| 2012 Olympic Wrestling Tournament Preview - Greco-Roman by Mike Finn, Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine 55 kilos / 121 pounds (Competition held August 5) U.S. Entry: Spenser Mango, 25, St. Louis, Mo. This marks the fifth straight year Mango will represent the U.S. on the world stage. A graduate of the United States Olympics Education Center in Marquette, Mich., his best finish since came in the 2008 Olympics where he finished eighth in Beijing. In those Games, Mango defeated Romania’s Virgil Munteanu before losing to eventual bronze medalist Eun-Chui Park of Korea. Since then, Mango has competed in every World Championship, highlighted by a ninth-place finish in 2009 in Herning, Denmark. In that event, Mango opened with a win over Estonia’s Anar Zeinalov before losing to World champion Hamid Soryan of Iran. In the consolation bracket, Mango defeated Spain’s Joaquim Abellan before losing to Turkey’s Erhan Karakus. In the last two Worlds, Mango failed to win a match; falling to Russia’s World champ Nazir Mankiev in 2010 and to Arsen Eraliev of Kyrgyzstan in 2011. But Mango, whose younger brother Ryan is a junior All-American at Stanford, made a major change in his life in 2011 when he joined the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program and is stationed in Colorado Springs, Colo. Top Contenders • Hamid Sorian, Iran — The 27-year-old wrestler has won five World Championships (2005, ’06, ’07, ’09 and 2010), but failed to place in his only other Olympics in 2008, when the Iranian claimed fifth place; losing to eventual gold medalist Nazir Mankiev in the quarters and to Eun-Chul Park of Korea in the bronze medal match. • Nazir Mankiev, Russia — The 2008 Olympic champion has competed in just one World-level event since claiming gold in Beijing: the 27-year-old finished third in the 2010 Worlds, where he defeated Spenser Mango of the U.S. in a first-round match. In claiming gold in 2008, Mankiev won all five matches, including a quarterfinal bout again Iran’s Hamid Sorian. • Royshan Bayramov, Azerbaijan — The 25-year-old World champion is expected to compete in his second Olympics; falling to Nazir Mankiev of Russian in the 2008 gold medal match. Bayramov, whose first World Championship experience came in 2005, has medaled in three Worlds — silver in 2006, bronze in 2009 and gold in 2011, when he defeated Elbek Tazhyiev of Belarus in the championship. • Roman Amoyan, Armenia — The 28-year-old has competed in one Olympics (2008) and six other World Championships (2003, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’09, ’10); earning a bronze medal at Beijing four years ago before claiming a silver medal in 2009 and a bronze in 2010. 60 kilos / 132 pounds (Competition held August 6) U.S. Entry: Ellis Coleman, 20, Oak Park, Ill. Ellis Coleman won a pair of Junior World bronze medals before qualifying for her first Olympics at 132 pounds in Greco. This marks the first World-level competition that Coleman, a student at the USOEC at Northern Michigan, will compete in the Senior division. But the former prep star from River Forest High School in Oak Park has made a name for himself the past two years by finishing third in the Junior Worlds and for creating an internet sensation for his “flying squirrel” moved he displayed last summer. In a quarterfinal win over Mehdi Zeidvand of Iran, Coleman literally jumped over the head off his opponent and as he was moving head first into the mat, Coleman locked his arms around Zeidvand’s waste and reverse lifted the Iranian to his back for a five-point move. Coleman unfortunately lost his 2011 World semifinal to Ion Luchita of Moldavia before coming back to beat Florin Mocanu of Romania for third place. One year earlier Coleman also took home the bronze despite losing a first-round bout to Chingiz Labazanov of Russia before coming back to win three straight consolation matches. Note: The United States did not qualify this weight class for the 2008 Olympics. At this year’s Olympic Trials, Coleman defeated both Jeremiah Davis, the 2009 and 2010 World Team member, and Joe Betterman, who competed in the 2011 Worlds. Top Contenders • Omid Noroozi, Iran — Noroozi has represented his country in the last three World Championships and medaled in just one: claiming gold in last year’s Worlds, where he defeated Almat Kebispayev in the championship match. In his two other Worlds, the 26-year-old finished tenth in 2009 and ninth in 2010. • Zaur Kuramagomedov, Russia — The 24-year-old has competed in two Worlds since joining the Senior circuit in 2007; finishing 15th in 2010 and third in 2011; losing in the second round of both tournaments to Noroozi). • Almat Kebispayev, Kazahkstan — The 25-year-old has competed in two Worlds and medaled in both; earning bronze in 2010 and silver in 2011. His only loss in five bouts two years ago came to Hasan Aliyev, before winning four more matches in last year’s Worlds where his only loss came in the finals to Noroozi. 