Most shocking defeats

[gimpeltf 1,522]

45 minutes ago, mspart said:

Yep, that was a bad one for sure.  Carter defeated lots of Olympians that year.  He was a beast!!!

mspart

Even worse than what Robin Reed could do to the whole team.

[jmachinder 68]

Nothing touches Timasetheus of Croton beating Milo of Croton at the Olympics in 512 BC.  

[KTG119 819]

Ricky Dellegatta who was very good but never made a world or Olympic team once pinned Sergei Beloglazov.  

[ConnorsDad 570]

5 hours ago, jmachinder said:

Nothing touches Timasetheus of Croton beating Milo of Croton at the Olympics in 512 BC.  

Don't forget the epic battle between twins Romulus and Remus. Back then only a single point was required for victory. Romulus forced the step out but Remus challenged. Unsuccessful challenges back then were a little more costly and, once the challenge was denied, Remus got a blade to the gut. Costliest 1-0 victory of all time.

[gimpeltf 1,522]

2 hours ago, ConnorsDad said:

Don't forget the epic battle between twins Romulus and Remus. Back then only a single point was required for victory. Romulus forced the step out but Remus challenged. Unsuccessful challenges back then were a little more costly and, once the challenge was denied, Remus got a blade to the gut. Costliest 1-0 victory of all time.

And back then they had to spend a year in the mud pits just to make the brick they'd throw in for the challenge!

[whaletail 202]

On 10/31/2019 at 4:12 PM, scribe said:

Gardner over Karelin 

I still can't believe that happened.

[Cairowrestler 1]

Mindorashvili defeating Ketoev in 2008 Olympic semi

M. Zadick over Batirov 2005 worlds

B. Zadick over Garzon 2005 worlds

K. Cross (age 39) over A. Batirov 2006 all star cup


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cairowrestler 1]

Mindorashvili defeating Ketoev in 2008 Olympic semi

M. Zadick over Batirov 2005 worlds

B. Zadick over Garzon 2005 worlds

K. Cross (age 39) over A. Batirov 2006 all star cup


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ConnorsDad 570]

17 hours ago, Lurker said:

And how about I thrown in Lebeedev over Mutzakaev at '16 Russian nationals.  When you absolutely, positively, without question win the match........but still lose!

Never heard of this. What happened? 

[DFino 43]

When Jadidi defeated the Olympic champ Rasul Khadem.  I was in the room here one day watching the Iranian channel on TV.  I don't know nothing about Jadidi.  I'm watching what this guy can do.  Next thing I know he shoots for a single and flips into a somersault and they go out of bounds, upside down and backwards.  Khadem never knew what hit him.  Jadidi gets all excited and the ref raises his hand.  Everybody's screaming in Iranian and the fans lift Jadidi on their shoulders and carry him around the stadium.  I'm here, sitting alone in my room, and I start crying.  That's right, I start crying.  Because another human being, a species that I happen to belong to, could lift himself, and the rest of us sad human beings, up to a better place to be, if only for a minute.  Let me tell ya, it was pretty ***** glorious.  It ain't about the upset, it's about the anti-hero becoming a hero in the upset.

https://ts1.tarafdari.com/contents/user335271/content-video/4_5855182396122465169.mp4

 

[irani 653]

Bleacher report listed the most shocking Olympic upsets, and one of them was wrestling.  The one that made it to their list was the Gardner/Karelin match!

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1171485-the-10-greatest-upsets-in-summer-olympic-history#slide0

 

[Eagle26 437]

Slay over Saitiev is the number one in freestyle and Rulon over Karelin is the number one in Greco. I think these are pretty obvious as they are Olympic wins over the most decorated wrestlers of all time in their style...nothing can top that unless we have someone pass them in their gold medal count. I think the overall number 1 spot goes to Slay because Saitiev was in his prime at the time and I agree with others that Gardner’s upset loses some appeal because of how he won. It is interesting that they are both Americans over Russians 

[irani 653]

I agree with your logic, but let me point out a few facts

1. When Khadem beat  Khadartsev,  Khadartsev had won 2 olympics gold medals, and 5 world championships in a row.  The only reason it may rank lower is that it was not the Olympics but a world championship.  I believe he was undefeated for 7 years. So, perhaps it's slight behind the two you ranked higher
2. When Habibi lost in the 1960 olympics, he was the defending olympic champion and defending world champion.  I agree it's not at the same level at the two you ranked higher.  But Habibi was at top of his game as evidenced by the two subsequent world championship that he won, so that makes the surprise even bigger
3. When Sourian lost in the Olympics, he was a the three time world champion, so his credentials were not comparable to the others, but again, he was at the height of his career, as evidence by the subsequent world championships and Olympic medal that he won.
4. Yazdani/Taylor does not belong in the same category, it was not the Olympics, and Yazdani's credentials are nowhere near the others.  I probably put it there because it is recent, and I was personally shocked

Edited November 3, 2019 by irani

[Housebuye 2,133]

10 hours ago, irani said:

I agree with your logic, but let me point out a few facts

1. When Khadem beat  Khadartsev,  Khadartsev had won 2 olympics gold medals, and 5 world championships in a row.  The only reason it may rank lower is that it was not the Olympics but a world championship.  I believe he was undefeated for 7 years. So, perhaps it's slight behind the two you ranked higher
2. When Habibi lost in the 1960 olympics, he was the defending olympic champion and defending world champion.  I agree it's not at the same level at the two you ranked higher.  But Habibi was at top of his game as evidence by the two subsequent world championship that he won, so that makes the surprise even bigger
3. When Sourian lost in the Olympics, he was a the three time world champion, so his credentials were not comparable to the others, but again, he was at the height of his career, as evidence by the subsequent world championships and Olympic medal that he won.
4. Yazdani/Taylor does not belong in the same category, it was not the olympics, and Yazdani's credentials are nowhere near the others.  I probably put it there because it is recent, and I was personally shocked

On #4, I agree. Big shock for sure, but in hindsight it seems more reasonable. Taylor was clearly the net version of himself at 86kg. 
  
let’s assume Yazdani sat out in 2018 and Taylor has won the title. Taylor would’ve been a slight underdog to Yazdani in 2019,  but it wouldn’t have been a huge shock. 
 

