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Who is the best international wrestler ever?

Shannyn J. Gillespie 10 months ago

There are a lot of pre-1971 wrestling stars and I will start the list around my birth year of said date:

  • Aleksandr Karelin 3X Olympic Champ, 9X World Champ
  • John Smith 2X Olympic Champ, 6X World Champ
  • Sergei Belaglazov 2X Olympic Champ, 6X World Champ
  • Arsen Fadzaev 2X Olympic Champ, 6X World Champ
  • Makharbek Khadartsev 2X Olympic Champ, 5X World Champ
  • Bruce Baumgartner 2X Olympic Champ, 3X World Champ
  • Saori Yoshida 2X Olympic Champ, 8X World Champ
  • Kaori Icho 2X Olympic Champ, 7X World Champ

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Comments31 comments

 fred 5 months ago

try again

arm-spin 5 months ago

Adam Saitiev doesn't have the stats to be in the best ever discussion, but he had one of the best single seasons ever IMO. Bumping up to 84 kg (brother was at 74) in 2000, he won a super stacked Russian category including defending Olympic champ Magomedov, future 2x world champ Sajidov and 7x champ Khadartsev. He then romped his way through the Olympics including a pin over the world champ Romero in the finals. All this while comically undersized.

Kept losing to the much bigger Sajidov in the second half of his career. Still, incredible wrestler.

arm-spin 5 months ago

Good call on Lopez and Sourian. Hamza Yerlikaya is up there for Greco too, a bit inconsistent at times but amazing when at his best, he won Fila's "wreslter of the half century" award or something like that. Nazarian has had a similar career, he's up there too.

Lucas Desilva 5 months ago

It Will be:
Jordan Burroughs

Right Now:
John Smith or Bruce Bumgauter or Saori Yoshida

Anonymous Coward 5 months ago

Satiev! I am a Greco wrestler but watching him is like watching harmony in nature!

Brian Domski 5 months ago

Satiev, Smith, Beloglazov in FS
Karelin, Lopez, Sourian in GR

arm-spin 5 months ago

FWIW, I think Belaglazov, Fadsaev and possibly Khadartsev lit things up more than Saitiev at their absolute peak. Saitiev won a lot, but he also had a lot of close matches. Fadzaev and Belogalsov had tournaments where they just dominated one. Saitiev seemed to almost switch it off and on... he would destroy some high level opponents (Fundora, Terziev , Laliev, Hajizadeh ect) but had real trouble with others (Gaidrov, Williams, Murtazaliev, ect). Some of this may have to do with changes in rules, tougher competition, ect but it should still be noted... how did Fadzaev and Beloglazov do domestically against other Soviets?

Dan Gable's scoreless Olympics were impressive, but at the same tournament Ivan Yarygin pinned all his opponents. I'm not sure how many guys have gon unscored upon at an Olympic games, but Taymazov (fs) and Albiev (GR) did it fairly recently.
BTW Taymazov is not that old.. I wonder if he will take a run at an unprecedented 4th gold medal?

Ben 5 months ago

Kranelin all the way!

Cody Lambotte 5 months ago

There are many opinions on here but Im going with Arsen Fadzaev. Stud.

Anonymous Coward 9 months ago

no dan gable?

Anonymous Coward 9 months ago

Sergei Beloglazov certainly belongs in the conversation. He was my coach at Lehigh about 20 years ago. He was amazing to watch - textbook execution on everything. I was quite a bit bigger but could hardly score anything against him. He's the best I've ever seen up close. He won two Olympic titles 8 years apart and 6 world titles in between. In 1980 he won his Olympic title pinning 5 opponents and the 6th was DQed. (He pinned 4 of 7 opponents in 1988 in Seoul) I'm pretty sure he would have won a third Olympic title in 1984 had the Soviets attended the games.

Shannyn J. Gillespie 9 months ago

Artur Taymazov 3X Olympic Champ 2X World Champ 1X Olympic Silver

So he has competed in 4 Olympics and been in finals 4 times...he is my new best international wrestler ever!

Shannyn J. Gillespie 9 months ago

Artur Taymazov 3X Olympic Champion

aa 10 months ago

Saitiev in freestyle, and Karelin in grecco. Karelin is a no-brainer...there's never been someone so dominant...and that probably won't happen again. Saitiev had several years where he was untouchable. Sure, he did not place at 2000 Olympics,. but he was injured and had been sick for months. And then there were one or two years where he didn't make the Russian team. But outside that, he won everything

Shannyn J. Gillespie 10 months ago

A few thoughts...,

I agree - the titles should be written in the same way all the time and this would be less confusing. Also, some sports have world championships in the same year as the O's like women's wrestling, skiing events, and sometimes gymnastics
Do you think Karelin is a better than Medved who has similar credentials in 3 different weights?

A few thoughts... 10 months ago

Why do people list the Olympic and World titles separately? It makes it look like they won more titles than they did. For example, John Smith won gold at 2 Olympics and 4 FILA World Championships. So who cares if they won it during the Olympics?

