Wtf

[RD149-2]

Wow am I disappointed in our showing at the World's. What happened to the teams like we had from the past up to about 2004 when if we didn't have at least two golds it was a disappointment. I don't believe the whoa is me theory money/profession theory, because how were we successful before when our athletes had no monetary bonus to look forward too?
I don't want to sound as if I am completely bashing our guys because I know that they are all beasts on the mat I just am frustrated as to how things could've slipped so far so fast.
On a positive note the living the dream fund should be able to gain decent interest in the next year.
I realize this has been brought up several times before due to recent performances but this is the worst World Championships I can ever remember (32 years old) I am interested into thoughts and opinions as to why you think we were able to muster a total of 4 freakin wins.

[JensenS]

I've said this several times, but we're just average freestyle wrestlers. We still put far too much emphasis on conditioning and not nearly enough on freestyle technique.

In recent years we've had one top level wrestler concentrate exclusively on freestyle and Henry Cejudo went out and won an Olympic Gold Medal as a 21 year old.

Until we have more guys concentrate and I mean really concentrate on freestyle we'll have our good years (04, 06, 09) our bad years (05, 10) and our kind of in the middle years (07, 08) with no correlation really existing between how we did the prior year and how we may do the next one.

[Snackem]

So then as a relative new fan of international wrestling I have to ask what has changed in the past 10 years?

[5pointcrossankle]

strategy maybe? Ive noticed two main strategies from that countries are using at the WC since the pushout rules, 1 they go for a take down right away and immediatly work for a turn and milk the 3 -0 lead, and second they down block and defend for the first 1:30 then go for a take down with no time left, and when they are holding on to a lead, they STOP shooting unless its completely neccessary

[JudoWrestler]

strategy maybe? Ive noticed two main strategies from that countries are using at the WC since the pushout rules, 1 they go for a take down right away and immediatly work for a turn and milk the 3 -0 lead, and second they down block and defend for the first 1:30 then go for a take down with no time left, and when they are holding on to a lead, they STOP shooting unless its completely neccessary

That's what I do when I compete... defend for 1:30 then attack in last 30 seconds... they are usually not expecting an attack by this point.

[LoSt]

So then as a relative new fan of international wrestling I have to ask what has changed in the past 10 years?

The rules. They used to be a lot more similar to folkstyle

[arm-spin]

RD, this has all been said before but there are 3 pretty obvious reasons while the United States is not doing as well at freestyle as they used to.

1: Folkstyle and freestyle have become less similar since the rule changes and the evolution of "funk" defense. Two of the most popular defenses in folkstyle- going out of bounds and rolling around- are ways to actively give up points in freestyle. You can't possibly practice 'scoring on yourself' for most of your life and hope to be as a good as a lifelong freestyler/greco wrestler.

2: The breakup of the Soviet Union allows more wrestlers from the really productive areas of Russia to compete. For example, the big 3 at 96- Gayzumov, Gatsalov and Gogchelidze who each have a pile of world medals all wrestled for Russia at one time. In other words, the talent pool is much deeper.

3: A lot of America's most sucessful wrestlers only compete for a limited time in freestyle ie Cejudo, Slay, Sanderson. You can't be the best when your best keep quitting. Where is Greg Jones, Ben Askren, Johnny Hendricks, Cole Konrad, Jake Rosholt and other American superstars? Be it MMA or just a regular job, a lot of wrestlers chose to do other more lucrative things that weaken the American talent pool.

Finally, at the risk of sounding like a big jerk, it seems to me that Canada outdid the US this year in both women's and freestyle wrestling, with 3 medals in women's and 2 top-ten finishes in freestyle. Don't know if this has ever happened in FS before.

[Trusty]

Not good times for the good ol US of A!
Put Mr. Gable in charge.

[dirtyholt]

I've said this several times, but we're just average freestyle wrestlers. We still put far too much emphasis on conditioning and not nearly enough on freestyle technique.

In recent years we've had one top level wrestler concentrate exclusively on freestyle and Henry Cejudo went out and won an Olympic Gold Medal as a 21 year old.

Until we have more guys concentrate and I mean really concentrate on freestyle we'll have our good years (04, 06, 09) our bad years (05, 10) and our kind of in the middle years (07, 08) with no correlation really existing between how we did the prior year and how we may do the next one.

Can you give me some specific examples of guys who are conditioning too much and how you know what their specific training regimes are like?