quanon 161 Report post Posted September 24, 2013 From 2002-2013: The total number of competitors in both styles was roughly equal, from the world championships that I've looked at. In Freestyle: 26 Countries produced medalists, and 15 produced champions. In Greco-Roman: 38 Countries produced medalists, and 22 produced champions. Top ten medal-producing countries in freestyle: Russia 60 Iran 35 Georgia 24 Ukraine 23 Cuba 23 USA 21 Azerbaijan 21 Uzbekistan 19 Bulgaria 12 Japan 12 12 countries produced ten or more medals. Top ten medal-producing countries in Greco: Russia 45 Iran 25 Turkey 25 Cuba 18 South Korea 17 Azerbaijan 16 Hungary 14 Armenia 13 Kazakhstan 13 Bulgaria 13 14 countries produced ten or more medals. Bolded countries were top ten in both freestyle and Greco. Every top ten country, in either style, produced medalists in the other style. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HuskyHero133 52 Report post Posted September 25, 2013 The # of competitors at the worlds was equal, that wasn't surprising I don't think. I would be curious on numbers of competitors of each style in each country at their trials. Before it gets squeezed down to the very best of the best going to Worlds/Olympics. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DF 181 Report post Posted September 25, 2013 Greco is not as competitive as freestyle. It's a myth that's been propagated by greco wrestlers, much like the myth that the best wrestlers in other countries go into greco rather than freestyle. Like they're trying to convince us there were/are much better wrestlers than Beloglasov, Fadzaev, Saitiev, Khadartsev, Yazdani, etc in their respective countries but they chose greco instead of freestyle because...well because that's just what the better wrestlers in other countries do for some never explained reason. Watch a high-level greco match. The skill level is not on par with freestyle. 99% of a greco match is pushing, pulling, and bumping chests until somebody gets an advantageous angle/momentum and the other wrestler basically gives up the takedown quickly so he doesn't get thrown for more points. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gutfirst 219 Report post Posted September 25, 2013 From 2002-2013: The total number of competitors in both styles was roughly equal, from the world championships that I've looked at. In Freestyle: 26 Countries produced medalists, and 15 produced champions. In Greco-Roman: 38 Countries produced medalists, and 22 produced champions.. 12 more countries out of a possible 38 is greater than 25% more. 7 more out of 22 is around 33%. a significantly higher number of countries are represented by medalists and champs in greco compared to free. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quanon 161 Report post Posted September 27, 2013 A decade ago, Greco had significantly more competitors than freestyle. As of 2013, this is no longer the case. ** Participants at Worlds 2002 FS 181 / GR 215 2003 FS 247 / GR 292 2005 FS 225 / GR 239 2006 FS 215 / GR 220 2007 FS 299 / GR 313 2009 FS 222 / GR 245 2010 FS 231 / GR 245 2011 FS 301 / GR 309 2013 FS 251 / GR 249 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gutfirst 219 Report post Posted September 27, 2013 A decade ago, Greco had significantly more competitors than freestyle. As of 2013, this is no longer the case. ** Participants at Worlds 2002 FS 181 / GR 215 2003 FS 247 / GR 292 2005 FS 225 / GR 239 2006 FS 215 / GR 220 2007 FS 299 / GR 313 2009 FS 222 / GR 245 2010 FS 231 / GR 245 2011 FS 301 / GR 309 2013 FS 251 / GR 249 1 event and barely. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quanon 161 Report post Posted September 27, 2013 The trend is clear. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jaroslav Hasek 1,865 Report post Posted September 27, 2013 just for fun, here's a chart of the participants in FS and GR over time at the last world championships from Quanon's numbers. I added 7 for FS in 2002 because the US held their team out for security reasons. If that was already accounted for, let me know and i'll take them back out. and here's difference between GR and FS participants over time (again, with 7 extra for FS in 2002). interesting to see the spikes in the pre Olympic years. also both GR and FS are trending up, which is a good thing. FS is just trending up at a faster rate. Theories for why that is? popularity of FS increasing relative to GR? More Russians (or Caucasus region wrestlers) wrestling for countries that otherwise wouldn't have a FS entry? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quanon 161 Report post Posted September 27, 2013 Nice work on the charts. I would have to look at the participating countries to get a sense of why the numbers are moving. Here's a guess, though -- if Greco is known to be more competitive, then it is more efficient to invest in your freestyle teams, especially if you are not an established wrestling power. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jaroslav Hasek 1,865 Report post Posted October 1, 2013 Nice work on the charts. I would have to look at the participating countries to get a sense of why the numbers are moving. Here's a guess, though -- if Greco is known to be more competitive, then it is more efficient to invest in your freestyle teams, especially if you are not an established wrestling power. thanks. non traditional powers expanding into freestyle would explain the increased numbers, but i dont know if if its because greco is more competitive. what gets you a better return on your wrestling program's investment, FS or GR? doesnt GR have more parity? isnt it tougher to break through the Russia + Ex Soviets + Iran stranglehold at the moment? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OBJoeB 32 Report post Posted October 3, 2013 Nice work on the charts. I would have to look at the participating countries to get a sense of why the numbers are moving. Here's a guess, though -- if Greco is known to be more competitive, then it is more efficient to invest in your freestyle teams, especially if you are not an established wrestling power. thanks. non traditional powers expanding into freestyle would explain the increased numbers, but i dont know if if its because greco is more competitive. what gets you a better return on your wrestling program's investment, FS or GR? doesnt GR have more parity? isnt it tougher to break through the Russia + Ex Soviets + Iran stranglehold at the moment? Maybe the expanding freestyle numbers are because countries that have developed/are developing women's wrestling programs have started to increase their men's wrestling programs and they are focusing on one style, freestyle. Limited resources, it makes sense to focus on one sport. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites