Why did Tom Brands retire after 1996?

[BuckyBadger 11]

He was 28 at the time and was at the top of his game. Seems a bit young to retire. Anyone know the story?

[yonz_g 64]

26 minutes ago, BuckyBadger said:

He was 28 at the time and was at the top of his game. Seems a bit young to retire. Anyone know the story?

John Smith at 27, Dan Gable at 25, Cael Sanderson at 25 before being forced into a comeback at 32. HEW? Better yet, had enough competition. Maybe they were ready for other ventures. All went on to become NCAA champs as coaches.

[Lurker 1,397]

12 minutes ago, yonz_g said:

John Smith at 27, Dan Gable at 25, Cael Sanderson at 25 before being forced into a comeback at 32. HEW? Better yet, had enough competition. Maybe they were ready for other ventures. All went on to become NCAA champs as coaches.

Was hard to continue training, at the level to maintain best in the world, financially those days. 

Edited November 4, 2019 by Lurker

[Alwayswrestling 195]

54 minutes ago, Lurker said:

Was hard to continue training, at the level to maintain best in the world, financially those days. 

Exactly Gable was training in a garage made into a wrestling room against who ever would show up for practice,  

[NJDan 591]

38 minutes ago, Alwayswrestling said:

Exactly Gable was training in a garage made into a wrestling room against who ever would show up for practice,  

Couldn't they have worked as assistant coached-- or was that not allowed in those days?

[TripNSweep 477]

7 minutes ago, NJDan said:

Couldn't they have worked as assistant coached-- or was that not allowed in those days?

Could have but knowing how the Brands are they wouldn't have been able to devote the kind of time to themselves for training if they had other coaching related duties.  Some people can balance that but some can't.  

[pamela 1,334]

Was it related to the Team Foxcatcher stuff that was going down at the time? At least I think it was around the same timeframe.

[Antitroll2828 570]

12 hours ago, BuckyBadger said:

He was 28 at the time and was at the top of his game. Seems a bit young to retire. Anyone know the story?

They talk to Gable about it in the Terry film..Tom had just won his Olympic gold medal and was ready to start coaching and begin the next stage of his life 

[Housebuye 2,144]

One of the reasons USA is so good right now is because all of our best guys have stayed the course. Seriously. All #1s since 2015 have tuck with it (Ruth left after 2014...not literally but he stopped training full time)

RTCs certainly helped too, but having guys like Taylor, Dake, JB and now Snyder and Cox stick around makes a huge difference. 

[MDogg 273]

12 hours ago, BuckyBadger said:

He was 28 at the time and was at the top of his game. Seems a bit young to retire. Anyone know the story?

Retiring at 28 after winning an Olympic gold makes a lot of sense. 28 may not be too old to keep competing but 32 typically is in this sport...and that’s how old he would’ve been when the next Olympics rolled around. 

Statistically speaking 28 is at (or actually just past) the end of freestyle wrestlers’ peak window when it comes to world and Olympic medals.

[Fishbane 118]

4 minutes ago, MDogg said:

Retiring at 28 after winning an Olympic gold makes a lot of sense. 28 may not be too old to keep competing but 32 typically is in this sport...and that’s how old he would’ve been when the next Olympics rolled around. 

Statistically speaking 28 is at (or actually just past) the end of freestyle wrestlers’ peak window when it comes to world and Olympic medals.

Jordanov won the Olympics in 1996 as well at age 36.  He is an 8 time world/Olympic champ.  He won Half of those after age 33.  He won worlds in 1993 (33), worlds in 1994 (34), worlds in 1995 (35), and the olympics in 1996 (36) before retiring.  He is now a very rich man having inherited John Dupont’s fortune.  Had he retired at 28 he would have been a 3 time world champ, 0 time Olympic champ and might not have received the inheritance from DuPont.

[MDogg 273]

1 hour ago, Fishbane said:

Jordanov won the Olympics in 1996 as well at age 36.  He is an 8 time world/Olympic champ.  He won Half of those after age 33.  He won worlds in 1993 (33), worlds in 1994 (34), worlds in 1995 (35), and the olympics in 1996 (36) before retiring.  He is now a very rich man having inherited John Dupont’s fortune.  Had he retired at 28 he would have been a 3 time world champ, 0 time Olympic champ and might not have received the inheritance from DuPont.

