Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! October 30, 2018

Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - 09:22 By Eric Olanowski

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Reviewing the top highlights and history makers from the 2018 World Championships, and also the U23 World Championships which begin November 12 in Bucharest, Romania. 

1. Sadulaev Exacts Revenge on Snyder
The Russian Tank is back on top.

Olympic champion Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) earned a first-period fall over returning world and Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER (USA) in the 97kg gold-medal match at the World Championships, exacting revenge from last year's gold-medal match in Paris. 

The highly-anticipated showdown, which was billed as Snyderlaev II, lasted just over a minute. Sadulaev fired off a single leg thirty-five seconds into the match. Snyder fought the position and quickly found himself in danger. Sadulaev kept Snyder on his back and secured the fall.

"Everybody knows Sadulaev is a very talented wrestler," Snyder said after the match. "He hit me in a good move and it worked out well for him tonight."

Sadulaev has now won three senior world titles to go along with an Olympic gold medal in Rio. He has suffered just one international loss since 2013. That loss came against Snyder at last year's World Championships.

Russia won the freestyle team title and crowned both freestyle gold medalists on Tuesday. The United States finished second in the team standings, while Georgia finished third.

2. Russia Sweeps Greco Gold Medals on Final Day of World Championships
Russia put the finishing touches on a world team title in Greco-Roman by sweeping the gold medals on the final day of the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. 

Aleksandr CHEKHIRKIN (77kg), Musa EVLOEV (97kg) and Sergey SEMENOV (130kg) came through to win gold medals in Greco-Roman for Russia on Sunday.

Chekhirkin captured his gold medal by defeating crowd favorite Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) 3-1 in the gold-medal match at 77kg. The Russian led 1-1 on criteria after the opening period and added to his lead in the second period off a passivity and then scored a late step out to win by two.

Evloev upgraded his world medal from silver to gold as he topped Kiril MILOV (BUL) 7-2 in the gold-medal match at 97kg.

The final Russian gold medal went to Sergey Semenov who dominated Adam COON (USA) 9-0 in the gold-medal match at 130kg. The 23-year-old Russian heavyweight used two four-point throws to cruise to the technical fall victory. Semenov was a gold medalist at the U23 World Championships last year and won two world gold medals as a junior. 

In addition to closing out the Greco-Roman championships with three day nine gold medals, Russia also used championships performances from Sergey EMELIN, Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS), and Artem SURKOV (RUS) to win the team title. 

Russia finished with 178 team points in Greco-Roman, 89 points ahead of runner-up Hungary (89). Turkey finished third in the team standings with 75 points.

3. Gray Dominates 2017 Champ Adar to Capture 4th World Title
After not competing in 2017, Adeline GRAY (USA) left no doubt that she is back. 

A day after beating 2016 Olympic champion Erica WIEBE (CAN) to reach the gold-medal match, Gray claimed her fourth gold medal at the World Championships with a dominant 13-1 technical fall victory over 2017 world champion Yasemin ADAR (TUR) in the gold-medal match at 76kg on Wednesday night in Budapest, Hungary. 

Adar scored first off the shot clock to take a 1-0 lead. But Gray came back with a takedown late in the first period before locking up her leg lace and turning Adar five times for the technical fall.

"I feel great," Gray said after her finals victory. "I can't believe it. I did such a good job mentally today. I'm so proud of myself, proud of my body, proud of my team. I'm so proud of everything that happened. This has been a wonderful two days."

Gray's previous world titles came in 2015, 2014 and 2012. 

Wiebe came back to win a bronze medal at 76kg, beating Epp MAE (EST) 4-0. Hiroe MINAGAWA SUZUKI (JPN) took the other bronze medal by forfeit.

4. Olli Makes History, Wins Finlands First Women's Wrestling Gold Medal 
In the gold-medal match at 65kg, Petra OLLI (FIN) held on to defeat Danielle LAPPAGE (CAN) 6-5 and claimed Finland's first women's wrestling world title after winning a silver medal back in 2015.

Lappage, a 2010 junior world champion, looked strong early, scoring first off the shot clock and adding a takedown to go up 3-0. Olli inched closer with a takedown late in the first period and then grabbed the lead on criteria less than a minute into the second period after scoring a point off a caution. 

Olli extended her lead to 5-3 midway through the second period with a takedown off a duckunder. Trailing by two with 10 seconds left, Lappage shot a single leg and secured a last-second takedown to make the score 5-5. However, a finger caution broke the tie and gave Olli a 6-5 victory.

Though Ollie was the only wrestler to win her countries first-ever gold medal at the 2018 World Championships, three other wrestlers made history for their nations in their respective styles.

They were 125kg freestyle runner-up DENG Zhiwei (CHN), and bronze medalists Taimuraz FRIEV NASKIDAEVA (ESP) (FS86kg) and Lianna de la Caridad MONTERO HERRERA (CUB) (WW55kg).



5.  U23 World Championships Begin November 12 
In less than two weeks, the Polyvalent Hall in Bucharest, Romania will host the 2018 U23 World Championships. Wrestling begins on Monday, November 12. 

Greco-Roman wrestling will kick off the championships, followed by women's wrestling, and will end with freestyle. 

