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Olympics drop wrestling

isuska

isuska

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Jun 22, 2011
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VeloClone said:
Over half of all ISU medalists were wrestlers, but Cyclones have won medals in other sports.

Glen Brand: 1948 gold medal in wrestling
Dan Gable: 1972 gold medal in wrestling
Ben Peterson: 1972 gold medal in wrestling
Kevin Jackson: 1992 gold medal in wrestling
Cael Sanderson: 2004 gold medal in wrestling
Jake Varner: 2012 gold medal in wrestling

Chris Taylor: 1972 bronze medal in wrestling
Ben Peterson: 1976 silver medal in wrestling
Nate Carr: 1988 bronze medal in wrestling


Jeff Grayer: 1988 bronze medal in men’s basketball
Danny Harris: 1984 silver medal in 400 hurdles
Nawal El Moutawakel (Morocco): 1984 gold medal in 400-meter hurdles
Sunday Uti (Nigeria): 1984 bronze medal in 4×400 relay
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VeloClone

VeloClone

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Jan 19, 2010
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Thanks, Isuska. I apparently found an incomplete list.

BTW his brother, John, won a silver in '72 and a gold in '76. John went to UW-Stout, though, not ISU.
 
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Clone83

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Mar 25, 2006
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That suplay was in the Greco competition. In a controversial call Taylor was hosed by a referee in freestyle or he might have won gold in 1972 also, along with Gable and Ben Peterson. This below is from earlier posts:

Clone83 said:
Great story about Taylor and Gable. That famous photo though is actually from Chris's Greco loss:
What Really Happened in 1972 Chris Taylor throw?

taylorthrow.gif


Taylor also wrestled freestyle, where he got the Bronze, and his loss there was a highly controversial one to the Soviet heavyweight:
Chris Taylor Biography and Olympic Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com

Weighing over 400 lbs., Chris Taylor is the heaviest American Olympian of all time. Despite his weight he was a very good technical wrestler, possessed of surprising quickness. This enabled him to twice win the NCAA Championship while at Iowa State, and he also won national titles in Greco-Roman wrestling. At the München Olympics he competed in both styles, losing in the Greco event. In freestyle, however, he was beaten only by the Soviet Union’s redoubtable heavyweight, Aleksandr Medved, but in a controversial decision. It appeared Medved was stalling but the referee awarded a point to the Soviet, charging Taylor with a lack of action. Later admitting that he felt sorry for Medved because of Taylor’s size, the referee was dismissed from the Olympic tournament and banned from international officiating.
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http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/wrestling/149162-chris-taylor-hof.html#post2880464

Clone83 said:
Here is an article from a pro-affiliated site, but with an excellent bio, everyone should click. There are some nice words and outlook concerning Chris's death, from his mother at the end. ...:

Chris Taylor: The giant Olympian

Two of his bouts at the Games stand out and help explain how the behemoth ended up on with a bronze medal in freestyle.

In only the first round of freestyle, Taylor took on two-time gold medalist Aleksandr Medved of Minsk, Ukraine. Medved had beated Taylor at three other meets, but on this occasion, they fought to a draw. The 231-pound Medved was awarded a controversial decision by referee Umit Demirag of Turkey, who had penalized Taylor for passivity. It was the last time Demirag refereed an Olympic bout, as the ruling body dismissed him from his position, yet allowed the Medved-Taylor decision to stand. Both men won the rest of their bouts, with the Ukrainian taking gold.

In Greco-Roman, Taylor faced off against Wilfried Dietrich, a West German wrestler whom he had beaten in freestyle. Gagne recalled that Dietrich had a strategy where he kept trying to push Taylor out of the ring. Then Taylor got riled up and rushed Dietrich, who grabbed him up in a bear hug and suplexed the 412-pound monster and "turned him on his back before he hit the mat and that was it. It was a phenomenal move." ...
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http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/wrestling/149162-chris-taylor-hof-2.html#post2885602
 
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Clone83

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Mar 25, 2006
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I haven't followed closely and don't know how all this works.

But elsewhere I see that not only is ISU alum and 1984 women's gold medalist in the 400m hurdles, Nawal El Moutawakel (Morocco), a member of the IOC, she is a member of the IOC executive committee, and one of the vice presidents of that committee.
 
VeloClone

VeloClone

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Clone83 said:
I haven't followed closely and don't know how all this works.

