We’ll begin this preview of Day 3 as we will all future previews, with a link back to our Olympics Wrestling primer, which has a cheat sheet and live stream details.
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 the tournament) is a fool’s errand. Which is perhaps why I find it so much fun.
Greco-Roman 66kg
PICKS
GOLD: Islam-Beka Albiev RUS
SILVER: Frank Staebler GER
BRONZE: Omid Noroozi IRI
BRONZE: Ryu Hansu KOR
CONTENDERS
Some people say this is the deepest weight in the Olympics. Others (me) say, when in doubt, pick the Russian to win. However, Staebler is the returning world champ, a rarity for Germany, and don’t be suprised to see him at the top of the podium. Iran’s Noroozi won gold in London, and although he hasn’t been as effective lately, the Iranians know how to get their team in top shape for the big show. South Korea’s Ryu Hansu has a gold and silver world medal and a gold and bronze from the Asian Championships, which I know because I just looked it up on wikipedia.
OTHERS OF NOTE
American RaVaughn Perkins came *this* close to qualifying but will have to wait until Tokyo to make his Olympic debut. Another gold medal threat that can’t be ignored is Azerbaijan’s Rasul Chunayev, known for his acrobatic back arching throws and victory folk dances. The only question mark is if Chunayev will be able to handle the weight cut from 71kg.
RANKINGS
1 GER Frank STAEBLER
2 HUN Tamas LORINCZ
3 KOR Hansu RYU
4 RUS Islam-Beka ALBIEV
6 SRB Davor STEFANEK
8 ARM Migran ARUTYUNYAN
9 CUB Miguel MARTINEZ
10 GEO Shmagi BOLKVADZE
11 ALG Tarek BENAISSA
14 ROU Ion PANAIT
16 LTU Edgaras VENCKAITIS
18 IRI Omid NOROOZI
AZE Rasul CHUNAYEV
EGY Adham KAHK
FIN Tero VAELIMAEKI
JPN Tomohiro INOUE
KGZ Ruslan TSAREV
NZL Craig MILLER
VEN Alexander TORRES
Greco-Roman 98kg
PICKS
GOLD: Artur Aleksanyan ARM
SILVER: Ghasem Rezaei IRI
BRONZE: Islam Magomedov RUS
BRONZE: Cenk Ildem TUR
CONTENDERS
Artur the Armenian is the defending champ and has rarely been challenged this Olympic cycle. The only guy to beat him, Russia’s Nikita Melnikov, is staying home. In his place is European Games champ Islam Magomedov. Iran’s Rezaei won gold in London as well as three other world medals. Cenk Ildem is a dark horse candidate who punched his ticket to Rio on home soil in Istanbul to the thunderous approval of the crowd, whilst “Koca Yusef” blasted on the arena sound system.
OTHERS OF NOTE
No Americans qualified for this weight either, so this will be a day of wrestling with no United Statesians. But there will be plenty of other quality wrestlers to watch. Like Balasz Kiss from Hungary because come on, you can’t expect me to let that name go by without mentioning it.
RANKINGS
2 ARM Artur ALEKSANYAN
3 IRI Ghasem REZAEI
4 RUS Islam MAGOMEDOV
6 TUR Cenk ILDEM
8 CUB Yasmany LUGO
9 UKR Dimitriy TIMCHENKO
10 ITA Daigoro TIMONCINI
11 CHN Di XIAO
14 BLR Tsimafei DZEINICHENKA
15 HUN Balazs KISS
16 EST Ardo ARUSAAR
17 SWE Carl SCHOEN
19 ROU Alin ALEXUC-CIURARIU
20 VEN Luillys PEREZ
ALG Hemza HALOUI
BUL Elis GURI
EGY Hamdy ABDELWAHAB
GEO Revazi NADAREISHVILI
IND Hardeep HARDEEP
AND NOW FOR A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME
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