Brackets are posted for the Greco-Roman portion of the second Olympic Games Qualifier. What does the qualification path look like for each American?

Jesse Thielke, 59kg  

Peter Modos of Hungary is Thielke's opening bout, which topically looks like a bad draw. But when you look at Modos' recent body of work, it shows he isn’t quite as effective at 59kg as he was at 55kg. At the latter weight class, Modos wrestled for medals in every tournament he entered between 2010 and 2013. When the weight changed to 59kg in 2014, his results fell off considerably. This bodes well for Thielke, a very big 59kg wrestler.

If there's a silver lining in Thielke's opening match-up, it's overshadowed by the rest of the bracket on the bottom side. Revaz Lashkhi of Georgia is a possible second-round match-up for Thielke with a very solid resume. Lashkhi lost the qualification match in Mongolia after dropping down from 66kg last season. He was the world representative back in 2014 for Georgia, but missed two qualification opportunities down at his new weight of 59kg.

Ivo Angelov won a brawl against Hamid Soryan (IRI) at the Mongolian qualifier on the championship side, but couldn't finish the job and qualify the weight. The six-time world and Olympic champion Soryan is on the opposite side of the bracket from Thielke, but Angelov is the anticipated quarterfinal match-up coming from Thielke’s draw spot. Angelov won a world title in 2013.

The credentials of a semifinal opponent will pale in comparison to Angelov, but several solid wrestlers will fight for the spot out of the quarterfinal in that bracket.

RaVaughn Perkins, 66kg 

Perkins wrestled Edgaras Venckaitis of Lithuania for a qualification spot in Mongolia and came up short. Pan Zheng of China was defeated in the very first round by Venckaitis and didn't have an opportunity to wrestle back in the repechage. Perkins and Zheng will meet in the first round in Istanbul. Zheng won an Asian Championship in 2012. More recently, he earned a silver medal at the 2016 Grand Prix of Paris.

Possible second-round opponents include Jefrin Benito Mejia Sambula of Honduras or Vladimiros Matias of Greece. Perkins defeated Mejia Sambula at the 2016 Jack Pinto Cup. Matias’ best finish in a major competition came back in 2013 when he finished seventh at the world championships.

No one else on the top side of the bracket is currently ranked in the top 20 by United World Wrestling.

Josef Rau, 98kg 

Rau drew Spain’s Narek Setaghyan Rehanyan first round. Spain hasn't placed a representative at 98kg at either the European or Mongolian Qualifiers. This is a good draw for Rau.

In round two, Rau would face the winner of Kevin Mejia Castillo (HON) and Tuomas Lahti (FIN). Rau defeated Castillo at the Pan-Am Olympic Games Qualifier in the championship quarterfinal. Lahti has been very active on the senior Greco-Roman circuit, and enjoyed his best finish—second—at the 2015 Ion Corneanu Memorial.


Daigoro Timoncini (ITA) placed fourth and just missed a qualifying spot in Mongolia. He's currently ranked 20th by United World Wrestling and is a possible quarterfinal opponent. Both Rau and Timoncini were defeated by Carl Fredrik Stefan Schoen at the Mongolia qualifier.

Shalva Gadabadze of Azerbaijan has the best credentials of the opposing quarter. Gadabadze earned world bronze back in 2013. He will be the primary hurdle en route to qualification for Rau.