Team USA's Best And Worst Performances By Weight Since 2000
Team USA's Best And Worst Performances By Weight Since 2000
Take a look at the best and worst weights for Team USA in freestyle at the World Championships and Olympics since 2000.
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With the conclusion of the World Olympic Games Qualifier, the US Men’s Freestyle team will send 5 of the 6 weights to the Olympics. It’s well documented Team USA has struggled in freestyle at 65kg over the past 20 years. With that on the forefront of USA Wrestling news, we’ll dive deep into Team USA’s performance at 65kg compared to the other nine weights since 2000.
Weight Breakdown
Weight categories changed in 2002, 2014 and 2018 - not every weight is an exact comparison. The current weights will be referenced but the older weights will be included in those numbers to create a more robust comparison.
The Competitors at 65kg-Some of The Best
The main reason the medal drought at 65kg is perplexing to American wrestling fans is the legends that have represented the United States over the past 20 years. Between those 13 men at 65kg, there are 20 NCAA Titles and 40 Division 1 All-American honors and 4 Hodge Trophy winners. Take a look at how those numbers are divided up and how they translated to performing on the world level:
| World/Olympic Rep | NCAA Titles | AA Honors | Hodge | Years as 65kg Rep | Record at Worlds/Olympics | Medals at 65kg |
| Cary Kolat | 2 | 4 | - | 1 (2000) | 1-1 | - |
| Bill Zadick | 1 | 2 | - | 2 (2001, '06) | 7-1 | Gold in 2006 |
| Chris Bono | 1 | 3 | - | 2 (2002, '05) | 0-1 | - |
| Jamil Kelly | 0 | 0 | - | 2 (2003-04) | 4-2 | Silver in 2004 |
| Doug Schwab | 1 | 3 | - | 2 (2007-08) | 3-4 | - |
| Trent Paulson | 1 | 3 | - | 1 (2009) | 0-1 | - |
| Brent Metcalf | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 (2010, 2013-15) | 3-4 | - |
| Teyon Ware | 2 | 4 | - | 1 (2011) | 0-1 | - |
| Jared Frayer | 0 | 2 | - | 1 (2012) | 0-1 | - |
| Frank Molinaro | 1 | 4 | - | 1 (2016) | 2-2 | - |
| Zain Retherford | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 (2017, 2019) | 1-2 | - |
| Logan Stieber | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 (2018) | 0-1 | - |
| Jordan Oliver | 2 | 4 | - | 1 (2021) | - | - |
| Totals | 20 | 40 | 4 | 21-21 |
Despite the collegiate success, only two of those competitors earned medals at the highest level internationally - Jamil Kelly’s Olympic Silver in 2004 and Bill Zadick’s World Gold in 2006. Ironically, Zadick and Kelly are two of the least decorated college wrestlers of this list. It’s been 15 years since Team USA has brought home a medal at 65kg! Take a look at how the rest of the weights fared in the same time period:
Numbers behind the graph:
| Weight | Bronze | Silver | Gold | Total | Total Record |
| 57 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 43-24 |
| 61 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 26-21 |
| 65 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 21-21 |
| 70 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 18-8 |
| 74 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 66-15 |
| 79 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8-0 |
| 86 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 46-20 |
| 92 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8-0 |
| 97 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 43-17 |
| 125 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 46-25 |
| Totals | 23 | 11 | 19 | 52 | 325-151 |
Team USA - Upper Weights Are Strong
While 65kg often takes the major criticism, the lowest 3 weights have only brought home a total of 11 medals (3 Golds, 4 Silvers, 4 Bronze). Thanks to Jordan Burroughs, and his 8 world medals in 9 years, 74kg is Team USA's best weight and it's not close. Brandon Slay's gold in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and bronze from Joe Williams and Donny Pritzlaff also help put 74 at the top of the heap. In fact, 74kg has more total medals at 12 than 57, 61, and 65 combined at 11!
70, 79, and 92 are newer weights. In the past 20 years, 70 (or 69kg in 2000) has only been a world championship weight class 8 times. James Green (Silver in 2017 and Bronze in 2015) and Lincoln McIlravy account for the medals there. Team USA is undefeated at 79 and 92 with Kyle Dake and J'den Cox earning the only gold medals since the weight's inception in 2018.
86, 97, and 125 have been around as long as the lightest 3 weights and have shown much better success as a whole. This begins to show a trend for American freestyle wrestling over the past 20 years. While America is struggling to produce at the lightest weights-only 11 medals in 20 years, Team USA has performed better at the heavier 3 weights - 19 medals. Team USA continues to have world medal and champion contenders at the higher weight classes, reflected best in the current International Rankings. Team USA has only 1 wrestler ranked in the top 20 in the world at 57, 65, and 74. Yet multiple wrestlers ranked at 86, 97, and 125.
The Bad News
When looking at the trend of how USA wrestling is performing at 65kg, things are not getting better. USA did not win a medal in the last decade at 65kg and their record at the weight got worse. From 2000-2009 it was 15-10, from 2010-2019 it was 6-11. And while there are a number of NCAA stars competing for the right to represent USA at 65kg, we have seen that is not a direct correlation to World Level success at this weight.
The Good News
USA Wrestling is on an upward trend as a whole. The 2000's were one of the worst decades in USA Men's Freestyle wrestling in 50 years and the numbers prove it:
| 1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-1999 | 2000-2009 | 2010-2019 | |
| Medal opportunities | 100 | 90 | 94 | 65 | 80 |
| Medals won | 34 | 52 | 43 | 21 | 32 |
| Golds | 10 | 19 | 21 | 4 | 15 |
| Silvers | 13 | 19 | 13 | 8 | 3 |
| Bronze | 11 | 14 | 9 | 9 | 14 |
| DNP | 66 | 38 | 51 | 44 | 48 |
The rise of freestyle wrestling in the United States and the number of wrestlers able to make a living through the sport has grown exponentially over the past 10 years. Success has followed the money and talent. USA won 19 golds from 2000-2019-eleven of those golds came within the past 5 years. Also, team USA won the freestyle team title at the 2017 World Championships. That year, USA won 6 medals- that was as many as they won total from 2007-2011. USA Wrestling is headed in the right direction-expect to see 65kg find the success the other weights have within the next few years.
Top Performers in the Last 20 Years
- Jordan Burroughs (74kg) in 9 attempts - 5 Golds, 3 Bronze
- Kyle Snyder (97kg) in 5 attempts - 3 Golds, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
- J'den Cox (86kg & 92kg) in 4 attempts - 2 Golds, 2 Bronze
- Kyle Dake (79kg) in 2 attempts - 2 Golds
- Cael Sanderson (86kg) in 3 attempts - 1 Gold, 1 Silver
- Jake Varner (97kg) in 2 attempts - 1 Gold, 1 Bronze
- James Green (70kg) in 5 attempts - 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
- Sammie Henson (57kg) in 3 attempts - 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
- Tervel Dlagnev (125kg) in 5 attempts - 2 Bronze
- Joe Williams (74kg) in 4 attempts - 2 Bronze
- Nick Gwiazdowski (125kg) in 3 attempts - 2 Bronze
Fast Facts
- Heavyweight and 70kg are the only 2 weights USA has not won Gold since 2000
- A freestyle heavyweight has not won a Gold medal during Gable Steveson’s lifetime
- USA only went without a medal 3 of the last 50 years - 2010, 1974, and 1975
- From 2000-2009, USA went 4-8 in gold medal matches.
- From 2010-2019, USA went 15-3 in Gold Medal Matches
- 2012 was USA’s best Olympic Performance in the 20 year span - 2 Golds (Burroughs & Varner) and 2 Bronze (Scott and Dlagnev)