DonR

Hello - Who are your top picks for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Freestyle Wrestling events?

Here are mine:

- 55kG Men - Besik Kudukhov (RUS)
55 - 60kG Men - Mavlet Batirov (RUS)
60 - 66kG Men - Ramazan Shahin (TUR)
66 - 74kG Men - Makhach Murtazaliev (RUS)
74 - 84kG Men - Georgi Ketoev (RUS)
84 - 96kG Men - Khadshimourad Gatsalov (RUS)
96 - 120kG Men - Beylal Makhov (RUS)

- 48kG Women - Chiharu Icho (JPN)
48 - 55kG Women - Saori Yoshida (JPN)
55 - 63kG Women - Kaori Icho (JPN)
63 - 72kG Women - Stanka Zlateva (BUL)

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quick_single

ummm, those were last year's World champs. Murtazaliev and Gatsalov didn't make the team this year.

Flop The Nuts

At least he gets credit for spelling them correctly.

ODH

SI made thier picks in this week's issue:
55kg:
Gold: Kudukhov RUS
Silver: Velikov BUL
Bronze: Cejudo US
Bronze: Moreno CUB

60kg:
Gold Quintana CUB
Silver: Baritov RUS
Bronze: Guidea BUL
Bronze: Mohammadi IRI

66kg:
Gold: Tushishvili GEO
Silver: Shahin TUR
Bronze: Farniev RUS
Bronze: Garzon CUB

74kg
Gold Satiev RUS
Silver: Aldatov UKR
Bronze Bazrighaleh IRI
Bronze: Chamsulvarayev AZE

84kg:
Gold: Ketoev RUS
Silver: Sokhiev UZB
Bronze: Mindorashvili GEO
Bronze: Yazdani IRI

96kg:
Gold: Muradov RUS
Silver: Gogshelidze GEO
Bronze: Abrahimi IRI
Bronze: Cormier USA

120kg:
Gold Taymazov UZB
Silver: Makhov RUS
Bronze: Rodrigues CUB
Bronze Tasoev UKR

Too lazy to type out all the other styles complete predictions but they have
Vering for Silver and Byers for Bronze in Greco and Van Dusen for Sliver in Womens.

Pretty solid picks overall. In the little blurb they said the Schwab was a medal threat, although I think this is true of every US wrstler, I would pick Schwab as one of longest shots to medal.

gg121and2

Okay - so I've already posted this a bazillion times and I am definitely a homer. I have watched Doug Schwab beat countless wrestlers that were "better than him" since he was a sophomore in high school. Don't underestimate him.

ODH

I will be rooting for him, but I would still say he is a medal long shot.

akzent

RUS - Akhmedov, not Makhov.

Tosoev is tested positive; 2-year suspension (this means end of his career).

Rumors say Rodriguez didn't return to his island after the tourney in Spain early this month. I don't know whether this is true.

Hubbard

Stay tuned...

quick_single

I'll say it again. It's almost impossible to pick anyone but the Gold medalists due to the bracket system.

ODH

Its actually almost impossible to pick accurately even if you know the brackets. I would think not knowing the brackets would hurt the silver picks the most, who could get knock down to bronze even though they are the 2nd best wrestler.