It doesn't take a particularly smart person to realize if you want to find where the best wrestlers in the world come from, take a look at the medalists' hometowns. Finding hometown and/or birthplace of some international wrestlers can be quite the chore, and there may be some inaccuracies. We'll post the full list in a table below and welcome any corrections. First, let's take a look at the official medal count from Oslo.

Transfers

As most of us know, however, transfers are a thing in international wrestling. Athletes born in one country will compete for another. This year, of the 40 medalists, 5 were transfers and they were all from Russia. This lead to a native Russian medalist at every weight excluding heavyweight and multiple at 70, 74, 86, and 92.

57 kg: Aryan Tsiutryn --> Belarus (bronze)

70 kg: Magomedmurad Gadzhiev --> Poland (gold)

74 kg: Tajmuraz Salkazanov --> Slovakia (silver)

86 kg: Abubakr Abakarov --> Azerbaijan (bronze)

92 kg: Osman Nurmagomedov --> Azerbaijan (bronze)

Maps

Ok, finally, to the maps! We get to see exactly where the best wrestlers in the world come from. Please note that we made no distinction between the colors of the medals when weighting the intensity of the heat on said map. 

That hot spot in the middle of the map is known as the Caucasus. It's the thin strip of European/Asian land that separates the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. If you've followed international wrestling for even a short amount of time, it will come as no surprise that the majority of the world's best wrestlers come from a small area. 

Let's take a closer look at Europe and Asia, but this time use pins instead of incredible heat map technology.

As you can see, 15 of the 40 total medalists came out of the Caucasus region. While Dagestan and North Ossetia boast most of Russia's success, the other republics occasionally push through. On this year's team, 3 athletes did not come from either of those two republics. Timur Bizhoev (74 kg) comes from Kabardino-Balkaria, which is also in the Caucus region, Evgenii Zherbaev of the Buryatia Republic, and Zelimkhan Khizriev of St. Petersburg.

The two pins in Russia not from the Caucus area are Zherbaev and Aryan Tsiutryn of the Sakha Republic, who represented Belarus. Zherbaev was the first wrestler from Buryatia to win a World/Olympic medal since Bazar Bazarguruev won bronze while representing Kyrgyzstan at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He defeated Mike Zadick in the process. 

Below is a zoomed-in view of the Caucasus. Note that the strip of land between the two bodies of water is only a couple hundred miles across. 

Most of Iran's best wrestlers come from places along the Caspian Sea as well.

That large body of water peaking in at the top is the Caspian Sea. The cluster of four pins is the city of Juybar. This is where Hassan Yazdani, Amir Yazdani, Kamran Ghasempour, and Mohamed Nokhodi. The lone pin located inland Iran is Alireza Sarlak.

Finally, the United States, where I assume most of you are reading this.

Sorry to Nevada and Wyoming, but David Taylor is counted as a St. Paris native as that is what was listed on his official Penn State roster information.

Interactive Map

Ok, enough of me telling you where to look. Here is an interactive map that will allow you to zoom in as much as you like. Clicking on a pin will show you the wrestlers, their hometown, what country they wrestle for, what weight, and what medal they recieved.

Hometowns

And now, as promised, the table of medalists and their hometowns. Also as mentioned earlier, corrections are always welcome.