Word: grecos
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...Olympics that Americans ignored in large numbers--as if it were a presidential election or something--was nothing less than sensational. Moving from strength to strength, the Sydney Games followed the hosts' heroics in the pool with thrilling competitions in everything from the beach brand of volleyball to the Greco-Roman flavor of wrestling, then topped the whole thing with a spectacular track meet--a meet that featured a performance for the ages by Australia's Cathy Freeman, a young woman who ran with no less than a continent on her delicate shoulders...
American Rulon Gardener, who had never won an NCAA championship, does the unthinkable and defeats Russian Alexander Karelin, a.k.a. the Siberian Bear, for the gold medal in the heaviest weight-class in Greco-Roman wrestling. Karelin was looking for his fourth gold medal and had never lost an international competition before the match...
Humans have even less of a chance against Karelin, 32, a super-heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler who has won gold medals in each of the past three Summer Games. In fact, the Siberian native has never lost in international competition. His streak extends 13 years, an astounding record. No wonder Karelin is a bogatyr--a folk hero--in Russia, where he represents his home town in the Duma (the Russian parliament) and holds the rank of colonel in the customs police...
Strength is paramount in Greco-Roman wrestling, which doesn't allow a competitor to take down an opponent by attacking his legs. That places a premium on lifts and throws. Such tactics are common in lighter weight classes, but Karelin--"King Kong" or "The Experiment" to fellow wrestlers--is the only super heavyweight with the strength to hoist a 290-lb. foe and fling him to the mat, in a maneuver the Russian calls a "reverse body lift." To execute it, Karelin locks his arms around the waist of an opponent, then lifts the wrestler like a sack of potatoes...
...rivals hope that the rigors of politics will help wear Karelin down. They note that his matches have got closer of late, with the Russian winning by 1-0 and 2-0 scores. "I truly think he's beatable," says Steve Fraser, national coach of the U.S. Greco-Roman team and a light-heavyweight gold medalist in 1984. Fraser says Rulon Gardner, America's No. 1 super heavyweight, will try to outwork Karelin and exhaust him on his feet. (Ghaffari is an alternate...