People who made the Olympic team but were not expected to

[mspart 182]

I know of a few.  I think Slay is one, Oscar Wood is another.    Any others?

mspart

[TripNSweep 434]

Charles Burton

Andy Hrovat

Garrett Lowney

[Jim L 194]

Molinaro!

[dmm53 433]

Frank Molinaro immediately comes to mind.   

Had a very low seed at trials, if I recall correctly (though I may be wrong); won the trials against high odds;  then had to qualify the weight abroad  before the Olympics began.

Finally, he was very close to winning a medal (finished 5th in a tight bronze medal match).

Edited May 15 by dmm53

[Billyhoyle 1,855]

Jake Deitchler

[AHamilton 300]

Dan Dennis.  Jamil Kelly.

[mspart 182]

Oh yes, those are good ones.  Burton was #2 at the time and Gutches had a bad back.  It was not that unexpected.  Their Trials finals was delayed to give Les a chance to strengthen up.  He needed to but didn't get there.  I didn't realize Lowney was in this category, he did phenomenal at the Olys. 

I really appreciate the input guys.  

mspart

[LJB 1,113]

2 hours ago, AHamilton said:

Dan Dennis.  Jamil Kelly.

dan dennis came back from relative obscurity, but, i would not say he wasn't expected to beat ramos by the time he got there...

[Billyhoyle 1,855]

I just remembered the most improbable Olympian ever: “he must not be named.”

[pamela 1,272]

Jared Frayer London and Haley Augello Rio, maybe?

[Mokoma 256]

6 hours ago, dmm53 said:

Frank Molinaro immediately comes to mind.   

Had a very low seed at trials, if I recall correctly (though I may be wrong); won the trials against high odds;  then had to qualify the weight abroad  before the Olympics began.

Finally, he was very close to winning a medal (finished 5th in a tight bronze medal match).

Yes Frank was 9th seed that year.  Crazy awesome run to finish 5th at Olympics!

[Lurker 1,154]

10 hours ago, Mokoma said:

Yes Frank was 9th seed that year.  Crazy awesome run to finish 5th at Olympics!

As was J’den Cox, who after winning the trials had to expedite getting a passport because he’d never had one before, went to Mongolia to win the qualifier, then come home from Rio with a medal before going back to class...

[pamela 1,272]

I can’t even imagine a totally unexpected wrestler making our MFS Olympic team this cycle. It’ll probably happen, but the weights are so stacked with strong contenders that it’s hard to envision a Frank Molinaro/Dan Dennis type qualifier winning the spot. Maybe at 125? Idk

[TripNSweep 434]

23 hours ago, mspart said:

Oh yes, those are good ones.  Burton was #2 at the time and Gutches had a bad back.  It was not that unexpected.  Their Trials finals was delayed to give Les a chance to strengthen up.  He needed to but didn't get there.  I didn't realize Lowney was in this category, he did phenomenal at the Olys. 

I really appreciate the input guys.  

mspart

Lowney beat the 96 Olympic team member Gleasman, and beat multi time world team member Couture, and I think he may have also beaten Jason Loukides.  He hadn't even wrestled a senior level tournament prior to that cycle I don't think.  He did have a bronze from junior worlds though.  Him making the team was very unexpected.  

Burton maybe wasn't a big surprise, but the field at that weight was loaded. Sanderson, Van Arsdale, Brinzer, Gutches and a couple others.  

[PRyan2012 334]

14 hours ago, TripNSweep said:

Lowney beat the 96 Olympic team member Gleasman, and beat multi time world team member Couture, and I think he may have also beaten Jason Loukides.  He hadn't even wrestled a senior level tournament prior to that cycle I don't think.  He did have a bronze from junior worlds though.  Him making the team was very unexpected.  

Burton maybe wasn't a big surprise, but the field at that weight was loaded. Sanderson, Van Arsdale, Brinzer, Gutches and a couple others.  

Don't forget Hartung, Kading and Fullhart at 187. Burton would be a surprise there I guess with that field. Sanderson was only 19 though. 

Edited May 17 by PRyan2012

[TripNSweep 434]

8 hours ago, PRyan2012 said:

Don't forget Hartung, Kading and Fullhart at 187. Burton would be a surprise there I guess with that field. Sanderson was only 19 though. 

Cael was a 2x NCAA champion by the time the 2000 trials rolled around.  Pretty sure he didn't win an NCAA title at age 17/18.  He redshirted his first year at Iowa State and he also gave Gutches a great match at the trials or the open that year.  

[matts1w 69]

Kendall Cross for sure.  Terry Brands was defending world champ, ASICS had a big Tom and Terry campaign all ready to go, and...not so much.

[PRyan2012 334]

1 hour ago, TripNSweep said:

Cael was a 2x NCAA champion by the time the 2000 trials rolled around.  Pretty sure he didn't win an NCAA title at age 17/18.  He redshirted his first year at Iowa State and he also gave Gutches a great match at the trials or the open that year.  

Your right he was 20 sorry. Forgot about redshirt. But pretty stacked weight at 187.5 for Burton to get through that field of Sanderson, Hartung, Fullhart, Kading, Van Arsdale, and Gutches. All those guys had better NCAA careers than Burton.

Edited May 17 by PRyan2012

[steen-hooph 57]

On 5/16/2020 at 8:55 AM, Lurker said:

As was J’den Cox, who after winning the trials had to expedite getting a passport because he’d never had one before, went to Mongolia to win the qualifier, then come home from Rio with a medal before going back to class...

Wasn't Cox a double digit seed at the trials? Amazing run.

[77again 96]

John Peterson in 1972.

Highest college finish, 5th in NAIA.

Silver in 1972

Gold in 1976

[Lurker 1,154]

13 hours ago, steen-hooph said:

Wasn't Cox a double digit seed at the trials? Amazing run.

Had to go back and double check but yes it was 9

[mspart 182]

Regarding Burton, he was our #2 guy in 1999, so I wouldn't call him completely out of it.  But I think Gutches had the upper hand when healthy.  Even not healthy, Gutches won one of the olympic trials final matches.  But Burton was right up there in US nationals and WTT trials and OTT trials. 

mspart

[Mokoma 256]

2 hours ago, Lurker said:

Had to go back and double check but yes it was 9

So the answer would be no not yes. He was not a double digit seed.

[Lurker 1,154]

29 minutes ago, Mokoma said:

So the answer would be no not yes. He was not a double digit seed.

okay

[TripNSweep 434]

7 hours ago, mspart said:

Regarding Burton, he was our #2 guy in 1999, so I wouldn't call him completely out of it.  But I think Gutches had the upper hand when healthy.  Even not healthy, Gutches won one of the olympic trials final matches.  But Burton was right up there in US nationals and WTT trials and OTT trials. 

mspart

Burton was probably the least accomplished in that field.  I remember watching Gutches vs Sanderson, and Gutches had 2 big moves and Sanderson had like 5 takedowns, but it wasn't enough to beat Gutches.  I don't think Cael was ready physically, from what I remember Brinzer beat up on him and so did Van Arsdale.  Burton also came extremely close to winning a medal, and gave up a throw in a position his coaches were yelling at him to avoid with like 20 seconds left in a match he was winning.