But elsewhere I see that not only is ISU alum and 1984 women's gold medalist in the 400m hurdles, Nawal El Moutawakel (Morocco), a member of the IOC, she is a member of the IOC executive committee, and one of the vice presidents of that committee.
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Yeah, she was also head of the evaluation committee deciding on locations for two Olympic games including the 2016 games which Chicago was trying to get and ended up one of four finalist locations. I find this kind of interesting since a buddy of mine - a Cyclone - runs one of the Chicago facilities that would have hosted events. Too bad he didn't get a chance to take her out for drinks and reminisce about ISU to improve Chicago's rating that was forwarded to the IOC for vote.

And, no, I don't know if El Moutawakel drinks...
 
jbhtexas

jbhtexas

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Oct 20, 2006
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VeloClone said:
Found this through Judoka's link. They seem to think that wrestling is resurging starting with higher participation (highest since 79-80) at the high school level.

Wrestling rebounds in popularity thanks to MMA, grassroots groups - SI.com - Mixed Martial Arts#
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Looking at boys high school wrestling participation from NFHS |

2002/2003 239,845
2003/2004 238,700
2004/2005 243,009
2005/2006 251,534
2006/2007 257,246
2007/2008 259,688
2008/2009 267,378
2009/2010 272,890
2010/2011 273,732
2011/2012 272,149

Definitely an increase in high school participation from a decade ago, but the growth seems to have hit a plateau...
 
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Clone83

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Mar 25, 2006
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VeloClone said:
Yeah, she was also head of the evaluation committee deciding on locations for two Olympic games including the 2016 games which Chicago was trying to get and ended up one of four finalist locations. I find this kind of interesting since a buddy of mine - a Cyclone - runs one of the Chicago facilities that would have hosted events. Too bad he didn't get a chance to take her out for drinks and reminisce about ISU to improve Chicago's rating that was forwarded to the IOC for vote.

And, no, I don't know if El Moutawakel drinks...
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Sure, get her liquored up, VeloClone, that's the answer. :tongue:

Also, I didn't see her at Beyer *all* the time but I remember seeing her there and around campus a fair amount. In that FT article she describes how winning Olympic gold was a huge deal in her life, as it would be, but she was already a huge deal in the NCAAs and well known on campus by then. I recall her in the weight room doing sit ups on the adjustable incline on those Universal machines (wow!). It settled in my mind whether it is best to do them faster, or extremely slow -- as argued by one of my buddies who was more experienced hoisting a few cold ones, and keeping in mind that this was pretty much pre-crunch, pre-exercise ball, or the stone age as far as exercise science goes.

From visual memory, I think I might also describe to her her winter coat.

I also recall 1984 Olympic gold medalist and Cyclone assistant coach Ed Banach training and mentoring 1988 Olympic bronze medalist Nate Carr.

Coach Jackson too, but at the college level, and as KJ would have been with teammates, part of a larger (and national team champion) group. (KJ would later win Olympic gold in 1992.)
 
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Clonefan94

Clonefan94

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Oct 18, 2006
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Dopey said:
If they even wrestled at all. What's the ultimate goal for these talented, driven athletes? Instead of winning an olympic gold, it may become making the NFL...

It will be interesting to see how/if this affects high school wrestling and recruiting in the years to come.
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It's all about the colleges, imo. IF colleges keep wrestling, then it's doubtful it will change much at the high school level. I wrested in high school, I didn't do it for Olympic dreams though, it was because I liked the sport. It was a great way to stay in shape for football in the off season without flat out forcing myself to workout on my own. (sports were a lot different when I went to school, you didn't pick a sport, then train for that all year long like it seems so many do now) Heck, in a lot of ways I could see wrestling being that refuge for kids who would play football, but start to get worried about the collisions and damage to the body. Hell, I wish I was still wrestling today, what a great way to stay in shape.
 
R

ricochet

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If they want to cut sports from the Olympics the first 4 on my list are Tennis, Golf, Soccer, and Basketball. My rule would be ask the people who participate in the sport if they could pick one title to win what would it be. If the answer isn't an Olympic title (eg. Wimbledon, The Masters, World Cup, NBA title, etc.) then their sports are gone. Don't even get me started on the absurdity of some people wanting Football (American style) in the Olympics. But I probably have an overly romantic/naive view of the Olympics.
 
iahawkhunter

iahawkhunter

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Apr 17, 2010
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ricochet said:
If they want to cut sports from the Olympics the first 4 on my list are Tennis, Golf, Soccer, and Basketball. My rule would be ask the people who participate in the sport if they could pick one title to win what would it be. If the answer isn't an Olympic title (eg. Wimbledon, The Masters, World Cup, NBA title, etc.) then their sports are gone. Don't even get me started on the absurdity of some people wanting Football (American style) in the Olympics. But I probably have an overly romantic/naive view of the Olympics.
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I kind of like this criteria.
 
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