If Russia doesn't win lots of wrestling medals, be surprised

The often overlooked sport of wrestling did its best to grab the spotlight when the United States and Russia staged a highly publicized exhibition in New York's Times Square in June.

The Americans held serve on their home soil, beating their longtime rivals 4-3, but expect a different theme when the action moves to London this summer.

Russia takes wrestling as seriously as any nation in the world and often dominates in the Olympics. The country won three freestyle gold medals in Athens, three more in Beijing and could match that haul again at the London Games.

"For Russian standards, this is probably a lower team than they've had. But make no mistake - they're very, very good," US national freestyle coach Zeke Jones said.

Russia's main competition likely will come from Iran, which boasts a promising crop of young wrestlers, along with Azerbaijan and the US.

Iran's medal contenders include 2011 world champions Mehdi Taghavi Kermani at 66 kilograms and Reza Yazdani at 96kg. Hassan Rahimi also could push for gold at 55kg, especially now that Viktor Lebedev is uncertain for London after he was upset in the recent Russian Nationals.

Azerbaijan has a pair of freestyle gold contenders in Yabrail Hasanov and Sharif Sharifov, along with reigning Greco-Roman champion Ravshan Bayramov at 55kg.

No country in the world qualified more wrestlers than the United States, which will compete for 17 of the 18 gold medals up for grabs at the ExCel Centre from Aug 5-12.

But the US has just one favorite, Jordan Burroughs, and there's a possibility it could bring home only one wrestling gold medal for the third straight Games.

Burroughs, who won two NCAA titles at Nebraska, made a smooth transition to freestyle wrestling last year and won the World Championship in Istanbul. The New Jersey native is the popular pick to win at 74kg, which could see a world-championship rematch between Burroughs and Iran's Sadegh Goudarzi.

Former Iowa State star Jake Varner, heavyweight Tervel Dlagnev and Pennsylvania native Jake Herbert also are medal contenders, but none of them are expected to bring home the gold.

(China Daily 07/05/2012 page22)