Jim L

The IJF change the rules similarly in the past when Eastern European and Soviet athletes began having great success with belkt grabbing techniques that were used in their countries traditional wrestling styles. The rules were modified to still allow belt grabbing to limit how long you could grip before executing a technique

The powers that be in Judo do not want to see "wrestling" moves winning high level judo matches. There a preconception of what an effective Judo throw should look like and it is not a double leg tackle, even though this an similar "wrestling" takedowns are in the original syllabus of Judo. The ostensible reasons given for for the rule change are to preserve its place in the Olympics by making sure it is differentiated from wrestling and to make it more fan friendly by encouraging more spectacular throws. I personally do not see how Judo was in any danger as it does not has many of the issues that wrestling was cited for as it is popular world wide and champions come from all regions of the world. I think there was a big element of traditional Judo countries not liking some non-traditional countries using less common techniques to win on the highest stage. The Mongolian heavyweight who won in 2012 was basically a converted wrestler who won Gold with a double leg and this was when the first rule changes were implemented. The countri4s hold the power on the international judo federation are countries that either have no real wrestling tradition (France, England, and other western European countries) or counties who may have solid wrestling but their Judo teams tend not use leg grabs and favor a more upright Judo (Japan, South Korea) Recentt years the Judo federation has continue to game the rules trying to force action. I think they have gone way overboard, especially in the area of gripping and grip breaks.

Seems like a really bad idea for JB to take on a full sized DT. They were close to even years ago at the same weight. Now DT wrestles at a 25lb heavier weight. Hard to see a JB win, an injury seems much more likely. Maybe he is retiring and looking for a final payday? I would hate to see our greatest wrestler tarnish his legacy, but if he earns enough money I wont criticize

There are also more than a handful "Russian" wrestlers who have won for non-ex-Soviet countries as well. Batirov for Bahrain and Shahin for Turkey come to mind

I am pretty sure he placed at Senior Nationals while in HS.

Just to add a little. Morris was an D1 AA at Syracuse and Pedro was an EIWA champ at Brown

Mocco placed at judo nationals while in high school. His sister, Katie, was also a national judo champ and I think was and olympian as well

Your point about it being global risk adds another level of complexity, but I would think they could pull off something like the NBA or UFC has done. I believe those have been successes. More spread out events with less support staff. Anyways, sorry about you wishing to see Dake win gold as it is clearly going to be JB getting one more,

Still curious if Suriano has any close family ties to italy and if italy would allow a "foreign" athlete to represent their country

He is an Italian citizen from Cuba. I don't know, but strongly doubt he has dual citizenship. I agree that Micic and Amine are American and I am happy to see that they can compete internationally and I root for them as much as if they were wearing a team USA singlet

Not sure what this means but to clarify my comment. I am not going to any Olympics any time soon, because of time and money. It is a life long dream of mine to attend an Olympic games, maybe one day I will make it, but in the meantime I will watch it on TV, hopefully next year

I would rather have the Olympics on tv without any fans, than wait a year. No chance am going to be there in person either way.

He is Italian now, considering he has citizenship. However, you feel about athletes competing for other countries, he does not fit any of stereotypes. He did get "pseudo" citizenship just to compete because he could not make the Cuban national team

Does he has recent ancestry from Italy or just an Italian sounding last name? I know that a lot smaller countries without any real presence in the a sport (Lebanon, San Marino, etc.) will allow someone to represent them at the worlds without strong ancestral ties. Is this true of Italy as well, that does not have a strong wrestling tradition, but certainly is world class in other Olympic sports?

Maybe the #1 rated cable news show, but not even close to the #1 show on TV