Adam Saitiev v. Alexander Leipold 1999 European Championships : Speakers & Interviews

Im loving these russian wrestlers i love their style and i learn so much from there matches ive watched all of them 2 or 3 times already and are adam saitiev and buysavair saitiev brothers

Guru...can you post some stephen abas matches?

I don't think so my friend. I'll have to check. Don't have much in the Greco department, unfortunately.

Hey Craig, do you have the match between Dennis Hall and Brandon Paulson in the 2004 Olympic Trials?

Explanation seems spot on to me, scroobius.

TJX, I know what you mean, but I'm not sure it's laziness. It seems to be a matter of efficiency. Look at the way Satiev throws that two-on-one in the first period; as soon as he hits it, his hips are perpendicular to Leipold's hips, and he's already in position to either finish the move or back out if Leipold gets position to counter. (Same in the second period with the inside trip attempt.) But Satiev's shot attempts and defense don't seem lazy; he fights for things, and defends aggressively.

This may be just a freestyle/folkstyle difference, and no point in raising that whole debate again. But from what I've seen, the best freestylers (Schultz) were extremely efficient, which goes along with being technically sound. That kind of approach isn't as rewarded in folkstyle, where grinding, wear-your-opponent-down style is more prevalent. You can be more wide-open in folkstyle and not be penalized. The folkstyle approach may seem more active, but in terms of just technique and efficiency, may be less effective. To my mind, that's one of the reasons we've seen so many good collegiate wrestlers go freestyle and try to attack their opponent, only to be picked apart by wrestlers who look like they're putting out half as much effort.

I'm not saying which is better or worse, that's a matter of spectator taste, I'm just suggesting it's a reason; freestyle rewards more technically efficient wrestling than folkstyle, and collegiate wrestlers need to make that adjustment before they can roll with the internationals.

You know what's really weird, the fact that these guys would take a guy like Steve Luke or Mack Lewnes and massacre them in 2 minutes. That is what is so weird because when you watch this, the guys look slow, lazy, poor stances, no movement, no intensity, nothing like watching the NCAA Finals but far better wrestlers which is simply weird to me. I used to watch Dave Schultz pin Americans who had won multiple NCAA Titles and those wrestlers like Stewart Carter, Pantaleo, Zalesky, Carr, St John, Koll, etc...looked totally inept against him yet Schultz looked so lazy when he wrestled...well, until he attacked then he didnt look lazy!

College matches??? Are you f*ckin kidding? After seeing these great international matches going to college is like watching JV! If you want college look up anklepicker or stardust9094 on youtube.

Terrific postings!
Can you post some classic collegiate matches?

You're my hero!

mr. Vitagliano

This week I am choosing the 76 kg semi final bout at the 1999 European Championships featuring Russia's Adam Saitiev and Germany's Alexander Leipold.

If you recall the first match I posted was their World Championship final. This is the match that took place a few months earlier.

I'm posting this match because I really want wrestlers and coaches to understand that a wrestler should focus and stick to his or her game plan and not change their style too much to accommodate their opponent.

You'll notice that Saitiev wrestles the same exact style in this match as he did in their match at the Worlds. In fact I think Saitiev was more aggressive in their second match.

I wish all wrestlers good luck in St. Louis.