One of my favorite scenes in the movie City Slickers is when they are debating who is the greatest right fielder. One guy argued that Roberte Clemente could run better than Hank Aaron and hit better than Aaron. The other just said, "755 home runs."
I feel like that about this topic. Dan Gable was "only" an Olympic and World Champion. But he went through the Olympic field and didn't give up a single point!!! Nobody had ever done that. And he pinned at least half of them. There probably won't be a single pin in London. He gave up competing to coach after being a 2 time world champion, but he was the best on the mat.
Baumgartner shouldn't even be mentioned. He didn't even come close to dominating in the way the others did. First, he won 2 Olympic golds and 3 FILA Worlds. That makes him a 5 time world champion. You should list their accomplishments in the same way. But he won 4 silver and 4 bronze and failed to medal 2 other times. That means he didn't win more events than he did. Not the best ever.
Karelin was undefeated for 14 years. Guys gave up points and willingly lost to him rather than be thrown and possibly break their necks. Nobody was ever better over a long period of time.

Shannyn J. Gillespie 10 months ago

Check this link out http://bit.ly/Ooatjh for mutiple gold medals table.

Shannyn J. Gillespie 10 months ago

Individual Multiple-Time World Level Champions G-R

12 World Level Championships
Aleksandr Karelin, 1988–1999

7 World Level Championships
Valery Rezantsev, 1970–1976
6 World Level Championships
Nikolai Balboshin, 1973–1979
5 World Level Championships
István Kozma, 1962–1968
Roman Rurua, 1966–1970
Viktor Igumenov, 1966–1971
Petar Kirov, 1968–1974
Aleksandar Tomov, 1971–1979
Gogi Koguashvili, 1993–1999
Hamza_Yerlikaya, 1993-2005
Armen Nazarian, 1996–2003
Hamid Sourian, 2005-2010
Mijaín López, 2005-2010

Shannyn J. Gillespie 10 months ago

Individual Multiple-Time World Level Champions

12 World Level Championships
Aleksandr Karelin, 1988–1999

7 World Level Championships
Valery Rezantsev, 1970–1976
6 World Level Championships
Nikolai Balboshin, 1973–1979
5 World Level Championships
István Kozma, 1962–1968
Roman Rurua, 1966–1970
Viktor Igumenov, 1966–1971
Petar Kirov, 1968–1974
Aleksandar Tomov, 1971–1979
Gogi Koguashvili, 1993–1999
Hamza_Yerlikaya, 1993-2005
Armen Nazarian, 1996–2003
Hamid Sourian, 2005-2010
Mijaín López, 2005-2010

yep clark 10 months ago

greco: karelin freestyle: saitiev

Shannyn J. Gillespie 10 months ago

For the record, I've never seen Medved wrestle and have watched Belaglazov, Fadzaev, and Khadartsev which were all highly technical wrestlers almost mehcanical.

All had about 5-6 skills they executed regulary on the feet and on the mat which is rare.
After Smith's second or third title, he had more attacks on his feet, added a gut and a lace in par terre.
Baumgartner and Karelin seemed like men playing with boys and were very strong physically.
There are others pre-1971 who are left off due to my age and no video footage seen by me.
Yoshida and Icho have the Olympics to thank for me adding them. The Japanese women's team has many 4 timers, 5 timers and one or two 6 timers who wrestled prior to 2004 first women's O's.
Canada has a women's 6 time champ too Christine Nordhagen.
There are several Greco 4 and 5 timers too.

Shannyn J. Gillespie 10 months ago

Anonymous Coward,

A lot of wrestling historians say both the Russian Aleksandrs are the best ever in GR and FS. Medved did it in 3 different weights like Anatoli Belaglazov and has one more title than Karelin.

Anonymous Coward 10 months ago

Uetake apparrantly gave up only one takedown in his entire college career and never lost an international match in freestyle.

It doesnt begin and end with Saitiev.
What about Alexander Medvedev, first 3x Olympic champ?

Shannyn J. Gillespie 10 months ago

Clark145,

I missed him in my first list for some reason... and then added him before any body noticed. Slay beat him in 2000 or he likely would have won 4 O's which would have made this whole discussion mute and moot. His bro Adam was no joke too wresting at the senior level at 3 different weights and world titles in 2 different weights and one title was an Olympic title.
There are older athletes not on this list from when Russia was the Soviet Union who are not included because I never saw video of them but have equally impressive stats.
Also, and more recently, Anatoli Belaglazov was world champion in 3 different weights which is crazy winning and Olympic Gold at like 17 or so.

Clark145 10 months ago

Saitiev in freestyle, Karelin in Greco. It's kinda hard to even debate that. Surprised you missed Saitiev in your list.. haha.

Billy D 10 months ago

Baron Scicluna

Billy D 10 months ago

Baron Scicluna

Anonymous Coward 10 months ago

This discussion begins and ends with Buvaisar Saitiev in freestyle and Alexander Karelin in Greco

Shannyn J. Gillespie 10 months ago

Buvaisar Saitiev 3X Olympic Champ 6X World Champ

Anonymous Coward 10 months ago

i meant yojiro uetake

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