Top Wrestlers in USA History

[jerseywrestling 86]

Thanks @scramble, @lu1979, and @KTG119!

Edited October 9, 2019 by jerseywrestling

[mspart 193]

Looking at the full list, this will have Terry and Tom fighting each other again.  Tom won't have any of it!!!

mspart

[lu1979 303]

Dziedic too - you have have gold & bronze listed separately he should be at 26 pts - You also have Bill Scheer's Oly Bronze listed separately from his world G, 2S & Brz - He should have 60 pts total

Edited October 9, 2019 by lu1979

[de4856 359]

Looking at Wikipedia, Rick Sanders has 2 Olympic Silvers, (1968, and 1972), a World Title, (1969), a World Silver, (1967), and a World Bronze. (1966). I had no idea he had 5 Olympic/World medals. So, I believe his total should be 62. Which if my math is right, and the totals for everyone else is correct, should rank Sanders in 6th place, behind SnyderMan, and in front of Leroy Kemp.

Thinking about Sanders, I remember years ago, but maybe it was decades ago, I think there was a special done on him, but since it’s been so long ago, perhaps it’s time to find it and play it again, or maybe someone can produce another one. 

But going over this list and you see all the medals that JB and Dave Schultz have won, it really shows how great they were, (and in JB’s case still is). I would say that John Smith’s streak of 6 in a row may never be equaled by a US wrestler, but when you look at Baumgartner, you have to realize that his career spanned was more than a decade, and was in an era of the single Bronze as well less financial support. So in my book, Baumgartner, is our most successful wrestler. I understand that John Smith’s run of perfection will cause others to disagree with me, and I am fine with that. 

 

Edited October 10, 2019 by de4856
Punctuation

[gutfirst 219]

On 10/7/2019 at 10:52 AM, airmail said:

I see what you mean, looking at Russia's list:

Rank	Name	Score	Finishes
#1	Buvaisar Saitiev	144	1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1

Totally impressive, but the 8th and 9th place finishes thrown in there would be nice to see for reference.  

 

 

 

best freestyler ever. no close second.

[BigTimeFan 953]

On 10/7/2019 at 10:52 AM, airmail said:

I see what you mean, looking at Russia's list:

Rank	Name	Score	Finishes
#1	Buvaisar Saitiev	144	1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1

Totally impressive, but the 8th and 9th place finishes thrown in there would be nice to see for reference.  

 

 

 

Yeah. Exactly. They don’t show all the times people didn’t medal. Does this help or hurt their rankings ? I also think they way underweight winnings worlds. #22-26 didn’t win a single gold and are ahead of guys like Dake who won two golds just because they had more medals 

[fadzaev2 317]

On 10/8/2019 at 1:57 PM, Fishbane said:

You are missing

#3 Adeline Gray 100  3,1,3,1,1,1,1

Then there is Tricia McNaughton Saunders 1, 2, 1, 1, 1

[fadzaev2 317]

23 hours ago, gutfirst said:

best freestyler ever. no close second.

As Lee Corso would say "not so fast".....these all look close to me....Alexander Medved....211121111111 (12)  and  Arsen Fadzaev 111111112 (9) AND Sergei Belaglozov 211111111 (9) and how about Valentine Jordanov....113112231111 (12)

[fadzaev2 317]

On 10/7/2019 at 10:32 AM, Plasmodium said:

Carl never lost in college.  How can he be 34th?

 

They're ranked by World and Olympic medals.

[gutfirst 219]

On 10/11/2019 at 12:09 PM, fadzaev2 said:

As Lee Corso would say "not so fast".....these all look close to me....Alexander Medved....211121111111 (12)  and  Arsen Fadzaev 111111112 (9) AND Sergei Belaglozov 211111111 (9) and how about Valentine Jordanov....113112231111 (12)

all quality for sure and i've considered the the numbers for all of them.

saitiev won consistently throughout the greatest amount of rules changes with the greatest difference in rule sets. not saying the others couldn't do the same, but only saitiev did. that impresses me more than his numbers.

Edited October 17, 2019 by gutfirst

[Cradle1 239]

On 10/8/2019 at 8:49 PM, jchapman said:

Seems a shame that Stieber’s gold and Cejudo’s gold are valued equally.

I’d say Stieber had every bit of a tough of a road in hindsight.   The guy Cejudo beat in finals from japan  has no significant achievements before or after the Olympics.  And Logan beat Olympic champ at 65 kg that year btw and went on to beat Aliyev who was perennial champ at his weight.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Cradle1

[Lurker 1,382]

On 10/9/2019 at 8:52 PM, de4856 said:

Looking at Wikipedia, Rick Sanders has 2 Olympic Silvers, (1968, and 1972), a World Title, (1969), a World Silver, (1967), and a World Bronze. (1966). I had no idea he had 5 Olympic/World medals. So, I believe his total should be 62. Which if my math is right, and the totals for everyone else is correct, should rank Sanders in 6th place, behind SnyderMan, and in front of Leroy Kemp.

Thinking about Sanders, I remember years ago, but maybe it was decades ago, I think there was a special done on him, but since it’s been so long ago, perhaps it’s time to find it and play it again, or maybe someone can produce another one. 

But going over this list and you see all the medals that JB and Dave Schultz have won, it really shows how great they were, (and in JB’s case still is). I would say that John Smith’s streak of 6 in a row may never be equaled by a US wrestler, but when you look at Baumgartner, you have to realize that his career spanned was more than a decade, and was in an era of the single Bronze as well less financial support. So in my book, Baumgartner, is our most successful wrestler. I understand that John Smith’s run of perfection will cause others to disagree with me, and I am fine with that. 

 

I'm in tune with your line of thinking, and in my opinion if JB wins gold in Tokyo, he claims the top spot.  I feel the break up of the soviet union is something to consider when comparing JB/Snyder/Smith/Bruce, etc... just the fact that there are so many true studs in the bracket now that would not 1992 and before. Quick count and ex-soviets account for half of the Olympic Medalists from 1996 on. Of the 39 weights that have competed for olympic medals since 1996, 27 of them have included at least two medals from ex soviets there were many with 3-4.  This is just the olympics.  World Championships would take longer to count it all up, but at quick glance it looks like the percentages are even higher.

[fadzaev2 317]

A number of these posts/arguments are so fun to read.....great discussion....so many  great wrestlers.....what a great sport....and what a great family....the true wrestling family....Fadz