UGLY

This is a poll question on the Mat.com's home page and to my surprise Dan Gable was leading the votes with my choice John Smith second Bruce Baumgartner 3rd. Does anyone here truly believe that Gable is the greatest American Olympic wrestler we have had. There are a number of wrestlers who have one Gold like Gable and a silver or Bronze to go with it. Wrestlers like Dave Schultz have one gold. I think this is clearly case of his legend skewing the opinions of the people.

ODH

John Smith without a doubt.
Take away Gable's coaching achievements and it is not even close.

JensenS

I agree. Putting anyone other than Smith on the top of a list like this reeks of either bias or stupidity. Maybe both.

COL66

how many votes did askren receive?

Zapp Brannigan

I could see an argument for Baumgartner...but I would pick Smith.

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COL66

i could see why people voted for gable. he surrendered no points.
j smith, although he had two golds, lost a match at the olympics.

Bailey

Good point about not a point scored. The name "Gable" instantly brings wrestling to mind for many especially those households that are not that in tune with wrestling. In other words media bias over the years.

FIW last year at camp J Rob stated one of his goals was to re-make his olympic weight. Wonder if he made it, I think he was pretty close at the time. Very few former wrestlers could attempt that after that many years.

Greco-ZAG

#1 John Smith
I would rather have 2 gold medals than not give up a single point

Greatest Coach-Gable

Zapp Brannigan

I would rather be remembered as a legend, and Dan Gable is undoubtedly THE wrestling legend to the majority of the U.S. And he has the Gold medal, too. Like it or not, John Smith just doesn't have that aura that Gable has. ALl that said, the original question was "who is the greatest Olympian" and not "who would I rather be". John Smith is probably our greatest Olympian, with Baugartner being there second.

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"I've made it with a woman. Inform the men."

Spider

My left leg could make my wrestling weight.

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"Love never dies." The Beatles