Slay’s win in 2000 still makes no sense. He d the best day of his life and his opponent had the worst. He won, but that wouldn’t happen again if it took place the next day

[CMickey92 13]

It seems like the general consensus is that Slay over Saitiev in the Olympic finals is number one. Question: if it was a world championship finals win over Saitiev, would it still be number one in all of your humble opinions? 

[irani 653]

18 minutes ago, CMickey92 said:

It seems like the general consensus is that Slay over Saitiev in the Olympic finals is number one. Question: if it was a world championship finals win over Saitiev, would it still be number one in all of your humble opinions? 

I would argue not!

When Slay beat Satiev, Satiev was a one time Olympic champion, and a three time world champion.  If it was in the world championship, I would be put the Khadem win, the Sourian loss, and the Habibi loss above his loss.

[TripNSweep 470]

Lowney beating Kougashvili in the Olympics.  I think that was almost as big an upset as Karelin losing.  Lowney had zero senior level experience and Kougashvili was a 5x world champion and previous Olympic bronze medalist.  He had just won the last 2 or 3 worlds at that point and was the favorite to win gold that year.  Then this happened.

[GoNotQuietly 891]

8 hours ago, CMickey92 said:

It seems like the general consensus is that Slay over Saitiev in the Olympic finals is number one. Question: if it was a world championship finals win over Saitiev, would it still be number one in all of your humble opinions? 

It wasn't the Olympic Finals.  Slay lost to Leipold in the Finals, who then tested hot and was stripped.

[Jim L 232]

13 hours ago, TripNSweep said:

Lowney beating Kougashvili in the Olympics.  I think that was almost as big an upset as Karelin losing.  Lowney had zero senior level experience and Kougashvili was a 5x world champion and previous Olympic bronze medalist.  He had just won the last 2 or 3 worlds at that point and was the favorite to win gold that year.  Then this happened.

If I remember correctly, US Greco teammates felt Lowney got screwed by the refs in regulation to force OT. Then he won in OT with the 5 point move.  A bit more decisive than Gardner's win v. Karelin

Edited November 4, 2019 by Jim L

[RajaThaiKnee 21]

Ones that have not been mentioned...

1. Jim Scherr over Makharbek Khadartsev by throwing him to his back at the last second!

2. Lazaro Reinoso over John Smith by crotch lift in OT I think. What made this one crazy is also that it was at the Olympics during the double Elimination yearsSmith won gold, while Lázaro had to settle for bronze.

Special note: if you ever end up at a wrestling camp in Kentucky (back in the early 2000’s), and your coach happens to be good friends with Lázaro, don’t ask him to sign your John Smith wrestling shoes.

[irani 653]

On 11/3/2019 at 7:51 PM, TripNSweep said:

Lowney beating Kougashvili in the Olympics.  I think that was almost as big an upset as Karelin losing.  Lowney had zero senior level experience and Kougashvili was a 5x world champion and previous Olympic bronze medalist.  He had just won the last 2 or 3 worlds at that point and was the favorite to win gold that year.  Then this happened.

While this is an impressive upset, it does not stand out as the others did.  With all the others, the person who was upset was undefeated for years before the upset

Edited November 21, 2019 by irani

[TripNSweep 470]

46 minutes ago, irani said:

White this is an impressive upset, it does not stand out as the others did.  With all the others, the person who was upset was undefeated for years before the upset

I don't know where or if at all Gogi had taken any losses the previous 3 years, but at this point he was the 3x defending world champion.  So he must have been pretty dominant and if he did lose it wasn't often.  

[irani 653]

19 minutes ago, TripNSweep said:

I don't know where or if at all Gogi had taken any losses the previous 3 years, but at this point he was the 3x defending world champion.  So he must have been pretty dominant and if he did lose it wasn't often.  

No question he was dominant for the three years, but he did not do well in the previous olympics

he also took silver 5 months earlier in the European championship, losing to Belarus (I looked it up on the UWW database)

Most the other guys were defending Olympic champions, and were dominant longer than three years.

Edited November 4, 2019 by irani

[jchapman 1,093]

1 hour ago, Jim L said:

If I remember correctly, US Greco teammates felt Lowney got screwed by the refs in regulation to force OT. Then he won in OT with the 5 point move.  A bit more decisive than Gardner's win v. Karelin

And if my memory serves me, it should have been scored a fall.

[olddirty 273]

If you want to talk about absolutely shocking that this could ever happen, Hassan Rangraz was the returning world champ.  He wrestled some absolute nobody from turkmenistan in the semis who had never done anything before, and never did after.  Rangraz techs him by 10, but tries to pin him, where then the Turkmenistan athlete Nepes rolls on top and sticks him.  Dude was the returning champ with a tech in the bag and gets pinned.  Way more shocking than Rulon getting a win with an unlocked hands call.