Left Hungry in Hungary
Men's freestyle has worst World effort in 30 years
Most of the U.S. freestyle world team and its coaches left Hungary the last week of September with a bitter taste in their mouth after not achieving most of their goals.
For the Americans had little to be happy about after only two out of seven men’s freestylers —Joe Williams at 163 pounds and heavyweight Tolly Thompson — managed to win a medal and both of those Americans had to settle for bronze.
This marked the first time since 1975, when that American team did not win any medals, that the U.S. failed to capture at least a silver medal.
“All of our guys were prepared,” said Williams, who was among four Americans who were at least 30 years old. “A lot of people might look at this and say the freestyle team ought to do well. We came prepared. We wrestled against the best guys in the world. Here, one mistake will cost you the match. Our guys were in situations to win matches. Our coaches did their jobs, as did the athletes. We put together a great coaching staff.”
Most of the American setbacks came after their opponents forced the action, including:
Chris Bono lost his only match at 145.5 pounds to Canada’s Evan MacDonald when Bono was twice pushed out of bounds with s
econds remaining in each period;Williams lost his semifinal match to Hungary’s Arpad Ritter when Williams stepped out of bounds;
Mo Lawal lost a controversial 185-pound quarterfinal match to 2003 world champ Sazhid Sazhidov of Russia when Lawal was penalized for fleeing the mat with one second remaining in the match. Lawal was leading.
“When you don’t accomplish goals, it is disappointing,” said U.S. coach Mike Duroe. “They trained hard; they competed hard. I am not disappointed in the effort or the commitment. I’m disappointed in the result.”
55K/121 pounds
Nothing was easy for Sammie Henson (St. Louis, Mo./Sunkist Kids) from the beginning of the Worlds as he was forced to rally to a 2-3, 2-0, 4-0 first-round victory over Lithuania’s Vytas Cumakov, who won the first period on a single-leg takedown and two-point leg turk. Henson forced a third period by scoring on a pushout and single leg in the first 46 seconds of the second period, then dominated Cumakov in the final period by scoring his final two points on a leg turk.
In Henson’s second-round loss (1-1, 7-0) with Russia’s Zalimkhan Kutseev, Henson got off to a good start by scoring a takedown in the first 30 seconds. But the young Russian won the first period when he scored a takedown with 12 seconds left. That momentum helped Kutseev in the second period as he tallied a takedown in the first six seconds before adding six more points over the next 48 seconds on a pair of gut wrenches.
The loss really upset Henson. Later, he saw his chance to medal end when Kutseev lost a quarterfinal match to Namik Abdullaev of Azebajdan.
“I just woke up this morning and didn’t feel it,” Henson said. “I was tired. That guy is a good wrestler, but he’s not in my league. Sammie Henson wasn’t there today. What are you going to say? I am mad. I have three kids and a family.”
60K/132 pounds
Michael Lightner (Norman, Okla./Sunkist Kids) was competing in his first world championship but did not appear overwhelmed as the former Oklahoma Sooner national champion won the first period of his first-round match with Tevfik Odabasi of Turkey, 2-0, on a single-leg takedown and pushout with 30 seconds remaining.
The Turk then forced a third period when he was able to push Lightner out of the circle with just seven seconds remaining in the second period. Once in the final period, Odabasi controlled the action and scored four points; the first two coming off a crotch lift with 26 seconds gone.
“I don’t feel like (Odabasi) did anything,” Lightner said. “I was in on his leg. I got beat with my own technique. I didn’t react on my finish quite enough. At the end, the rest of the points were scored on me forcing attacks. It is going to be hard to swallow. I beat myself, hesitating on a shot.
“I was ready to go physically and mentally. I felt I went out there and was in control. Coach (Kevin) Jackson preaches it all the time. Don’t let him score on your technique. I let him score on my technique.”
