
Q: You often speak about distaste for singlets dampening interest in the sport and how we should replace singlets with fight shorts and compression T-shirts. Well what about cauliflower ear? I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't a lot of uninformed parents who avoid the sport altogether due to fear of getting cauliflower ear. Should we be advocating headgear use at the highest levels of the sport rather than continually referring to cauliflower ear as a badge of honor? Advocating the use of proper protective equipment to prevent injury seems like a no-brainer to me if we want to continue to drive the popularity of the sport rather than continue to be a niche.
-- Bryan R.
Foley: The kids in youth programs are forced to wear headgear and if donned correctly that prevents a large portion of cauliflower ear.
Though many mothers are known to shed a tear in seeing the cartilage of their son or daughter's ears ravaged by wrestling, it's a scar of commitment and not vanity. In a world of distraction and flighty behavior, a young man or woman with cauliflower ear is sure to have shown resilience and commitment. That's refreshing.
In my opinion the ear is a sign of commitment and toughness, and in a world where those character traits are being supplanted by lives of ease and compromise, a knotty ear remains something akin to honor.
Q: Granted it's Worlds, and with a such a deep talent pool it's very difficult to predict who walks away on top, but I was a little surprised by Jake Varner's performance. I know he wrestled a spectacular day in London back in 2012, but in his competitions leading up to Tashkent I thought he looked the best he ever had. Physical, agile and aggressive. Is he a little undersized for 97 kilos? Have we seen the last of Jake Varner, or do you think he'll make a run for Rio 2016?
-- Ethan S.
Foley: Varner, like many of the American freestyle wrestlers, didn't have a big international season. Just making the American team can be difficult, but with only three tournament appearances outside of the USA in 2014, there was little reason to think Varner would come away with a gold.
What Varner had in 2012 was a real knack for winning that he'd carried over from his collegiate days. Life, distractions, time off, changed values: all of these things factor into the outlook and performance of a top athlete, even someone as talented as Varner. What happened in Tashkent may only be a glitch, or, as you suspect, the end.
To be fair, it's also worth noting that 97 kilos was a weight class filled with talent and making the podium surrounded by those entries was never going to be an easy task.
Q: Safe to say that we can stick a fork in wrestling latest pro organization Agon WC?
-- @RobbiBobbi
Foley: Gone. Even if the series was re-imagined and re-promoted the idea of a consistent matchup organization is dead. The rules, while interesting, were never going to interest enough people. We already have collegiate and Olympic rules. A third set was never going to attract a larger audience.
If you take a look at some of the world's most popular traditional wrestling styles: Lutte Senegalese, Sumo and Mongolian Bokh you see that each is simple to understand and has massive followings across gender lines.
I'll start to pay closer attention when America gets their first takedown-only league.
Q: I thought it was interesting to go over the entry list by country for Tashkent. It's interesting to see some countries send more women than men (especially African teams), northern Europe having full Greco squads while few to zero freestyle wrestlers, and some surprising teams not filling out the weights in general. You would think these countries would want wrestlers getting experience for future Worlds and Olympics. I also think United World Wrestling would want full teams and more competitors. Your thoughts?
-- Tom B.
Foley: United World Wrestling wants the weight classes to all be filled. However, the realistic vision is that many teams can, at best, average fifty percent of the allotted positions.
That might seem low, but to achieve fifty percent the country must send the same number of athletes to the continental championships. If you send five wrestlers to the Asian Championships, you get five wrestlers at the World Championships. Both require licenses, entry fees and lodging, not to mention referees and coaches. Those costs add up quickly.
For some countries, especially those in Africa and resource-challenged areas of the globe, sending a full team is not financially possible and instead they choose the athletes they believe have the best chance to medal and bring acclaim to their nation.
You won't believe this, but some nations in Europe don't even bother having freestyle teams. Greco-Roman is the preferred style in many countries and that won't change anytime soon!
Comment of the Week
By Danny C.
Is anyone going to discuss the lackluster performance of the U.S. men's teams at Worlds? Or are we just going to sweep that under the rug, pretend it never happened and look forward to Vegas? (Sidenote: Great Job to the women taking third and bringing home multiple medals.)
Seriously, I feel like men's freestyle was the most hyped team in recent memory and everyone underperformed. Sure it wasn't as bad as 2010 when we walked away with zero medals (freestyle and Greco), but Varner, Kennedy and Metcalf were expected to medal, Ruth had medal potential, and 0-1 out of Ramos was a little disappointing. (I thought he'd get a win or two.) I won't even harp on Burroughs because Tsargush is a three-time World champ, JB was injured, you can't win every time and he still pinned for bronze. About the only highlight was Tervel getting over the fifth-place hump and getting back to bronze.
I'm headed out to Vegas next year and I want to see our boys dominate! Not trying to disrespect our athletes or staff. I just know how freaking good our team is and I believe they are better than their performance.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now