Yankeefan33

NBC/NBC Sports has the rights to pretty much everything Olympics related. I'm sure the deal is between the USOPC and NBC, not necessarily USA Wrestling

Been thinking about this for a while now, and in general I love guys wrestling for other countries. I will throw out this caveat: I saw Alec Pantaleo and Austin Gomez in a photo together after a training session before Pan-Am Olympic qualifiers. If I'm Pantaleo, why would I want Austin Gomez to get better PRE-Qualifying?. I guess my logic is this: 1. Pantaleo wrestles at the same weight as Gomez, and neither have qualified the weight 2. Pantaleo is helping Gomez get better, and while Pantaleo is also getting better, Gomez was competing directly for the Olympic spot 3. With Gomez beating Lee, it directly hurts Pantaleo's chances at making the Olympics by adding another tourney he has to wrestle Train after qualifying? Cool. Train at different weights? Perfect. It just doesn't make sense to me in this situation to help the other guy.

Beach wrestling is the future in terms of gender equality. Women's beach instead of Greco might be happening if wrestling stays around after 2028. Wrestling, by the way, is guaranteed through the 2028 Olympics. Not sure on the IOC politics, but not a great thing that the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane are in a host country without a wrestling culture.

Saw this on Flo's Northern Iowa preview, any direct source from wrestler/team? I don't think he has qualified based on USA wrestling's criteria (although they have been unclear in the past). The only criterion he would qualify through is #1, past national team member, but the addendum to that (Top 3 at Senior World Team Trials) makes it clear that means for the US national team. Micic qualified because he won Cadet bronze for the US and then switched nationalities, Amine qualified because he finished top 3 at NCAAs. Amar Dhesi won a Junior gold medal for Canada in 2014 and Ville Heino represented Finland in 2015- neither took an Olympic redshirt and I never heard either's name as eligible in 2016. Of course USA Wrestling could do their job and list wrestlers who have qualified once they do so, but they unfortunately do not.