NO HOLDS BARRED

It is just about here. On Sunday, August 5, wrestling will commence at the 2012 London Olympics and continue every day through Sunday, August 12, the last day of these Summer Olympic Games. The competition will be held in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, with seven sets of medals being awarded in Greco, seven in men's freestyle, and four in women's freestyle.

This action, the pinnacle for the sport of wrestling, takes place at the ExCeL Centre, the largest competition venue at the London 2012 Games.

For many years now, USA Wrestling has organized a poll of international wrestling journalists to predict the gold medal winners, in which I have participated. The main purpose is not to have our own wrestling media Olympics, but to spark interest and discussion about the world's oldest sport. It is in this light that I post my predictions. Although they undoubtedly include many incorrect picks, they are based on studying the records of the wrestlers involved and adding in the effects of the human factors, which make such predictions both fascinating and frustrating.

Here, in all 18 wrestling events, are my gold medal picks:


Greco-Roman

55 kg - Jung-Baek Lee (Korea)

60 kg - Omid Noroozi (Iran)

66 kg - Saeid Mourad Abdvali (Iran)

74 kg - Roman Vlasov (Russia)

84 kg - Alan Khugaev (Russia)

96 kg - Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia)

120 kg - Mijian Lopez (Cuba)


Women's Freestyle

48 kg - Hitomi Obara Sakamoto (Japan)

55 kg - Saori Yoshida (Japan)

63 kg - Kaori Icho (Japan)

72 kg - Stanka Zlateva Hristova (Bulgaria)


Men's Freestyle

55 kg - Dyamal Sultanovich Otarsultanov (Russia)

60 kg - Franklin Gomez (Puerto Rico)

66 kg - Mehdi Taghavi Kermani (Iran)

74 kg - Jordan Burroughs (USA)

84 kg - Sharif Sharifov (Azerbaijan)

96 kg - Abdusalam Gadisov (Russia)

120 kg - Beylal Makhov (Russia)