Rio 2016: Olympic Wrestling Preview Day 8: Men’s Freestyle 65kg & 97kg

We’ll begin our final preview of Day 8 as we did all the previous previews, with a link back to our Olympics Wrestling primer, which has a cheat sheet and live stream details. Also a link to NBC’s wrestling webpage where you can find video streams. And here is a link to CBC’s streams for all you Canadians (or global citizens with computers that are pretending to be Canadian for now).

Also a note that wrestling brackets are random draw and uneven. You can check out the brackets from the 2015 World Championship and the European Olympic Qualification Tournament to give you a better idea of what the Rio brackets will look like.

All to the point that picking place finishers before the weigh-ins are completed and brackets are released (which happens the day before each tournament) is a fool’s errand. Which is perhaps why I find it so much fun.

Men’s Freestyle 65kg

PICKS

GOLD: Toghrul Asgarov AZE

SILVER: Soslan Ramonov RUS

BRONZE: Mandakhnaran Ganzorig MGL

BRONZE: Frank Chamizo ITA

CONTENDERS

65 kilograms is truly wide open, and anyone saying they’ve identified a favorite is lying. So take any field action bet you can find. Pick any one of a dozen guys and you can make an argument for their reaching Olympic glory.

My money is on Azerbaijan’s Asgarov. The former 20 year old wunderkind scored gold at the London Games and is still plenty young enough to mount a second Olympic quest for glory. After taking a two year break from competition to sow his royal oats, Asgarov stormed back on the scene in 2015 to show he is still a contender.

Russia’s Ramonov is the smilingest wrestler you’ll find on Instagram. The North Ossetian has won both a world gold and bronze medal and should add to his collection in Rio. Mongolia’s Ganzorig also has a pair of world medals (both bronze) and, like most of his countrymen, has an indefatigable, non-stop motor.

Frank Chamizo of Italy (by way of Cuba), is the defending world champion, but he had to pull several victories from the clutches of defeat on his way to that gold medal. Without a doubt he has to win it all in Rio, but in a field this crowded, nothing is for sure.

OTHERS OF NOTE

Pull any of the 21 competitors’ names out of a hat and you can write a book about them. The tournament is chockablock with credentialed wrestlers. 2013 World Champ, David Safaryan of Armenia, likely won’t medal. Former European Champion, Adam Batirov of Bahrain (by way of Khasavyurt, Dagestan, GOAT’s Buvaisar Saitiev’s hometown), is also a longshot to make the podium.

Few would have picked Amercia’s Frank “Gorilla Hulk” Molinaro to even win the US Olympic Team Trials, but over the last year of competition, Frank the Tank has proven his mettle at the elite level. A Penn State alumnus, Molinaro is one of three 65 kg participants to earn NCAA D1 All-American honors, the others being Puerto Rico’s Franklin Gomez at Michigan State and Bulgaria’s Boris Novachkov at Cal Poly.

Haislan Garcia competes for Canada but is originally from Cuba. His emigration left room in the starting line up for Alejendro Valdes. Neither are medal favorites but could sneak onto the podium with the right draw.

RANKINGS

1 ITA Frank CHAMIZO

2 RUS Soslan RAMONOV

3 AZE Toghrul ASGAROV

6 IRI Meisam NASIRI

7 UZB Ikhtiyor NAVRUZOV​

8 BUL Borislav NOVACHKOV

9 MGL Mandakhnaran GANZORIG

10 PUR Franklin GOMEZ

11 CUB Alejandro VALDES

12 IND Yogeshwar DUTT

13 USA Frank MOLINARO

14 GEO Zurabi IAKOBISHVILI

15 CHN Katai YEERLANBIEKE

17 ARM Devid SAFARYAN

20 TUR Mustafa KAYA

AUS Sahit PRIZRENI

BRN Adam BATIROV

CAN Haislan GARCIA

NGR Amas DANIEL

POL Magomedmurad GADZHIEV

UKR Andriy KVYATKOVSKYY

Men’s Freestyle 97kg

PICKS

GOLD: Anzor Boltukaev RUS

SILVER: Kyle Snyder USA USA USA

BRONZE: Khetag Gazyumov AZE

BRONZE: Valerii Andriitsev UKR

CONTENDERS

Assuming the random draw gods cooperate, the last wrestling match of the XXXI Olympiad will feature the American, Kyle “I was a Teenage World Champ” Snyder, and the Russian, Anzor “Thunder” Boltukaev. Snyder beat the Russian Dagestani, Abdusalam Gadisov, in the finals of the 2015 World Championship, but it was the Russian Chechen, Bolutkaev, who earned the starting spot in the Russian line up, as such there is no guarantee these two will be drawn on to opposite sides of the bracket.

Boltukaev beat Snyder and a bevy of other hammers earlier this year at the prestigious Ivan Yarygin Memorial Tournament in Yakutsk, Russia. He’s undefeated in 2016 and would be the Vegas favorite if the Vegas sports books had any clue how to set wrestling lines.

Gazyumov of Azerbaijan (by way of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania), is at his third and most likely last Olympic Games. Andriitsev of Ukraine (by way of Ukraine), is also a returning Olympic medalist, losing to American Jacob Varner in the London finals.

OTHERS OF NOTE

It’s hard to discsuss the 97kg favorites without mentioning the Leopard of Juybar (or is it Panther? Maybe it’s both) Reza Yazdani, of Iran. The light heavy legend has been a top tier mainstay for a solid decade, winning his first world medal (a bronze) in 2006 and won an Asian Championship in 2016. But Big Yaz has also suffered a deluge of injuries over the years. If his body is in good condition, he’ll contend for a gold.

Georgia’s Elizbar “Garfieldkadze” Odikadze finished fifth twice, and will will look to breakthrough to the podium in Rio. Albert Saritov of Romania (by way of Dagestan), Mamed Ibragimov of Kazakhstan (by way of Dagestan) and Magomed Musaev of Kyrgyzstan (by way of Dagestan) help round would what should be a very competitive weight class. Dagestan is good at wrestling.

RANKINGS

1 RUS Anzor BOLTUKAEV

3 AZE Khetag GAZYUMOV

4 USA Kyle SNYDER

6 GEO Elizbar ODIKADZE

7 POL Radoslaw BARAN

8 UKR Valerii ANDRIITSEV

10 IRI Reza YAZDANI

11 MDA Nicolai CEBAN

12 ARM Georgii KETOEV

13 MGL Khuderbulga DORJKHAND

14 TUR Ibrahim BOLUKBASI

15 ROU Albert SARITOV

16 KAZ Mamed IBRAGIMOV

17 KGZ Magomed MUSAEV

18 VEN Jose DIAZ

19 CUB Javier CORTINA

GBS Bedopassa BUASSAT DJONDE

NGR Soso TAMARAU

UZB Magomed IBRAGIMOV

AND NOW FOR A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME

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