MDogg 176 Report post Posted September 16 Serious question: is there any other Olympic sport competed at the individual level where the USA is consistently as bad as it is at Greco? Where we send our 10 best guys to compete individually at world championships and nobody back home is even surprised when we don’t bring home 1 of the 40 medals given out? By my count we’ve medaled once in the past 4 world/Olympic championships...so we’ve accounted for 1 of the 136 medals given out over that period. Are we this bad at any other individual Olympic sport? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KTG119 815 Report post Posted September 16 maybe men's weightlifting? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NJDan 434 Report post Posted September 16 I am sure there are many, Speedwalking for one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maligned 409 Report post Posted September 16 No singles or doubles table tennis medals ever Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BTC 13 Report post Posted September 16 1 minute ago, maligned said: No singles or doubles table tennis medals ever I know a wealthy man in Alabama that would beg to differ. 7 bnwtwg, Billyhoyle, KTG119 and 4 others reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NJDan 434 Report post Posted September 16 BTW, HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN RULON GARDNER!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gimpeltf 962 Report post Posted September 16 12 minutes ago, NJDan said: BTW, HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN RULON GARDNER!!!! That wasn't part of the last 4 Olympics Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AHamilton 127 Report post Posted September 16 I find it difficult to comprehend that we won a Greco World team title in my lifetime. That really happened right? Or was I dreaming it? 1 KTG119 reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LJB 737 Report post Posted September 16 17 minutes ago, NJDan said: BTW, HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN RULON GARDNER!!!! rulon is not the last US greco world champ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chet 31 Report post Posted September 16 1 hour ago, NJDan said: BTW, HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN RULON GARDNER!!!! Every time we start talking greco roman wrestling a folkstyle fan has got to pull a Rulon Gardner out they a$$. Rulon Gardner was good, but compared to Dremiel Byers, Rulon Gardner ain't sh!t. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fishbane 102 Report post Posted September 16 The US has 15 Olympic medals all-time in Greco-Roman wrestling including 3 golds. They have fewer medals than that and overall golds in field hockey, lacrosse, polo, modern pentathlon, Jeu de paume, triathlon, baseball, tug of war, roque, rugby union, taekwondo, judo, water polo, softball, golf, and volleyball. 3 BadgerMon, jonnelso and GranbyTroll reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fishbane 102 Report post Posted September 16 2 hours ago, KTG119 said: maybe men's weightlifting? The US is 3rd all-time in weightlifting Olympic medal standings (includes both men and womens). They are 14th in greco roman wrestling. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KTG119 815 Report post Posted September 16 6 minutes ago, Fishbane said: The US is 3rd all-time in weightlifting Olympic medal standings (includes both men and womens). They are 14th in greco roman wrestling. I honestly don't know what the USA has done in past few world championships in weightlifting, used to casually follow it, but pretty sure the vast majority of the medals were way back, like pre 70s anyway? And any uptick in recent medals is most likely due to women being added. 1 MikePorcelli reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fishbane 102 Report post Posted September 16 (edited) 3 hours ago, MDogg said: Serious question: is there any other Olympic sport competed at the individual level where the USA is consistently as bad as it is at Greco? Greco Roman wrestling 3 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze, 15 overall medals is 14th all time in the medal standings Judo 2 gold, 4 silver, 8 bronze, 14 overall medals which is 15th all time in the medal standings Canoeing 5 gold, 5 silver, 6 bronze, 16 overall medals which is 15th all time in the medal standings Fencing 2 gold, 9 silver, 14 bronze, 25 overall medals which is 14th all time in the medal standings several winter sports including luge, cross-country skiing. Edited September 16 by Fishbane 1 MDogg reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fishbane 102 Report post Posted September 16 10 minutes ago, KTG119 said: I honestly don't know what the USA has done in past few world championships in weightlifting, used to casually follow it, but pretty sure the vast majority of the medals were way back, like pre 70s anyway? And any uptick in recent medals is most likely due to women being added. That is correct. Weightlifting is also different in that nations can have more than one entry in an event. If that were the case with greco-roman we'd have even fewer medals than we do. 2 KTG119 and GranbyTroll reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ConnorsDad 358 Report post Posted September 16 4 hours ago, MDogg said: Serious question: is there any other Olympic sport competed at the individual level where the USA is consistently as bad as it is at Greco? Where we send our 10 best guys to compete individually at world championships and nobody back home is even surprised when we don’t bring home 1 of the 40 medals given out? By my count we’ve medaled once in the past 4 world/Olympic championships...so we’ve accounted for 1 of the 136 medals given out over that period. Are we this bad at any other individual Olympic sport? Absolutely. Some sports we used to be good at while some we may have always been bad. The first group has weightlifting. We were once good in it but once the Soviet Bloc got started and steroids changed the playing field we were left behind. One side note is that probably our most famous weightlifter Toshiyuki "Harold" Sakata is probably known by most people. He was Oddjob in Goldfinger. The second group are the sports in which we have never been worth a ****. The list is very long - Table Tennis (Forest Gump not withstanding), badminton, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and handball are all sports in which we have never medaled. Others where we are much worse include field hockey, race walking, women's hammer throw and on and on and on. That's not even including all the Olympic sports that are no longer Olympic sports. Interesting topic though Mdogg. 