66 kilos / 145.5 pounds (Competition held August 7) U.S. Entry: Justin Lester, 28, Akron, Ohio Despite winning two World bronze medals and competing in the 2011 Worlds, this marks the first Olympics for Lester, who used to go by the middle name of Harry before he temporarily “retired” from the sport for one year after losing to Jake Deitchler in the 2008 Olympic Trials. Lester, a former four-time Ohio state champion at Cuyahoga Falls Valley Christian Academy, originally planned on wrestling folkstyle at Iowa State in 2004 before deciding to focus on Greco-Roman wrestling. He was one of the first wrestlers to attend the United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette, Mich. After finishing sixth in the 2004 Olympic Trials, Lester would compete in five World Championships, finishing third in both 2006 and 2007. At the 2006 Worlds in Guangzhou, China, Lester lost a second-round match to Kanatbeck Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan, but came back to win three straight consolation bouts, including a bronze medal match over Seref Eroglu of Turkey. One year later in Baku Azerbaijan, Lester won four straight matches before losing to Farid Mansurov of Azerbaijan. He topped Tamas Loerincz of Hungary for third place. Now a member of the Army’s WCAP, Lester also competed in 2005 and 2009 (wrestling at 163 pounds that September) but failed to win a bout … before qualifying for the 2011 Worlds, where he finished fifth at 145.5 pounds. In last year’s Worlds, Lester won his first four bouts — including a quarterfinal match against Begaliev, before losing a semifinal to Manukhar Tskhadaia of Georgia and the bronze medal bout to Pedro Herrera of Cuba. Top Contenders • Saeid Abdvali, Iran — The Iranian is just 21 years old and has competed in two World Championships; losing in the second round in 2010 … before winning a gold medal last September in Istanbul, Turkey, where he won all five bouts, including a gold medal match against Georgia’s Manukhar Tskhadaia, who defeated Lester in the semis. • Armen Vardanyan, Ukraine — This marks the third Olympic Games for the 29-year-old, who finished fifth in 2004 — winning two of three bouts — before capturing a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics, where he eliminated American Jake Deitchler in consolation after losing to Kanatbek Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan. The Ukrainian has wrestled in six different World Championships and earned two medals: silver in both 2003 and 2010 (when he beat another U.S. wrestler, Faruk Sahin, in the quarterfinals). • Vitaly Rahimov, Azerbaijan — This is the third Olympic appearance for the 27-year-old, who competed at 132 pounds in 2004 — splitting two bouts in Athens — and 2008, when he earned a silver medal in Beijing. Before moving up to 145.5 pounds in the 2010 Worlds — where he earned a bronze medal — Rahimov also competed in four other Worlds, but never placed. 74 kilos / 163 pounds (Competition held August 5) U.S. Entry: Ben Provisor, 21, Stevens Point, Wisc. Not only is this the first Olympics for the former Wisconsin native — who failed to win a state championship for Stevens Point High School, where his highest finish was third — this marks the first time Provisor has competed in such an international event. Before Provisor defeated Aaron Sieracki for this spot on the U.S. team at the Olympic Trials in April, four different Americans qualified the past four years: T.C. Dantzler at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, Justin Lester (the 2012 Olympian at 145.5 pounds) at the 2009 Worlds, Jake Fisher at the 2010 Worlds and Andrew Bisek at the 2011 Worlds. Together this group combined to win just win one of six matches. Provisor, who attends the USOEC in Marquette, Mich., nearly earned a spot on the 2011 U.S. World Team but lost in the finals to Bisek. Earlier that year, Provisor won the 2011 U.S. Open. Coached by former World and Olympic wrestler Dennis Hall, who also hailed from Stevens Point, Provisor managed just a fourth-place finish in the 2012 U.S. Open. Top Contenders • Selcuk Cebi, Turkey — This marks just the first Olympics for the 30-year-old Turk, who has won three World medals, all in the past three years: gold in 2009 and 2010 and a silver in 2011. • Roman Vlasov, Russia — The 22-year-old Russian ended the two-year World championship run of Cebi in last year’s Worlds in Istanbul. One year earlier, Vlasov won a gold medal at the Junior Worlds. • Arsen