This would be Lightner’s only match in Budapest after Odabasi lost a second-round match to the eventual silver medalist Yandro Quintana of Cuba.
“It has been a good experience,” said Lightner, a 27-year-old resident of Norman, Okla. “I have gotten better. I have grown as a wrestler. I am disappointed it ended this way. I had higher expectations and my family had higher expectations. I’ve been knocked down before. I will be back.”
66K/145.5 pounds
Chris Bono (Gilbert, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) lost his only match of the tournament to Canada’s Evan McDonald, 1-1, 1-1, but must have felt like he was wrestling Peat and Repeat because both periods of this first-round match were nearly identical. In the first period, Bono led 1-0 on a single leg with 1:06 gone before MacDonald tallied the deciding point by pushing Bono out of the circle with four seconds remaining. Then in the second period, Bono led again on a takedown with 1:20 gone, only to give up another deciding point to MacDonald, who once again pushed Bono out with just one second remaining.
“I made two of the biggest mistakes in my life,” said Bono about the two last-second pushouts. “Those were things I worked in camp. I let my coaches down. They had me ready. I felt great. I didn’t do the things we practiced. I played defense instead of building my lead and wrestling. I didn’t stay aggressive. I should have gone for another point. I played defense and it cost me.”
Bono was eliminated from medal contention when MacDonald lost a quarterfinal match to Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakh-stan.
“I still feel like I can win this tournament,” Bono said. “To do that, you have to wrestle mistake free. I didn’t do that. I was ready. I blew it, everything I worked for.”
66K/163 pounds
In the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Olympics, Joe Williams (Ames, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) lost his chance at a gold medal when he respectively failed to score off a clinch and then was penalized for stepping out in his match in Athens.
Both those things happened in his semifinal loss to Hungary’s Arpad Ritter, who won the first period four seconds into overtime when he scored off a clinch, then earned the deciding point of the second period when Williams stepped out of bounds with 41 seconds left in the period.
“Joe let the match go to the clinch,” said national team coach Kevin Jackson. “We can’t allow it to go to the clinch and give away points. They replayed the point in the second period on video. They had a better view. I am pretty sure Joe stepped out on the edge.”
Before the loss to Ritter, Williams pretty much dominated his first three opponents, even though he did not score that many points. After blanking Japan’s Kunihiko Obata, 2-0, 4-0, Williams then edged Ahmet Gulhan of Turkey, 1-0, 1-0 and Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan, 0-1, 1-0, 1-0. Three of the five periods against Gulhan and Tigiev went to overtime and Williams won two of those OTs, including the final period against Tigiev, who was unable to score from the clinch advantage in 30 seconds.
Williams became more offensive in his bronze medal victory over Alexandru Burca of Muldova, 3-0, 0-3, 3-1, even though the three points he scored in the victorious periods came of just two moves: both exploding double-leg takedowns.
“Anytime you don’t reach your goals, it is tough,” Williams said. “You get the courage to go for the next best thing. A tournament like this, you wrestle for the best place possible. With the great coaches we have, it was easier to get up for the bronze medal match.”
Williams, who will turn 31 on Nov. 26, is unsure what he will do next after competing in his fifth world championship.
“I need to take some time and re-evaluate a lot of things,” said Williams, who also earned a bronze medal at the 2001 Worlds in Sofia, Bulgaria.
84K/185 pounds
Mo Lawal (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) knew that he would have a tough battle with 2003 world champion Sazhid Sazhidov of Russia in their quarterfinal match.
But in the end of his 1-0, 0-1, 1-1 loss to the Russian, Lawal also felt that he was battling the officials. The deciding point of the match came when he was penalized for fleeing the mat with just one second remaining in the third period. Lawal, who won the second period when he pushed out Sazhidov with one second remaining, was leading 1-0 in the final period after scoring a takedown at the 1:15 mark.
“I beat him,” Lawal said. “He knows I won. Their coaches know I won. He couldn’t look me in the face. That was the only call like that in the whole tournament. But that was my fault. Coach (Tom) Brands, (Kevin) Jackson and (John) Smith told me that if I had the lead, I had to attack. I failed to do that. I was in the yellow part of the mat. It happens to everybody once in awhile, I guess.”
“It is hard enough to score points without the refs giving away points,” said Jackson. “That was unbelievable.”
“It was a dogfight there,” Lawal said. “That was one emotional match. I want to lose to the best. He wrestled the best. He got one on me. The refs helped out. What goes around comes around. I am disappointed and angry at myself. I can’t blame anybody but myself. Except for the first period, I wrestled a good match. I just don’t know.”
Lawal was eliminated from medal contention when Sazhidov was defeated by Georgia’s Revaz Mindorashvilli in the semifinals.
Lawal reached the quarterfinals by blitzing through his first two opponents; pinning Ibrahim Al Khatib (Libya) in 22 seconds; and a 6-0, 1-0 victory over Ruslan Sumenkov of Kyrgyzstan.
96K/211.5 pounds
Daniel Cormier (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC) has the explosive ability to overcome many disadvantages but the former Oklahoma State Cowboy did not have enough weapons in his arsenal to overcome a bear hug in his 2-1, 8-1 loss to Aleksei Krupnykov of Kyrgyzstan in a second-round match at 211.5 pounds.
Krupnykov stunned Cormier in the second period of their match when the hug put Cormier on his back and gave Krupnykov a 4-0 lead just 33 seconds into the period. Krupnykov then built the lead to 5-1 when he caught Cormier for three more points on a double overhook throw with 24 seconds remaining.
“You have to try things when you get behind,” said Cormier, who was eliminated when Krupnykov lost to Georgia’s Eldar Kurtanidze in a semifinal match. “I had to go for it. I couldn’t get it done. I didn’t wrestle well, no ifs or buts about it. The best in the world wrestle like the best in the world every time. I didn’t wrestle the best in the world. I lost. I don’t think he will get through. I felt good. I just didn’t wrestle. You can’t not wrestle and expect to win.”
“Daniel got into a hole and had to wrestle back hard,” said U.S. coach Joe Seay. “He had to gamble. He had nothing to lose. He was going for the win. You have to give that to him.”
Cormier reached the second round when he defeated Peter Pecha of Slovakia, 4-0, 3-0, on five takedowns and a two-point gut wrench.
120K/264.5 pounds
Tolly Thompson (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) obviously hadn’t scripted losing his first-round match to Aydin Polatci of Turkey, 1-0, 0-1, 5-1, in which the deciding points in the third period came on a front headlock by the Turk. But the American heavyweight knew he needed to stay focused as he could still have a chance at a medal.
“The tournament isn’t over in my weight class,” said Thompson, who waited nearly eight years to compete in a world championship after injuries ended his only other opportunity in 1998. “My tournament isn’t over.”
Thompson was right as the Turk reached the finals and Thompson, after a six-hour wait, to the consolation round.
Once there, Thompson defeated Vadim Tasoev of Ukraine, 3-1, 4-1, and pinned Rares Chintoan of Romania in 47 seconds, to reach the bronze medal match against Russia’s Kuramagomed Kuramagomedov, a former gold medal winner in 1997.
Thompson defeated Kuramogomedov, 1-0, 1-0, by scoring a pair of pushouts in each period.
Thompson later announced that he had dedicated the medal to his grandfather, Alvin Thompson, who died last May. The bronze medal also provided a positive note to the freestyle team in Budapest.
“We are a tight team,” Thompson said. “We spent all summer training together. Team USA is tight. We didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but we support each other.”
(This story was compiled from on-site reports from TheMat.com.)
(You can read this and other articles by subscribing to W.I.N. Magazine. Either contact our office at 1-888-305-0606 or subscribe through this website by selecting the “Subscribe” section on our front page.)