1 MDogg reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbert 559 Report post Posted September 16 We did reach the quarterfinals in soccer world cup one year. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MDogg 176 Report post Posted September 16 (edited) 3 hours ago, Fishbane said: Greco Roman wrestling 3 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze, 15 overall medals is 14th all time in the medal standings Judo 2 gold, 4 silver, 8 bronze, 14 overall medals which is 15th all time in the medal standings Canoeing 5 gold, 5 silver, 6 bronze, 16 overall medals which is 15th all time in the medal standings Fencing 2 gold, 9 silver, 14 bronze, 25 overall medals which is 14th all time in the medal standings several winter sports including luge, cross-country skiing. Thanks...good stuff. Data is accurate but worth pointing out that 2 of the 3 golds the US has ever won in Greco (along with another silver and bronze) were at the boycotted 1984 games. To put it in perspective, in 1976 (the last games prior to 1984 without a sizable boycott) 70% of the finalists were from countries that boycotted the 1984 games. Edited September 16 by MDogg 1 jon reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lu1979 219 Report post Posted September 16 5 hours ago, Chet said: Every time we start talking greco roman wrestling a folkstyle fan has got to pull a Rulon Gardner out they a$$. Rulon Gardner was good, but compared to Dremiel Byers, Rulon Gardner ain't sh!t. As I recall Rulon owned Byers while they were competing against each other. Once Rulon retired Byers had great success on the world level. Hwe was already pretty old by then. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ConnorsDad 358 Report post Posted September 17 2 hours ago, MDogg said: Thanks...good stuff. Data is accurate but worth pointing out that 2 of the 3 golds the US has ever won in Greco (along with another silver and bronze) were at the boycotted 1984 games. To put it in perspective, in 1976 (the last games prior to 1984 without a sizable boycott) 70% of the finalists were from countries that boycotted the 1984 games. Here's some more for you for people who are thinking Greco will never get to the level of freestyle. While I'm sure it won't ever get to that level I know we can have a successful program. In 1984 at the Olympics with the Soviet boycott there were only four medalists from the previous year's World freestyle championships who were in Los Angeles. In fact, only seven of the 30 medalists in 83 came from non Soviet Bloc countries. Also, in 2009 & 2010 our freestyle results at the World Championships were god-awful. In fact, in 2010 might be the worst result regardless of style ever. So while we definitely have some work to do in Greco it is not like Freestyle has always been as good as it is now. I realize it's going to be harder because folk and free are so similar but I think we can have results on the senior level each year akin to what our junior team did this year and that wouldn't be all bad. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jchapman 716 Report post Posted September 17 7 hours ago, ConnorsDad said: Absolutely. Some sports we used to be good at while some we may have always been bad. The first group has weightlifting. We were once good in it but once the Soviet Bloc got started and steroids changed the playing field we were left behind. One side note is that probably our most famous weightlifter Toshiyuki "Harold" Sakata is probably known by most people. He was Oddjob in Goldfinger. The second group are the sports in which we have never been worth a ****. The list is very long - Table Tennis (Forest Gump not withstanding), badminton, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and handball are all sports in which we have never medaled. Others where we are much worse include field hockey, race walking, women's hammer throw and on and on and on. That's not even including all the Olympic sports that are no longer Olympic sports. Interesting topic though Mdogg. Have you ever heard of Tommy Kono? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Perry 956 Report post Posted September 17 At least we are ahead of the modern pentathalon... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JasonBryant 1,475 Report post Posted September 17 I know a wealthy man in Alabama that would beg to differ. Boycotted in 80. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fishbane 102 Report post Posted September 17 16 hours ago, MDogg said: Thanks...good stuff. Data is accurate but worth pointing out that 2 of the 3 golds the US has ever won in Greco (along with another silver and bronze) were at the boycotted 1984 games. To put it in perspective, in 1976 (the last games prior to 1984 without a sizable boycott) 70% of the finalists were from countries that boycotted the 1984 games. Are you saying you'd take a greco gold medal from the 1984 Friendship Games over the 1984 Olympic games? For what it's worth the US didn't win a gold in any of the three sports I has listed (Canoeing, Judo, Fencing) at the 1984 Olympics. They did win some silver and bronze. Also keep in mind that most of these sports have a different format. Judo has double bronze, but they used to have a more complicated repechage. Anyone that lost to a semifinalist used to participate in the repechage. When Rhonda Rousey won bronze at the Bejing Olympics she had lost to judoka that lost in the semifinals and then came back to get bronze. The women she had lost to ended up winning the other bronze medal. Canoeing doesn't have double bronze medals, but there are 16 golds available per games now. Fencing doesn't have double bronze and has 10 medals/games, but some of those are team based competitions. A good amount of the US medals are in the team competition. 1 MDogg reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MDogg 176 Report post Posted September 17 (edited) 7 hours ago, Fishbane said: Are you saying you'd take a greco gold medal from the 1984 Friendship Games over the 1984 Olympic games? While a much tougher Greco field, “Friendship Games” sounds like some kind of new age millennial sporting event. I’ll take the Olympic champ label. Edited September 17 by MDogg Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites