Spladle08

I thought it was generally whoever wins the spot at trials

Austin Gomez over Lachlan, Mexico with 2 olympians

Well, ummmm that was not a good showing by the ole freestyle team. Somebody should've challenged Richards for this opportunity. But um bring on the last chance

Cruz giving Richards all he can handle

Thats fair. Forgot he beats Hall everytime.

Here's a link to all the current qualifiers. And no Mexico has a chance with RBY and Gomez, but no current rasslers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_at_the_2024_Summer_Olympics_–_Qualification

Lee probably wins the match by 6+ points more often than not. But Gomez is Gomez, and when he gets a little steam, he sometimes looks like a world beater. There's a reason he went to Mexico though, its HARD to make the U.S. team. We have 5+ guys that can give the absolute best in the world all they can handle in any given match. Gomez is not among the best in the world, and losing to him is probably the biggest upset of the tournament so far. Valencia beating Torreblanca is up there as well.

Your comedic timing is on point today

it was subtle, but if you pause it right before the feet to back, you'll see a clear circular void appear just above Lee's left kneecap

I mean they both rested during that time. Clearly it was gamesmanship, but too many people acting like he pulled out a gun and shot Lee in the kneecaps. If a fake injury is all it takes to tech our rep, we have bigger problems.

Gross

Woods heard about my comment at the break and got it done

USA Greco Team be USA Greco'n Despite our domestic hurdles I really thought we had an advantage over Pan-Am countries not named Cuba. False

I meant to respond to this yesterday. When he was in peak form, he really was/is elite, but I guess he's more like Musukaev to me. The talent is always going to be there, but so will the hurdles. For Mus it was pretty much his stamina (and the weight is wildly deep). For Zhamalov, injuries/opportunity, have kind of prevented him from advancing on the world-stage. Again, without the obstacle of trying to overcome the Russian field for the spot, I'm not sure if it my damage his overall work-ethic, add in the condition of his health. I think he provides a similar hurdle as Baev or Salk, or Tsabalov, any of those 2nd tier guys. I'd be surprised if he beat any of the current top guys at the worlds. But maybe once Sidakov, Dake, Chamizo walk away, he takes the reigns, but I just don't see him as a consistent finalist, now or in the future. I hope he proves me wrong! I love to see, somebody take a chance on themselves and WIN

I reckon I'll play. 57 - My gut says Spencer, My Heart says Fix, my mind says... I don't know maybe Vito does his thing. Yeah for my money give me Vito but with about 20% confidence. I guess I'm counting out Gilman and Im a forever Richards doubter (Respect to him but he's not a possible finalist in my mind) 65 - Alirez, in my eyes, is the favorite. He's just developed into an elite world-level 65kg wrestler. He's relentless, his takedowns are clean and he doesn't need a lot of "Funk" to finish. He's just designed for freestyle. Could somebody beat him? sure. Lee/Yainni/McKenna/Zain-Train any winner of the weight isn't a huge surprise, but I guess if we were wagering I'd take Alirez heads up in any of those matches. 74 - Mind says Dake, Heart says JB. I want to believe so badly that Burroughs will come out in top form. Having trained with Chamizo, a year off from World Competition to get his mind and body right, he's had forever to take a deep dive into how to beat that chest-wrap. blah blah blah. But the reality is, he didn't make the team last year against lesser competition which gives me such strong doubt. He's dropped matches before though, especially in best of 3's. Part of me wants to discount the losses and speculate that maybe you're not "all-in" on the prospect of beating Marstellar for a 6th or 7th time. But in your final year of wrestling dedicating your entire life to getting back to the Olympics.... it just feels like he is going to come out the best version of himself. Hope its enough. (I think the "up and comers" have some good battles with each other, but none take out JB or Dake) 86 - DT maybe his last rodeo? Or does he keep striving to go down as the goat. 97 - Snyder, just the ideal 97kg approach. Size, strength, pressure. I wish J'den would come out well adjusted to the weight muscle/cardio wise but the few times we have seen him bump, he's looked very human. His lack of activity, new fatherhood role, etc etc kind of removes him from the picture (but I still think he gets 2nd 9x out of 10) 125 - I guess Parris. Gable is out doing whatever and i don't think he wants to come back and meet a Zare who never took a break. Parris is athletic and stays busy on his feet which is enough to possibly medal depending on draw. Kerk relies a lot on being a hammer on the mat in folk , I know he had some success at cadets/juniors but just doesn't seem ready for seniors. Who knows. Recap. Probably: Vito, Alirez, Dake, DT, Snyder, Parris. but at the weights where I don't think it would diminish our team if the guy I am a fan of won. 57kg - Fix 74kg - JB (I just don't have the faith I used to)

Detailed and I love it

Just wildly busy with life nonsense. Back to the grind of working in front of a computer 8+ hours a day, so prepare to get sick of me soon!

