When the news broke that the United States would not send a full men's freestyle roster to Rio, lots of finger-pointing and questioning of Trials procedures followed. But headlines that stated it would be the smallest wrestling squad sent to the Olympic Games since 1952 didn't mention the important fact that qualification began in the 90s. I could write a full piece on misleading headlines, but today, I want to focus on the Soviet Union.

I've teased my position that Jordan Burroughs is the greatest American freestyler of all time, even if he never wins another medal. That's because the field Burroughs must compete against is deeper and the talent is concentrated into a smaller number of weight classes. The classes are important, but the dissolution of the Soviet Union is the main reason for the field's depth in the current world championships and Olympic Games. This point seems to be glossed over as fans search for the magic potion to restore the U.S. to the golden age.

Why doesn’t America enjoy the same success they did in the 1970s, 80s and 90s? You often hear medal counts that seem like a pipe dream in today’s climate. That's because of the number of high-level, former Soviet bloc countries in the field are earning medals at a mind-blowing rate.

Prior to the break-up of the Soviet Union, a perfect year from the Soviets could only yield 10 out of a possible 30 medals to account for 33 percent. There were several years when they accomplished that feat and medaled in every weight class. In the 80s, the Soviet Union averaged 8.89 medals per world championship or Olympic Games competition—this earned them 80 of the possible 270 medals in that time frame. Note they did not compete at the 1984 Olympics, which accounted for 29.6 percent of the medals during the 80s. Although those numbers are outstanding, they're dwarfed by the output of the Soviet bloc countries in the 2000s. 

In the 10 world championships and Olympic Games between 2000 and 2009, 251 medals were earned in men’s freestyle wrestling. Russia and the other former Soviet Republics took home 134 of those medals. What used to be one country in wrestling is now consuming 53.4% of the medals, making the number of medals the U.S. earns look paltry compared to its "golden age."

In the first six world championships and Olympic Games this decade, the pace has slowed. The former Soviet countries are only earning 51.7% of the medals available—they have almost fallen back to mediocrity! Hopefully, you've picked up on the sarcasm, and are now understanding why it's so difficult for our teams to earn medals and qualification spots for the Olympic Games.

Country	Total Medals Between 2000-2015	2016 Olympic Qualifiers
United States	32	6
Armenia	4	4
Azerbaijan	27	6
Belarus	12	2
Estonia	0	0
Georgia	30	6
Kazakhstan	11	5
Kyrgyzstan	2	2
Latvia	0	0
Lithuania	0	0
Moldova	2	2
Russia	83	6
Tajikistan	2	0
Turkmenistan	0	0
Ukraine	29	2
Uzbekistan	23	4
USSR Total	225	39

The Soviet bloc countries are not the only moving pieces in the landscape change for the current competitors, but they are the most significant. There has been some exchanges of balance between the countries vying for the remaining medals not consumed by the former Soviet Republics. Iran has emerged as the main competitor to Russia in the current day, and is a factor in the world landscape as they replace falling powers from the 70s and 80s.

Iranian Medals	By Decade
1980's	6
1990's	31
2000's	25
2010's	23

Qualifying has only been around since 1996, so any USA roster numbers were only due to weight classifications. In men’s freestyle, 60kg in 2008 is the only weight class not to earn qualification to the Olympic Games. A series of fortunate events, from an American perspective, placed Mike Zadick in the field in Beijing.

The American fanbase was up in arms at the possibility of 65kg not qualifying to wrestle in Rio at the Olympic Games. The chatter ranged from reasonable questions about the team selection process to blind rage without a coherent thought process. Few considered the field that the current competitors are competing against. But there were a lot of fans that believed qualification is expected just because we are the United States.

The Soviet Union of the 80s was by far the greatest wrestling power the world has seen in men’s freestyle wrestling. 80 of the 90 competitors they put out on the mat at the world championships or Olympic Games earned a medal. You can’t discount how powerful their system is, and what multiple entrants in each weight class does to the depth of the field.

There are 114 qualification spots available in men’s freestyle for the Olympic Games. Post-Soviet states have earned 39 of those qualification berths. That will be 34.2% of the field. The Union of Soviet Socialists Republics' wrestling era did not have a qualification system, but they only had the opportunity to send one representative to the world championships or Olympic Games. That number swelling to more than 10 in some weight categories creates a field that former U.S. wrestlers didn’t have to compete against at the world championships and Olympic Games. Many native Russians are competing for other countries within the post-Soviet states, and create very good teams when mixed with the native talent wrestling for the former Soviet Republics.

This transfer of citizenship doesn’t always feed wrestlers into the post-Soviet states. This is the final element that has made qualification so difficult. Russian expatriates are surfacing all over Europe and Asia. 57kg, 65kg, 74kg, and 97kg all have former Soviet Republic wrestlers competing outside of Soviet bloc countries. Adam Batirov made some of the biggest headlines after earning qualification for Bahrain at 65kg.

97kg has a former Russian world champion and a former world medalist qualified for the Olympic Games. Georgi Ketoev is wrestling for former Soviet Republic, Armenia, and Albert Saritov earned qualification representing Romania.

The athletes representing the United States are faced with a much more difficult task when trying to qualify for the Olympic Games or subsequently earn a medal. Keep that in mind when comparing current athletes to greats of the past that only had to compete against one Soviet wrestler at the world championships or Olympic Games.