Julfalakyan, Armenia — The 25-year-old also competed in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where he split two bouts and claimed tenth place. Since then, he has wrestled in two World meets; claiming a silver in 2010 and a bronze in 2011. His only losses in those two Worlds came against Cebi. 84 kilos / 185 pounds (Competition held August 6) U.S. Entry: Chas Betts, 25, St. Michael, Minn. Competing in his first Olympics, the former Minnesota state champion (2004) for St. Michael-Albertville High School has competed in one World Championship (2009) and actually qualified this weight class for the U.S. in this spring’s Pan-Am Games. At the 2009 Worlds in Herning, Denmark, Betts lost his only bout to Finland’s Antti Hakala. Since then, Betts finished second at the 2010 World Team Trials — Jake Clark represented the U.S at those Worlds and finished 11th — then claimed third in the 2011 World Team Trials as Cheyney Haight went 0-1 for the U.S. last September in Istanbul, Turkey. (Brad Vering competed for the U.S. in the 2008 Olympics and split two bouts.) On the Junior level, Betts competed at the 2005 Worlds and finished ninth. Top Contenders • Nazmi Avluca, Turkey — The Turk, who will turn 36 this November, has competed in three previous Olympics; finished 13th at 163 pounds in both 1996 and 2000 before earning a bronze medal at the 2008 Games in Beijing, where his only loss came to Hungarian Zolton Fodor in the semifinals. Avluca’s first World tournament came in 1995 and has earned six medals: gold in 1999 and 2009, silver in 2006, and bronze in 1998 and 2005 and 2011. • Alim Selimov, Belarus — The 29-year-old won his first World championship last September, nearly six years after also winning a gold medal at the 2005 Worlds. This is his first Olympic experience. • Pablo Shorey Hernandez, Cuba — Now 28, this Cuban has dominated his country’s line-up since 2009 when he appeared in the first of three World Championships. He has medaled in two: earning a bronze in 2009 — when he lost a first-round match to Avluca before winning three consolation bouts — and a silver in 2010 — when he beat Avluca but lost to Bulgarian Hristo Marinov in the finals. In last year’s Worlds, the Cuban split two matches and failed to medal. 120 kilos / 264.5 pounds (Competition held August 6) U.S. Entry: Dremiel Byers, 37, Kings Mountain, N.C. Many consider this the final go-around for the three-time World medalist who has a force at this weight class for the U.S. over the past 12 years. Even though Rulon Gardner grabbed international headlines at the 2000 Olympics — where he upset Russia’s Alexander Karelin — and in the 2004 Games in Athens where he earned a bronze medal — Byers has been a mainstay at this weight as well. This started in 1999 — when he earned the first of ten U.S. Opens and competed in his first of nine World/Olympic tournaments — and was highlighted by a gold medal in the 2002 Worlds., He also won a silver at the 2009 Worlds and bronze medal at the 2007 Worlds. Byers, a member of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program, also represented the U.S. in the 2008 Olympics, where he won two of three bouts to finish seventh. He earned a silver medal at the 2009 Worlds after he lost to Cuba’s Mijain Lopez Nunez in the finals. He reached the quarterfinals of the 2010 Worlds, but then was defeated. In last year’s Worlds, Byers lost his only match to two-time World bronze medal to Nurmakhan Tinaliev of Kazahkstan. Top Contenders • Mijain Lopez, Cuba — The 29-year-old has appeared in every World and Olympic competition since 2001 and medaled in seven. In his two Olympic tournaments, Lopez finished fifth in Athens in 2004, where he lost to Russian gold medalist Khassan Baroev, before claiming gold in Beijing where he beat Baroev. Lopez won his first of four World Championships in 2005 before adding titles in 2007, 2009 and 2010. Lopez settled for silver in the 2011 Worlds where he lost to Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp. • Riza Kayaalp (Turkey) — Just 22 years old, this Turk enters his second Olympics with three consecutive World titles, including a gold-medal performance last September in his home country’s capitol of Istanbul. This came after Kayaalp collected a pair of bronze medals in 2009 and 2010. In his only other Olympics, Kayaalp lost his only bout to Lithuanian Mindaugas Mizgaitis. • Nurmakhan Tinaliev, Kazahkstan — The 23-year-old first appeared on the World stage on the Senior level in 2009 when he lost his only bout. He followed that with a pair of bronze medals in 2010 — when he beat Baroev but lost to Lopez — and 2011 — when he beat Dremiel Byers in the first round. |
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