Eh, Brooks could be the guy one day. but not at the Olympics. He can be the guy when Snyder steps down, or maybe next Olympics, but Snyderman has a few more years as a clear-cut top 3 in the World. Brooks still needs to work on scoring against Glazier.

Zhamalov ain't "Easily" winning a thing. Tough as nails and could upset anyone on any given day, but he's the same as Tsabalov or Baev or pick one. If they win a world title it'll be at a non-olympic weight, given a favorable draw. He is tough though, seems like Russians have diminished results when they jump countries though. (not all) but I think that constant grind to make the team is a way of constantly getting better. Remove the hurdle, meh, takes some adjusting

Applause* Just a slew of exceptional individuals. Some of the most complete teams off all time. Not debating. Just conversing So, I was sitting here reading your post fantasying about what has created this era of excellence. And obviously on the surface it seems fairly straightforward, JB has his emergence, one of those guys that kind pops out of the blue from time to time, he is followed by some all time great folkstyle wrestlers in Dake and Taylor who now have the elevated expectation to meet this World/Olympic Championship level to simply make the team. That tiresome pursuit bleeds into their "Home-Clubs" and the entire product just continued to elevate. During the time KD and DT were attempting to "Catch-up" to JB and the World, you had the prodigy Kyle Snyder, who was aspiring to be the best Freestyler ever while folkstyle was kind of on the back burner, step to the forefront and raise the bar for our upper-weights. Couple that with the increased funding, widespread exposure to elite technique/mindset, etc etc etc. you could go on forever but yeah ummmmm it's amazing how a few excellent individuals (in my opinion) have really helped raise the overall bar for the entire system. And again not debating, but maybe expounding upon. maybe just a question Do you think if we did end up getting lets say 2 consistent finalist in Greco, let's say in their early 20s, where they have a few cycles in them. Could their efforts springboard us to have a more well rounded Greco team? Helping others with technique, mindset, etc.... or is it simply a lost cause. I know those guys work hard, I know they have access to all the same audio-visual tools the freestyle guys have, but it just feels like the advancement is sooooooo slow or not at all. I guess you always have a chance to wrestle an elite folkstyler which obviously can aid your freestyle game. I would assume the lack of meaningful competition is the ultimate roadblock to the development of a top-to-bottom strong Greco team.

So we are all in agreement, we would prefer Richards avoid RBY. Obviously other than fandom there's no real reason to believe RIchards isn't the favorite in the proposed matchup, but... I, like many of you, think RBY is dangerous for anyone, and Richards could beat somebody 10x in a row and I'd still be iffy in the confidence department, so we can all hold our collective breath until draws come out and then during the tournament. Nick Boone, obviously it would be advantageous to avoid Tobier, but even if he doesn't, the % chance an aged Tobier gets him out of there within the first 60 seconds is wildly slim.... The % chance Tobier gasses and gets teched in a match with Lee that goes over 3 minutes is >90%.... 65kg is clearly the more important to get qualified here (I think whoever is the rep at 57kg will easily get it qualified at the Last Chance event) But eh, it'll be a fun watch

(I was a HUGE Pico guy) Real answer: He'd of been aight. He was great (and I fully get that he was young). But the world is deep at 65kg, heck we are "deep enough" domestically. Yes he owned Zain. But the Train ain't the only game in town. You can speculate he would've gotten better, but he would've been more studied. He would've had more of a target on his back. he would've...... With our qualification process, and the depth domestically and world-wide with razor thin margins. He could've made no teams, or made 5 teams, he could've not medaled or had a Seabass-type draw and won it all easily. All Speculation, with no "Proof" one way or the other" Also: We cant speculate that because he had Zain's number that a Nick Lee or Yainni or somebody wouldn't have just been his forever kryptonite. As Far as College Goes He wasn't really wrestling Folk His takedown-game wouldn't have been the same strength in folkstyle. Pace, pressure, edge wrestling, etc. wasn't/isnt the same strength as it is internationally. Riding time, diving out of bounds, funking into stalemates. Being a 4xer, is just too tough. 0 Reason to believe that would be realistic.

Sorry I've been out of the loop, this is 100% sarcasm right? 65KG he's got a 37.5% chance of being the rep but 74kg feels a lot closer to 6.54%

You can't pick on my Shields if I can't say ..... War Alirez Nasty Nate Lives

Hahahah shields was just a placeholder name . Somebody will