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Olympic Team this year. Russia’s Viktor Lebedev won World titles the past two years, but lost to Jamal Otarsultanov in the finals of the Russian Nationals.


Lebedev beat past World champion Radoslav Velikov of Bulgaria in the World finals last year. Velikov won an Olympic bronze medal in 2008. Kazakstan’s Daulet Niyabekov and


Iran’s Hassan Rahimi won World bronze medals in 2011. 60 kg/132 lbs. – Russia’s Besik Kudukhov has emerged as one of the best pound-for-pound wrestlers on the planet.


Kudukhov has won the last three World titles at this weight class after winning a 2007 World title at 55 kg/121 lbs. He was third in the 2008 Olympics at 55 kilos. Kudukhov beat surprise finalist Franklin Gomez of Puerto Rico in the 2011 World finals. Gomez was an NCAA champion for Michigan State and trains with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club in State College, Pa. Japan’s Kenichi Yumoto and Kazakhstan’s Dauren Zhumagazyyev claimed World bronze medals in 2011. American Coleman Scott is on a roll. He wrestled well in the World Cup before winning the Olympic Wrestle-Off with wins over past World Team members Reece Humphrey and Shawn Bunch. Scott is an offensive-minded wrestler who has a style that could make him a tough draw for anybody he faces in London.


66 kg/145.5 lbs. – Iran’s Mehdi


Taghavi Kermani won a tough weight class in capturing a gold medal at the 2011 World Championships. The Iranian star downed Japan’s Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu in the finals. Azerbaijan’s Jabrayil Hasanov and


Cuba’s Livan Lopez Azcuy earned bronze medals at the 2011 Worlds. Alan Gaughan won the Russian Nationals, downing Adam Batirov in the finals. Batirov was fifth in the World in 2011.


American Jared Frayer made his first


World-level team this year after a string of near-misses.


Frayer is a dangerous wrestler with big-move capability. He is a tough matchup who is never out of a match. The U.S. is looking for its first win in this weight class at a World Championships or Olympics since Doug Schwab placed fifth at the 2007 Worlds. 74 kg/163 lbs. – American Jordan Burroughs stormed into his first World Championships last year and emerged from a tough bracket to win a gold medal.


Olympic schedule Excel Center, London, England


Aug. 5 - Greco-Roman (55 kg, 74 kg) Aug. 6 - Greco-Roman (60 kg, 84 kg, 120 kg) Aug. 7 - Greco-Roman (66 kg, 96 kg) Aug. 8 - Women’s freestyle (48 kg, 63 kg)


Aug. 9 - Women’s freestyle (55 kg, 72 kg)


Aug. 10 - Freestyle (55 kg, 74 kg) Aug. 11 - Freestyle (60 kg, 84 kg, 120 kg)


Aug. 12 - Freestyle (66 kg, 96 kg)


The multi-talented Burroughs is the favorite heading into London, but he is in a very strong weight class. Burroughs beat Russia’s Denis


Tsargush, the 2009 and 2010 World champion, en route to winning the World title last year. Two other wrestlers Burroughs beat at last year’s Worlds – Iran’s Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi and Azerbaijan’s Ashraf Aliyev – are very strong. Goudarzi has been sec- ond at the last two World Championships and Aliyev was third last year. Burroughs earned another win over Goudarzi in May’s World Cup. Burroughs has won all 34 freestyle matches on the Senior level after winning the 2011 NCAA title for Nebraska. Georgia’s Davit Khutshishvili won the other World bronze medal last year. Canada’s Matt Gentry, a past NCAA champion for Stanford, is another wrestler to watch. Gentry qualified for his second Olympics. He has had a superb season. 84 kg/185 lbs. – This is a fairly wide- open class with a number of top wrestlers capable of winning the gold medal. Azerbaijan’s Sharif Sharifov is the reigning World champion after downing veteran Ibragim Aldatov of Ukraine in last year’s World finals. Georgia’s Dato Marsagishvili and


Russia’s Albert Saritov claimed bronze medals at the 2011 Worlds. Saritov fell to Anzor Urishev in the finals of this year’s Russian Nationals.


Three-time Olympic champion Bouvaisa Saitiev of Russia has been rumored to be making a comeback in this class, but he did not wrestle at the Russian Nationals. Saitiev won the 1996, 2004 and 2008 Olympics at 74 kilos. American Jake Herbert returns to the


World stage for the third time. He won a silver medal at the 2009 Worlds before making the U.S. World Team in 2010. Herbert lost to past Olympic champion Cael Sanderson in the 2011 World Team Trials before bouncing back to make the


Varner Dlagnev


Olympic Team this year. Sanderson placed fifth at the 2011 Worlds, but elect- ed not to compete this year. Herbert is a gifted wrestler who has a penchant for wrestling well when the stakes are highest. He is a wrestler who can contend for some hardware in London.


96 kg/211.5 lbs. – Iran’s Reza Yazdani beat home crowd favorite Serhat Balci of Turkey to win the gold medal at the 2011 Worlds in Istanbul. Yazdani placed third in the World in 2006 and 2007 at 84 kilos, before finish- ing 11th at the 2008 Olympics. He then returned to the World stage at 96 kilos last year and came through to win a title. Russia’s Abdusalam Gadisov is anoth- er wrestler who has thrived in this weight class after bumping up a division. He won the European Championships and the Russian Nationals this year at 96 kilos. He was fifth in the 2009 Worlds at 84 kilos.


American Jake Varner enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2011 after win- ning a bronze medal at the World Championships. Varner has made a big progression in this Olympic cycle, which started with him making the 2009 World Team. He is con- sidered a serious medal threat. Ruslan Sheikhau of Belarus won the other bronze medal in this division at the 2011 Worlds.


120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Alexei Shemarov of Belarus was a surprise winner in this class at last year’s World Championships. Shemarov won a number of ball draws throughout the tournament and took advantage of his opportunities. He downed three-time World champion Bilyal Makhov of Russia in the 2011 World finals.


Azerbaijan’s Jamaladdin Magomedov and Georgia’s Davit Modzmanashvili were the bronze medalists in this class at the 2011 Worlds. American Tervel Dlagnev knocked off two-time Olympic champion Artur Taymazov of Uzbekistan en route to plac- ing fifth at the 2011 Worlds. Dlagnev, third in the 2009 Worlds, fin- ished unbeaten in May’s World Cup.


USA Wrestler 35


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