Click here for the full schedule. 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 

1. OFF THE MAT - Short clip from behind the scenes at #budawrestle2018 with Yazdani and Taylor. Head to our stories to watch the full video. - #budawrestle2018 #uww

2. Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez - Becoming a World Champion // 'For me, he’s (Julio Mendieta Cuellarone) one of the best. Thanks to him I am here. He trusted me even when I didn’t trust myself. I almost wanted to quit. He was the one who said you have the talent, you can make it. You can be a champion!' #budawrestle2018

3. Thomas Bach (IOC President) and Nenad Lalovic (UWW President) congratulate Frank Staebler after winning his third World Title #budawrestle2018

4. Olympic champion @davorstefanek shares his #BudaWrestle2018 ?with his son, Matija.

5. What goes up, must come down!!! ?????? #budawrestle2018

#WrestleParis

Women's Wrestling at Olympics: 20 years strong

Monday, July 8, 2024 - 15:09 By United World Wrestling Press

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PARIS (July 8) -- Inside an academy located in the middle of a farm at a village in Haryana, the northern Indian state that’s the country’s wrestling capital, a bunch of teenage girls had scribbled the name of their hero on a wall – Helen MAROULIS (USA).

When women’s wrestling made its Olympic debut, some of these girls were not even born. There were no roads leading up to the academy where they trained until a few years ago — the best way to reach the academy was on foot from the nearest highway exit point roughly a couple of miles away. And internet connectivity was patchy at best.

Yet, the story of Maroulis’s dominance had traveled to this far-flung village and became a part of the folklore. Few stories illustrate better the impact and the reach of women’s wrestling.

In less than three weeks, the eyes of the entire sporting – and wider – world will be fixed on Paris when the Olympic Games get underway. On the mat at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Champ de Mars, more stories of inspiration will unfold, paving the way for many young wrestlers to follow in the footsteps of their heroes.

At the Paris Olympics, women's wrestling will celebrate its 20th year of being at the Games. Back in 2004, when it was included in Athens, there were only four categories. In Paris, as was the case in Tokyo, there will be six — the same as Freestyle and Greco-Roman.

The 2024 Games will also be significant for the officials. As many as 11 female referees will be part of the officials. Back in 1988, it was only one.

AthensWomen's Wrestling at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Martin Gabor)

Wrestling at the Paris Olympics will also be a symbolic occasion given the key role France played in the evolution of the women’s game. It was at Pas-de-Calais where women’s wrestling took one of its first steps. A club in Calonne-Ricouart was the first to open its doors to women in 1971.

From this tiny space in a region roughly three hours from Paris, women’s wrestling spread in other parts of France before it became a popular activity in the rest of the world.

The seeds that were sown in France have blossomed in countries across the world. As women’s wrestling traveled to Beijing, London, Tokyo and now arrives in Paris – following the journey that began in Athens – it left behind immaculate footprints for young, aspiring children to follow.

Tayla FORD (NZL)Tayla FORD (NZL) is the first wrestler from New Zealand who will compete at the Olympics. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Next month, when the competition gets underway in the French capital, history will be in the offing as Tayla FORD (NZL) will become the first female wrestler from her country to make it to the Olympics.

Ford’s story is one of sheer perseverance, not just hers but even of those around the wrestler. Her father, a high school wrestler, got Ford into wrestling after it was included in the Olympics programme. He had a mat installed in their garage and every day, the father and daughter trained.

In a way, Ford’s story is similar to the wrestlers from the Olympic women’s wrestling’s undisputed powerhouse, Japan.

The queen of wrestling, Saori YOSHIDA (JPN), began her journey in the same way. Before she went on to win every title there was to win – three Olympic gold medals, 13 World Championship titles, four Asian Games and Asian Championship gold medals each – Yoshida learnt the art at home.

Her father built a dojo at home where Yoshida, began to wrestle before she could even run properly. The rest, as they say, is history. The rise of Kaori ICHO (JPN), who went 13 years without a loss, followed a similar arc. And so do the stories of the other Japanese women, from Risako KAWAI to Yui SUSAKI.

Not to forget Icho, who won four gold medals at the Olympics, becoming the first Olympic athlete to win four golds in the same individual sport.

In Athens 20 years ago, Japan won only 2 gold medals. Since then, they have won 13. This level of dominance is rare to see in any sport. One of the few countries that’s consistently come close to challenging Japan’s dominance, and been a thorn in their flesh when it comes to a clean sweep of gold medals, is the USA.

Remarkably, the USA did not even compete at the World Championships until 1989, two years after the first edition for women took place. But once they landed on the scene, they took everyone by storm.

Afsoon JOHNSTON (USA) – who won a bronze medal – Asia DEWEESE (silver) and Leia KAWAII (silver) finished on the podium in 1989 and became sort of the pioneers of women’s wrestling in the US. Since then, there hasn’t been a time when the athletes from the Olympic powerhouse haven’t been among the medals.

The rise of women’s wrestling in the US is also a fascinating story, with nearly 50,000 girls competing in high school championships last year. Those young girls saw the wrestling stars from the country on television and decided to tread the same path they’d chosen.

A major reason for the surge in popularity in the US has been wrestlers like Maroulis. Her gold medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016 – the first American woman to achieve that feat – is seen as one of the big milestones that gave the sport a massive push.

Maroulis’s feat didn’t just inspire children in the US. The story traveled the world over, including a remote village in India. If anything, it showcased the sport’s transcending influence.