By statistically I didn’t mean to suggest it was a hard cliff without exceptions...lots of exceptions. The numbers are the numbers though, and the odds of Brands winning another Olympic gold at age 32 aren’t great. Different studies can vary in their conclusions by a year or so, but they almost all have peak wrestling age for freestyle at 24-25 years old with the prime window around 21-27. 

[Alwayswrestling 195]

NJDAN  they may have been able to wrestle/coach but I do not think it was just done that way back then?  Just like in most sports there were pioneers paving the way for the wrestlers of today with OTC and regional training centers with stipends.  Wrestling has came along ways overall.

[russelscout 1,573]

6 hours ago, MDogg said:

Retiring at 28 after winning an Olympic gold makes a lot of sense. 28 may not be too old to keep competing but 32 typically is in this sport...and that’s how old he would’ve been when the next Olympics rolled around. 

Statistically speaking 28 is at (or actually just past) the end of freestyle wrestlers’ peak window when it comes to world and Olympic medals.

Its one thing to sacrifice, train and compete for peanuts, but to continue to do it after you had reached the pinnacle didn't make a ton of sense. That is why the living dream fund is such a game changer imo.

[scribe 1,655]

No mon, no fun, -your son. 

[hammerlockthree 2,042]

Sandy Koufax retired when he was at his peak and arguably the best pitcher ever, his reason was that he wouldn't be able to buy back the use of his arm when he was done pitching. 

Brands' style was a really taxing way to train/wrestle. Dave Schultz had a style that was suited for longevity, Tom Brands not so much.

[jchapman 1,096]

4 minutes ago, hammerlockthree said:

Sandy Koufax retired when he was at his peak and arguably the best pitcher ever, his reason was that he wouldn't be able to buy back the use of his arm when he was done pitching. 

Brands' style was a really taxing way to train/wrestle. Dave Schultz had a style that was suited for longevity, Tom Brands not so much.

Koufax wasn't great until he got in the extremely pitcher friendly Chavez Ravine.  Great pitcher, yes.  Best ever, nope. But you did say arguably!

[hammerlockthree 2,042]

4 minutes ago, jchapman said:

Koufax wasn't great until he got in the extremely pitcher friendly Chavez Ravine.  Great pitcher, yes.  Best ever, nope. But you did say arguably!

Casey Stengel, "Forget the other fellow, Walter Johnson. The Jewish kid is probably the best of them." 

I am taking Stengel's word for it.

 

[gimpeltf 1,531]

2 minutes ago, hammerlockthree said:

Casey Stengel, "Forget the other fellow, Walter Johnson. The Jewish kid is probably the best of them." 

I am taking Stengel's word for it.

 

On the other hand-

 

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[Lurker 1,397]

1 hour ago, hammerlockthree said:

Sandy Koufax retired when he was at his peak and arguably the best pitcher ever, his reason was that he wouldn't be able to buy back the use of his arm when he was done pitching. 

Brands' style was a really taxing way to train/wrestle. Dave Schultz had a style that was suited for longevity, Tom Brands not so much.

Excellent analogy!

[pamela 1,334]

I think another reason why Sandy Koufax’s retirement was smart was because he wasn’t the most versatile pitcher with really just two go-to pitches in his arsenal. Koufax may not only have foreseen the perils of age and wear on his arm, but also batters eventually adjusting to his style. Not that he was one dimensional by any means, but some people say his career would’ve been much different if he played in today’s modern game, with finesse pitching and all the scouting and moneyballing.

[hammerlockthree 2,042]

This is why we need an non wrestling topic.....

[Gantry 1,675]

Well it's not like posters on here will stay on topic even if we did, God forbid someone doesn't get the last word in!

[Jim L 232]

On 11/4/2019 at 9:13 AM, MDogg said:

Retiring at 28 after winning an Olympic gold makes a lot of sense. 28 may not be too old to keep competing but 32 typically is in this sport...and that’s how old he would’ve been when the next Olympics rolled around. 

Statistically speaking 28 is at (or actually just past) the end of freestyle wrestlers’ peak window when it comes to world and Olympic medals.

Terry competed until 2000 and I think got Bronze.

would of they been at the same weight?

[KTG119 819]

3 minutes ago, Jim L said:

Terry competed until 2000 and I think got Bronze.

would of they been at the same weight?

I assume if Tom had been competing in 2000 he would have been at same weight as Kolat (138?) and not at the lighter weight (127?) where Terry competed.