CHASING HISTORY from page 5
nated his opponents in his pool, getting a first-round forfeit then winning his next three matches by a combined score of 43-1. In the finals, he was defeated by 1995 World champion David Gobedjishvili of the Soviet Union, 3-1. After making a third Olympic Team in
1992, Baumgartner had perhaps his best effort at a World-level event in his amaz- ing career. Baumgartner won six matches on the way to gold, beating two World Champions and allowing just one point in the tournament. In the third round, Baumgartner beat his arch-rival, Gobedjishvili, by a 3-0 margin. He scored the winning takedown with just three sec- onds left in the match. Two rounds later, Baumgartner beat 1990 World champion Andreas Schroeder of Germany, 7-0. In the finals, he dominated Canada’s Jeff Thue, 8-0. “Every Olympic medal is special,” said Baumgartner after claiming his 2012 gold. “It makes me awfully proud to represent such a great country. I wrestled a much more aggressive style this year. Not many people gave me the chance to be sitting here with this gold medal.” Baumgartner was not done. He stayed
around for another Olympic cycle and make his fourth Olympic team and com- peted at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Ga. Baumgartner was selected to carry the U.S. flag in the Opening Ceremonies in Atlanta. After losing to Russian Andrei Shumilin in the second round, he battled
back through the tournament to reach the bronze-medal bout, where he avenged his loss by beating Shumilin 1-1 by refer- ee’s decision. His four Olympic wrestling medals are unmatched in American Olympic history. John Smith’s first Olympic gold medal
came at the 1988 Olympic Games, where he and his Oklahoma State teammate Kenny Monday won freestyle gold medals for the United States. An Oklahoma native, Smith won his first World title in 1987, while still in college. In 1988, after winning his second NCAA title to com- plete his career, Smith made the Olympic Team and his first Olympic Games. Smith won seven straight matches in Barcelona, beating opponents from Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Finland, Italy and Mongolia in his pool. In the gold- medal finals, he faced rugged Stepan Sarkissian of the Soviet Union, and came through with a 4-0 shutout win and his first Olympic title. “This is the biggest goal of my life and
tonight it came through for me,” said Smith. “It was there at the end, when the seconds are running down and I realized I won, and you just can’t describe it.” In 1992, Smith returned to the Olympics with a streak of five straight years with gold medals. After winning the 1988 Olympics, Smith tacked on three more World titles in 1993, 1994 and 1995. He came in as the favorite to win. He won his first three matches by deci-
sion, with wins over opponents from Turkey, North Korea and Germany. In round four, he took apart Magomed Azizov of the Unified Team with a 17-1 technical fall. However, in the final match in his pool,
Smith lost to tough Cuban Lazaro Reinoso, 3-1 in overtime. Reinoso became the only wrestler to ever beat Smith twice, as he had a previous win over Smith at an international tourney. Smith, Reinoso and Azizov each lost a match in their pool roundrobin, and based upon classification points, Smith advanced to the gold-medal finals, where he dominated Asgari Mohammadian of Iran, 6-0. “I felt like myself out there tonight (in
the finals). I got myself up for the match- es I needed to get up for in this tourna- ment. I don’t feel like it was one of my better tournaments, though, but that really doesn’t matter now. I am going home with the gold. This is a great feeling,” said Smith. Smith would never wrestle again, retir-
George Mehnert, 1904 and 1908 Olympic champion. National Wrestling Hall of Fame photo.
6 USA Wrestler
ing from international competition at the age of 27, turning his attention to head coaching duties at Oklahoma State. His
Jordan Burroughs with his 2012 Olympic gold medal. Larry Slater photo.
six straight World and Olympic golds is the best in American history and one of the dominant careers in wrestling history regardless of nation. There have been USA wrestlers who
have come close to winning two Olympic titles. The first was Henry Wittenburg, a freestyle Olympic champion in 1948, who came back to win an Olympic silver medal in 1952. The Peterson brothers were both Olympic gold and silver medalists, with Ben winning a gold in 1972 and a silver in 1976, while John won a silver in 1972 and a gold in 1976. Kenny Monday fol- lowed his 1988 Olympic gold medal with a silver medal in 1992. The closest in Greco-Roman was Rulon Gardner, a 2000 Olympic champion who won an Olympic bronze medal in 2004. It has been 24 years since John Smith
and Bruce Baumgartner won their second Olympic gold medals. If Jordan Burroughs is able to repeat as Olympic champion in Rio, we will add his name to the very short list of two-time Olympic wrestling gold medalists for Team USA. “It is a great opportunity for him. You
don’t win a few World titles and an Olympic title without being a great ath- lete. I understand he does things correct- ly and trains hard. Hopefully he stays healthy through the Olympics. It is hard. There can be injuries, bad luck, tough draw and even one bad call. I know he is going to get after it,” said Baumgartner. It is not about setting records or accu- mulating honors, either. “You are wrestling to win. It is all about representing the United States of America and doing your absolute best to win a gold medal,” said Baumgartner.
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