*Karelin again at center stage in Olympic wrestling*
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By Peter Spadora 
SportsTicker Staff Writer 

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The question of who is the
most dominant athlete in professional sports can be answered
with different names and can be debated for several hours. 

However, the question of who is the most dominant athlete in the
2000 Summer Olympics can be answered quickly and without much
debate. 

Greco-Roman super heavyweight Alexander Karelin of Russia has
never lost a match in the Olympics or international competition
since winning his first gold medal in the 1988 Games at Seoul. 

The 33-year-old Karelin and Alexander Medved of the former
Soviet Union are the only wrestlers ever to win three gold
medals. 

Karelin had a memorable final match in the 1996 Games at
Atlanta, winning a hard-fought 1-0 decision over 38-year-old
Matt Ghaffari of the United States. 

After the match, Ghaffari cried on the medal stand because he
felt he let his country down.  He had been looking toward a
possible rematch with Karelin but lost two out of three matches
to Rulon Gardner in the U.S. Trials. 

Karelin is a national hero and was elected to the State Duma
lower house as a representative of Novosibirsk, Siberia.  He did
not have a point scored against him in five matches in Atlanta
and is an overwhelming favorite again in possibly his last
Olympics. 

If not for Karelin being such a phenom, light heavyweight
Andrzej Wronski of Poland probably would be the most notable
Greco-Roman wrestler, having captured gold medals in the Seoul
and Atlanta Olympics. 

Wronski's countrymen Wlodziemierz Zawadzki (featherweight) and
Ryzsard Wolny (lightweight) also won gold medals in Atlanta. 

Other returning Greco-Roman gold medal winners include Korean
Sim Kwon Ho (flyweight), Yuri Melnitchenko of Kazakhstan
(bantamweight), Filiberto Azcuy of Cuba (lightweight) and Hamza
Yerlikaya of Turkey (middleweight). 

The United States has not experienced a great deal of success in
Greco-Roman wrestling.  No American had ever medaled in the
discipline until super heavyweight Jeff Blatnick overcame
Hodgkin's disease to capture the gold in the 1984 Los Angeles
Games. 

Along with Ghaffari, Brandon Paulson (flyweight) and Dennis Hall
(bantamweight) also claimed silver medals in Atlanta.  However
neither is on this year's team. 

Twenty-year-old Garrett Lowney (light heavyweight) won a spot on
the team by defeating Jason Gleasman, a member of the 1996 team,
in the trials. 

Steven Mays (flyweight), Jim Gruenwald (bantamweight), Kevin
Bracken (featherweight), Heath Sims (lightweight), Matt Lindland
(welterweight) and Quincey Clark (middleweight) complete the
U.S. Greco-Roman team. 

Lindland won his position amid great controversy.  Keith
Sieracki had won a third and deciding match against Lindland in
the trials on a referee's decision.  But Lindland disputed the
call, and after a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Seventh Circuit, the decided match was recontested and Lindland
posted an 8-0 victory. 

Americans have just 10 all-time medals in Greco-Roman
competition.  In Greco-Roman wrestling both wrestlers are in the
standing position and only upper-body maneuvers are permitted. 

Most Greco-Roman matches are low-scoring and slow-paced compared
to the other discipline in the Olympics, freestyle. 

In an attempt to inject more offense, a new rule has wrestlers
starting in a standing, clinched position if the first period
ends scoreless.  Both wrestlers will have their hands locked
behind the others back until a move is executed or one's grip is
broken. 

Freestyle is the style more similar to collegiate wrestling in
the U.S. and thus the more popular one among Americans. 

The U.S. team also has a new look with only one Olympian
returning from Atlanta -- light heavyweight Melvin Douglas, the
1993 world champion.  The Americans have amassed 99 medals in
freestyle competition, more than any other nation. 

The most prolific member of the U.S. team, super heavyweight
Bruce Baumgartner, retired after taking a bronze medal in 1996.
Baumgartner is the only American with four medals in wrestling. 

Taking Baumgartner's place is Kerry McCoy, who upset 1999 world
champion Stephen Neal.  McCoy is a former two-time NCAA champion
from Penn State and has bulked up to 250 pounds. 

Bantamweight Terry Brands and featherweight Cary Kolat have big
shoes to fill as they replace gold medalists from Atlanta --
Kendall Cross and Brands' twin brother Tom. 

The U.S. had a third gold medalist in 1996, heavyweight Kurt
Angle, but that weight has been discontinued in freestyle and
Greco-Roman.  Angle parlayed his gold medal into a contract with
the World Wrestling Federation. 

Light flyweight has also been discontinued in both styles. 

Kolat lost close matches to Tom Brands in the 1996 trials and
should continue the American dominance at featherweight.  The
U.S. has won the gold medal at this weight in four consecutive
Olympics.  Current co-head coach John Smith won the gold medal
at this weight in the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympics. 

Sammie Henson (flyweight), Lincoln McIravy (lightweight),
Brandon Slay (welterweight) and Charles Burton (middleweight)
complete the U.S. team. McIlravy is a former NCAA champion at
Iowa. 

Dan Gable, who coached McIlravy at Iowa, joins Smith and Greg
Strobel to give the U.S. three co-head coaches for the first
time.  Gable won a gold medal in the 1972 Munich Games and
coached the 1984 team that won seven gold and two silver medals.

The Greco-Roman competition will be held at the Sydney
Exhibition Center from September 24-27.  The freestyle events
will be in the same arena from September 29-October 1. 

st 09-15-00 05:02 et