In the immediate aftermath of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, sports took a backseat to the rest of the world's issues, and wrestling was no exception.

While Mike Piazza hitting a home run did take our minds off global affairs for a brief moment, a case can be made that the strength of the sport of wrestling has been on the front lines of foreign relations ever since and helping to bridge otherwise insurmountable gaps.

1. The World Championships Were Postponed... Several Times.

Lost in the chaos of a newly post-9/11 world was some amazing wrestling. The 2001 World Championships were supposed to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York on September 26-29. USA Wrestling contacted the governing body (then FILA) about postponing the event but still keeping it in the New York metro area. FILA originally agreed, and the World Championships were to be held in a venue in New Jersey.

The decision to keep the event near NYC was made, in part, as a plan to lure the IOC into selecting New York City as the host site for the 2012 Olympics. Those plans fell through. The 2001 Worlds wound up going through a few different sets of plans that included sites in Las Vegas; Baton Rouge, LA; and some locations on foreign soil. 

It was October before FILA settled on Sofia, Bulgaria, as the site of the 2001 World Championships. By that time, first-year USA head freestyle coach Kevin Jackson was just trying to keep the team motivated. 

I continued to have training camps each month not knowing when the championships would be," said Kevin Jackson. "We had 3-5 extra camps. We also several world members out to Colorado Springs for individual training. My goal was to keep the team motivated and ready. That was the biggest challenge!

2. Cael Sanderson Made The Team, But Eggum Went To Worlds... And Took Silver Home

Cael Sanderson, the U.S. representative at 85kg, chose to miss the World Championships scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend to focus on his historic undefeated NCAA career. As the Sanderson's replacement, Brandon Eggum went to Bulgaria and brought home a silver medal. Check out Eggum's semifinal matchup from Sofia here.

3. Two Athletes Who Tested Positive For PEDs In Sydney Wrestled In Sofia

The oddities didn't stop at alternates bringing home medals. Two athletes who were serving suspensions for testing positive for PEDs were allowed to wrestle in the World Championships.

Alexander Leipold of Germany won a gold medal against Brandon Slay in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney but tested positive for norandrosterone and norethiocholanolone. Leipold's medal was stripped, and WADA handed him a two-year suspension from WADA. Despite being 10 times over the legal amount of the drug when he was tested in Sydney, Leipold was given a reduced sentence of one year due to a testing technicality (the B sample tested wasn't large enough).

Oyunbileg Purevbaatar of Mongolia was similarly stripped of his fifth-place achievement in Sydney for testing positive for PEDs. His two-year suspension was also downgraded to a one-year sentence (presumably under similar circumstances). Because the World Championships were postponed for so long in 2001, both athletes were allowed to compete in Sofia. Purevbaatar would go on to win a silver medal, only losing to five-time world medalist Gia Sissaouri of Canada. 

4. Bulgaria's Serafim Barzakov Lost And Made The Finals

Does the name Serafim Barzakov ring any bells? It should. Cary Kolat beat the Bulgarian in the 1998 World Championships only to have the outcome of the match overturned under suspicious circumstances. (Brush up on the most star-crossed wrestler of all time here.)

In 2001, Barzakov was in his home country and found himself losing in pool competition to a relatively unknown Cuban, Carlos Julian Ortiz Castillo, who never placed in a major world event. Watch that match here. Later that day, Bulgarian coaches were seen talking (through a translator) to the Cuban. The Bulgarian officials then proceeded to call off all wrestling for the day (even though there were supposed to be two more rounds contested). When wrestling resumed the next day, Castillo looked to be nursing an injury and then got rolled up and pinned in a cradle by a Macedonian wrestler who only competed in three senior-level events in his entire life.

When asked about the events concerning Barzakov, Jackson had this to say: "First off, Bazakov could wrestle. He had the best HC in the world at that time. No one was ever surprised by a change in the schedule by FILA. Bazakov received the benefit of all doubts. Rumor was Bulgarians had to have champions at this World Championships. (Valentin) Jordanov had become a head of the federation, and FILA loved him."

5. Joe Williams Came Very Close To Beating One Of The Best Of All Time

Joe Williams wrestled all-time great Buvaisar Saitiev and with short time on the clock threw the nine-time world champion. The ref originally called it a takedown but then was later convinced otherwise. No matter who was declared the winner of the match, it's one for the ages.



Thanks to @49NorthWrest for helping me find all of these matches.