Is our team trials the toughest tournament in the world?

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If I'm wrestling, I am picking any small country and wrestling for medals at Worlds/Olympics. I want nothing to do with our team trials. Meat grinder.

[Jaroslav Hasek 1,762]

Russian Nationals is still much tougher but America's is getting up there. Exporting wrestlers means you've reached the elite. the only other countries that do that regularly that I can think of are Russia, Georgia and Cuba.

[TripNSweep 357]

6 minutes ago, Jaroslav Hasek said:

Russian Nationals is still much tougher but America's is getting up there. Exporting wrestlers means you've reached the elite. the only other countries that do that regularly that I can think of are Russia, Georgia and Cuba.

A lot of the former Soviet republics too.  Nazarian comes to mind as being famous for leaving to wrestle for Bulgaria.  

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If I’m Downey, I wrestled the tournament of my life and got to worlds. Mission accomplished. His only motivation at worlds was to get a win to “prove the haterz wrong. lulz”. Another success. Qualifying the weight is Taylor’s problem. 

Amine on the other hand could totally focus on worlds, peaking physically and mentally only for that tournament. Nothing to lose. Great mental disposition to take to the tournament. Sticks a string of losses on others. Qualifies for the Olympic. Mission accomplished and a hero in wherever he’s wresting for. 

[Dr. Novak 147]

Trump has nominated Downey for the medal of freedom and well deserved I might add.

[NJDan 458]

Are you serious? Russia has six in the finals, not  countjng ex-Russians. Their trials are way tougher.

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38 minutes ago, NJDan said:

Are you serious? Russia has six in the finals, not  countjng ex-Russians. Their trials are way tougher.

Maybe they deserve trumps medal of freedom. 

[pamela 1,024]

Russian nationals are a deeper, tougher field but aren’t the stakes higher in the US? Here, you’re wrestling for an actual spot on the WT/OT; I thought in Russia the winner doesn’t always get to be the rep.

 

I was also wondering if, nationalism aside, another reason why some US guys compete for other countries is because they can get a better stipend/sponsorship/benefits package than they could get here as a freestyle or greco wrestler.

[Abdullahgadzhi Khuzin 1,413]

4 hours ago, NJDan said:

Are you serious? Russia has six in the finals, not  countjng ex-Russians. Their trials are way tougher.

ex-Russians? they  still have russian citizenships 

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It’s the wins by the expats that count in determining toughest tournament. 

[AZ_wrestling 88]

In some weight classes I think the US is tougher than Russia for next year.

 

86 could potentially have Cox, Taylor, Nickal, Ringer, Valencia and Hall. 

74 will have Burroughs, Dake, Imar, Lewis, Carr, Nolf and Green. 

Edited September 21, 2019 by AZ_wrestling

[Katie 628]

I’d say the world championships is the toughest tournament in the world.

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That’s not what habat, micic, amini, and Gomez think. 

[Katie 628]

38 minutes ago, AZ_wrestling said:

In some weight classes I think the US is tougher than Russia for next year.

 

86 could potentially have Cox, Taylor, Nickal, Ringer, Valencia and Hall. 

74 will have Burroughs, Dake, Imar, Lewis, Carr, Nolf and Green. 

So let’s see here. 

iMar, Lewis, Nolf, and others will all be battling each other for a chance to meet a fresh Dake in the semis and a fresh JB in the finals.

Ouch.

[AZ_wrestling 88]

1 hour ago, Katie said:

So let’s see here. 

iMar, Lewis, Nolf, and others will all be battling each other for a chance to meet a fresh Dake in the semis and a fresh JB in the finals.

Ouch.

It’s brutal. I’m expecting Imar to face Dake in the semis, but still damn curious how the young guys (Carr and Lewis) do. The guy Carr beat for his Junior gold gave Burroughs fits. How do you see it playing out?

Edited September 21, 2019 by AZ_wrestling

[Katie 628]

29 minutes ago, AZ_wrestling said:

It’s brutal. I’m expecting Imar to face Dake in the semis, but still damn curious how the young guys (Carr and Lewis) do. The guy Carr beat for his Junior gold gave Burroughs fits. How do you see it playing out?

I cannot be objective about it because I am a huge JB fan. Of course, I know he's not guaranteed to win the spot.

You?

[Housebuye 1,908]

JB has a huge advantage. Dake does too, but he will have at least 1 other tough match. 

That weight will be a meat grinder 

[AZ_wrestling 88]

18 minutes ago, Katie said:

I cannot be objective about it because I am a huge JB fan. Of course, I know he's not guaranteed to win the spot.

You?

I’m a Dake fan but I still favor JB. I don’t think 74 will do Dake favors, especially at his age.  

[Relentless125 25]

2 hours ago, AZ_wrestling said:

It’s brutal. I’m expecting Imar to face Dake in the semis, but still damn curious how the young guys (Carr and Lewis) do. The guy Carr beat for his Junior gold gave Burroughs fits. How do you see it playing out?

I think Lewis and Carr are still a few years out from taking down world champs to win the US spot but who was the guy Carr beat for Junior gold?

[Ogalthorpe Haywood 217]

1 minute ago, Relentless125 said:

I think Lewis and Carr are still a few years out from taking down world champs to win the US spot but who was the guy Carr beat for Junior gold?

The Guy from Hungry, 2nd round 

[Peso 291]

It's telling that all 4 of JB's opponents were either Russia or former Russian wrestlers...

[wrestlingphish 577]

4 minutes ago, Peso said:

It's telling that all 4 of JB's opponents were either Russia or former Russian wrestlers...

Even the wrestler repping Japan?

[Peso 291]

In the interview they said 4 but I didn't realize he had 6 matches.  I guess my point is that It's still mother Russia and then everyone else.  In fact, I believe you could combine the field and still lose to Russia in this tournament.

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Peso

[UsedToBe103 10]

6 hours ago, Relentless125 said:

I think Lewis and Carr are still a few years out from taking down world champs to win the US spot but who was the guy Carr beat for Junior gold?

 

6 hours ago, Ogalthorpe Haywood said:

The Guy from Hungry, 2nd round 

From what I can tell their common opponent was Khadzhimur Gadzhiyev of Azerbaijan.  Carr beat him 10-0 in the semis of Juniors, and Burroughs beat him in the quarters 8-1.  Obviously the transitive property doesn't always hold water in Freestyle, but I think it shows that Carr could be a threat to anyone at the weight next year.