If you're not paying attention...Logan Stieber goes for World gold at noon ET

[silver-medal 670]

The Russian was definitely a world champion caliber performer.  Same for the Iranian.  You beat those two, you earn a world gold.  

[Billyhoyle 2,479]

Agree with Silver and Nerd here.  I would be curious to see who Chakaev and Esmanpoor had to beat in order to qualify for the Russian and Iranian teams respectively.  Point being, there were only 6 spots for any country for the MFS Olympic team and a lot of great wrestlers did not compete in Olympics.  I am sure that both the Russian and Iranian had tough competition to make the team at 61KG and they were the best their country could offer at this weight.  To say that it is watered down is just silly.  Beating a Ukranian, Russian, Iranian and Georgian is pretty damn impressive. 

It is extraordinarily impressive.  Stieber in my view is now the the 4th best wrestler in the U.S. behind Snyder, Burroughs, and Cox.  You could arguably put him ahead of Cox.  It's great to know we will have a medal threat at 61 kg for the next cycle.  With that said, 3 of the 4 medalists from 61kg last year were not there.  The defending 61kg world champion took bronze at 57kg in the olympics.  

 

The Russian was definitely a world champion caliber performer.  Same for the Iranian.  You beat those two, you earn a world gold.  

Who is saying he didn't earn a world gold?  I think people are just pointing out that 3 of the 4 defending medalists were not there.  

[bigmik 218]

The Russian was definitely a world champion caliber performer.  Same for the Iranian.  You beat those two, you earn a world gold.

 

You earn a gold medal if you beat anyone that shows up.

[wrestlingnerd 3,003]

I'm not sure what 3 of the 4 medalists not being there really says when the gold medalist didn't even make the finals a weight lower. You can take this a lot of different ways.

 

It is not a secret that if Russia could enter 2-3 guys per weight, there are weights and years in which they'd sweep the medals. The guy Stieber beat has placed top 3 in just about every Yarigin of the many he has entered. The Yarigin is a tournament the Russians take quite seriously and usually is as tough and can even be tougher than worlds.

 

There are medalists every year who don't medal the following year. And there are non-medalists every year who medal the following year. Again, reviewing competitors' previous world-level credentials is one way to assess how difficult a guy's path is, but by itself, it is incomplete at best. It's not like Stieber beat a bunch of nobodies. He did beat a recent world medalist. He did also beat a guy many (including me) thought was at least at that level if not higher.

 

Look at James Green as a perfect example of what I'm saying. He was a medalist the prior year, a non-Olympic year. At this worlds, during an Olympic year, DNP. Does that mean this tournament was tougher than last year's despite being "watered down"?

 

You definitely should look at the field's depth based on previous credentials. But you also must take into account other factors. Russia and Iran in particular are special cases. Guys who may have jumped a level in a year are also noteworthy, e.g. Higuchi of Japan. Etc. etc. There's also the eye test, a blunt instrument but nevertheless a useful one when used in conjunction with everything else.

 

Based on what I saw, I don't think Stieber is done winning world titles.

Edited December 12, 2016 by wrestlingnerd

[maligned 529]

Will it be potentially slightly tougher next year?  Maybe.  But people are overthinking it a bit.  Chakaev, Ehsanpoor, and Gvarzatilov would absolutely be top 5 betting favorites even with everyone else's best in the fold.  Add to that past medalists Bajrang, Shuptar, and Nyazbekov, small-weight juggernauts Mongolia and Japan, plus the fact that it's a "sweet spot" weight where everyone is at their deepest with talent; and it becomes a loaded, loaded weight class no matter how it plays out.  

 

Really, it was only 2 guys missing, since Batbold seemingly could have been the rep for Mongolia and wasn't.  Plus, Gvarzatilov medaled anyway in place of Aliyev and he came through a quarter where a couple past medalists got smashed.  That leaves Dubov who, in my opinion, would have been a pick 'em at best against Chakaev or Ehsanpoor.  Even if you assume Aliyev wins gold and Dubov takes silver in Azerbaijan and Bulgaria's same respective drawn-in spots, that still leaves Stieber as the bronze out of a ridiculous bracket. You get my point.  It's always a talent-rich, killer weight that will only take a tick up in quality from like a 95 to a 97 next year.  

Edited December 13, 2016 by maligned