65 kg FS - AUGUST 21 Anybody could win this one
There has been a different World champion all three years of the Olympic cycle so far at 65 kg. With no strong favorite, everybody in the field believes they can win.
FRANK MOLINARO
Residence: State College, Pa. Club: Nittany Lion WC College: Penn State High School: Manahawkin, N.J. (Southern Regional) Born: Dec. 27, 1988
Past Olympics: None Past Sr. Worlds: None UWW World Rank: No. 13
Career Notes • 2016 U.S. Olympic Team member • 2016 World Cup champion • 2016 Pan American Championships champion • 2015 Grand Prix of Spain champion • Second in 2016 German Grand Prix • 2014 Dave Schultz Memorial International champion • 2013 New York AC International cham- pion • Third in 2014 World Team Trials • 2012 NCAA champion and 2011 run- ner-up for Penn State
College: 2012 NCAA champion for Penn State… Second in 2011 NCAA Championships… Competed under head coaches Cael Sanderson and Troy Sunderland… Member of two NCAA Div. I Championship teams at Penn State... High School: Three-time New Jersey State Champion at Southern Regional High
School...placed second at High School Nationals... Personal: Son of Frank and Michele Molinaro... Married Kera Bolen in May 2014… Older brother Robert is a gradu- ate of the U.S. Naval Academy and is now an officer in the U.S. Navy...
Age: 27
The last three World champions were Frank Chimizo of Italy (2015), Soslan Ramonov of Russia (2014) and David Safaryan of Armenia (2013). Also add in 2012 Olympic champion Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan for good measure. Chimizo won a World bronze medal for Cuba in 2010, and left after the 2011 World Championships. He started com- peting for Italy in 2013. A gold at the European U23 Championships in 2015 was a stepping stone to his 2015 World gold medal. Chamizo added a 2016 European title to his collection. Ramonov won a World gold in 2014 and a World bronze in 2015, and cap- tured the Russian Nationals in 2016. He also boasts a 2015 World Military Games gold medal.
Safaryan won his World title in 2013. He was one of the athletes who got an Olympic berth when positive drug tests knocked out some athletes and UWW shuffled the qualifiers. He was a 2012 Olympian, with a 2013 European title and a Junior World silver from 2009. Asgarov was a 2010 World silver medalist at 55 kg. He won his 2012 Olympic gold medal at 60 kg. Now com- peting at 65 kg, he was a 2015 European Games champion there and placed fifth at the 2015 World Championships. India’s Yogeshwar Dutt, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist at 60 kg, will be competing in his fourth Olympic Games. Dutt won the 2014 Asian Games, and qualified for the Olympics with a win at the Asian Olympic Qualifier. Mongolia’s Mandakhnaran Ganzorig
won World bronze medals in 2013 and 2014, and was fifth in the 2015 Worlds. Sayed Mohammadi of Iran was a 2014 World silver medalist, 2015 World bronze medalist, and a 2014 Asian champion. Mustafa Kaya of Turkey, fifth in the 2014 World Championships and the 2016 European Championships runner-up, is also in the field. Two-time Olympian and 2007 World bronze medalist Sahit Prizeni of Albania is now competing for Australia. Adam Batirov won a 2003 Junior World silver medal and a 2011 European bronze medal for Russia. After taking fifth in the
16 USA Wrestling Rio Media Guide Frank Molinaro: by Tony Rotundo
2011 Worlds, Batirov was out of the sport for five years, coming back to win an Asian title and the 1st World Olympic Qualifier in Mongolia for Bahrain. 2011 World silver medalist Franklin Gomez of Puerto Rico is among three NCAA finalists in the field, joined by Borislav Novachkov of Bulgaria and Frank Molinaro of the USA. Gomez won an NCAA title for Michigan State, and is in his second Olympics for Puerto Rico. Novachkov, a high school star in California and NCAA runner-up for Cal Poly, has been in two World meets. Molinaro, who won his NCAA title for
Penn State, was a No. 9 seed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. A 2016 Pan American champion, Molinaro has beat- en some of the top athletes this year. Canada’s Haislan Garcia is wrestling in his third Olympic Games. Three-time Pan American champion Alejandro Valdes of Cuba won the Pan American Olympic Qualifier. China’s Katal Yeerlanbieke won a silver at the Asian Olympic Qualifier. Zurabi Iakobishvili of Georgia was fifth at the 2016 European Championships. UWW added back two qualifiers after the IOC gave its interpretation of how to handle positive tests for meldonium, Magamedmurat Gadziev of Poland and Andriy Kviatkovsky of Ukraine.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36