What forces the United States to play catch-up against most of the world in Greco-Roman wrestling? U.S. national Greco coach Steve Fraser said the answer to that question is very simple.
“You wrestle a Russian who has been doing Greco-Roman full-time since he was six years old … and you didn’t really start to wrestle Greco full-time until you are 21 years old,” Fraser said. “A lot of kids wrestle some Greco when they are younger, but not consistently enough where they really get a feel for it. The U.S. doesn’t have a Greco developmental system.”
Even with that obstacle to overcome, the Americans have done very well in recent World and Olympic competitions, especially in the 2000 Olympics where Rulon Gardner won a gold medal, Matt Lindland claimed a silver and Garrett Lowney brought home a bronze.
This year’s World Championships was the exception when the U.S. was shut out in the medal race at a major international meet for the first time since 1999.
Americans wrestle folkstyle beginning with kids’ tournaments and continue all the way through college.
“Wrestling folkstyle is the only way they can get a scholarship to get their college education,” Fraser said. “And a lot of college coaches discourage those guys from wrestling Greco in the spring and summer while they are in college.”
Fraser said top Greco prospects now have an opportunity to wrestle Greco full-time while on a college scholarship.
Northern Michigan University, in conjunction with USA Wrestling, now offers 25 Greco wrestlers a full athletic scholarship for college. Top Greco athletes who are in high school are recruited to attend that school.
Harry Lester, a top young Greco prospect, is among the athletes taking part in the program at Northern Michigan. The program is in its fourth year.
“This is a huge step for the development of our Greco athletes,” Fraser said. “They recruit kids out of high school. The athletes are trained to wrestle at the international level. They compete in a number of tournaments and they go on an international tour. It is a full-time Greco program with a full-time Greco coach.”
Fraser said many athletes who have started wrestling Greco after college, including Gardner, have eventually thrived as resident athletes at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
“Mike Houck, who was the U.S. National coach at the time, called Rulon after he was done with his college career at Nebraska and talked him into wrestling in a Greco tournament,” Fraser said. “Rulon was very reluctant to try Greco. At first he said, ‘What’s Greco?’ Seven years later, he beat Alexander Karelin to win the Olympics.
“Rulon has only wrestled Greco 10 years and he won the Olympics at the seven-year mark. That is pretty remarkable.”
Making the transition from folkstyle to freestyle is not as difficult, Fraser said, as moving from folkstyle to Greco.
“I think that is pretty obvious,” he said. “The summer after Stephen Neal won an NCAA title he won a World Champion-ship in freestyle. Plus (Cael) Sanderson and (Stephen) Abas made World teams when they were still in college.”
Fraser said USA Wrestling has taken steps to help American Greco wrestlers excel.
They include:
• An international training camp in Colorado Springs every month of the year to give Americans more exposure to foreign competitors. Cuba, Finland and Sweden are among the countries who have taken part;
• Winter tours where athletes travel for two to three weeks and wrestle around 20 matches against foreign opponents;
• An extensive scouting and education video system where the team learns techniques and can scout opponents;
• A strong resident program, along with an experienced group of coaches.
“I am very confident and very excited about our potential,” he said. “I think we can be the very best Greco-Roman program in the world. It’s not easy, but we are still up for the challenge.”



• This story appears in the Annual College Preview issue of Wrestling International Newsmagazine. To subscribe to Wrestling International Magazine, call 1-888-305-0606 or by e-mail at info@win-magazine.com. W.I.N. publishes 12 times per year for an annual second class mailing rate of $29.95. The first-class subscription rate is $47.95.