By Gary Abbott
USA Wrestling
The wrestling community had the opportunity to witness one of the greatest performances ever from its Senior-level Olympic and World Teams in 2021. The historic data on Team USA in past Olympics and World Championships clearly indicates that there is much to be proud of from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (held in August) and the 2021 Senior World Championships in Oslo (held in October).

As far as World Championships performances go, the 2021 U.S. Senior World Team in the three Olympic disciplines (men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle, Greco-Roman) can claim to be the most successful team of all time.

The 2021 Senior World Team leads all other teams for the most medals won with 15, with the next closest being the 2018 Senior World Team with 12 medals.

The 2021 Senior World Team is tied for first with the most World gold medals won with five, matched only by the 1995 and 2019 Senior World Teams.

The 2021 Senior World Team is tied for second with the highest medal percentage, which is calculated by number of medals won divided by number of weight classes. The 2021 Senior World Team had a 50% medal percentage, with 15 medals in the 30 weight classes. That was matched by the 1979 Senior World Team, which had 10 medals in 20 weight classes. The team with the highest medal percentage was the 2012 Senior World Team, which was an Olympic year, and only a Women’s World Championships was held. The 2012 Senior Women’s World Team had a 57% medal percentage, winning four medals in the seven weight classes contested.

The 2020 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team (which competed in August 2021 due to the postponement caused by the pandemic) matches up well with any previous U.S. Olympic Team. The U.S. performance is among the highest ranked in all of these measurement categories.

The 2020 U.S. Olympic Team won nine wrestling medals, which ranks No. 3 in history. This included five men’s freestyle medals (out of five entries) and four women’s freestyle medals. The 1904 Olympic team won 21 medals, sweeping all seven weight classes in a tournament in which only U.S. athletes participated. The 1984 Olympic Team brought home 13 medals, nine in men’s freestyle and four in Greco-Roman, in an event in which a number of nations did not enter due to the Soviet-bloc boycott.

In regards to medal percentage, the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team ranks at No. 3 at 50%, with nine medals in the 18 available weight classes. The USA had 15 athletes in the 2020 Olympics (as the U.S. did not qualify at three weight classes). This ranks behind the 1904 team with a 100% medal percentage and the 1984 team with a 65% medal percentage.

The three gold medals won by the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team included two men’s freestyle and one women’s freestyle champion, which ranks them in a tie for No. 4 in history. The 1984 Olympic team leads with nine gold medals, the 1904 team had seven gold medals and the 1924 team had four gold medals.

This is the only year in which there has been an Olympic Games and a World Championships with all of the World weight classes held on the same year. There have been a few years in which a Women’s World Championships were held on an Olympic year, as well as one year where United World Wrestling had a World Championships just for the non-Olympic weight classes.

Eight U.S. wrestlers won a medal at both the 2020 Olympic Games and the 2021 World Championships this year: David Taylor (Olympic gold, World silver), Tamyra Mensah Stock (Olympic gold, World bronze), Adeline Gray (Olympic silver, World gold), Thomas Gilman (Olympic bronze, World gold), Helen Maroulis (Olympic bronze, World gold), Kyle Dake (Olympic bronze, World gold), Kyle Snyder (Olympic silver, World silver) and Sarah Hildebrandt (Olympic bronze, World silver).

Two U.S. women set milestones during the summer. Helen Maroulis became the first U.S. woman to win two Olympic wrestling medals, with her 2016 Olympic gold and 2020 Olympic bronze. Adeline Gray became the first U.S. wrestler of any gender or style to win a sixth career World gold medal.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TOTAL MEDALS WON BY YEAR

TOP 10 YEARS FOR MEDALS WON
1. 2021 – 15 medals
2. 2018 – 12 medals
3. (tie) 1979, 1989, 1991 – 10 medals
6. (tie) 1987, 1995, 2003, 2006, 2017 – 9 medals

TOP 10 YEARS FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS MEDAL PERCENTAGE
(medals won divided by total weight classes)
1. 2012** - 57%
2. (tie) 1979, 2021 – 50%
4. (tie) 2003, 2006 – 42.8%
6. 2018 – 40%
7. 2017 – 37.5%
8. (tie) 1969, 1985, 1986 – 35%
** In 2012, only Worlds was in women’s freestyle with seven weight classes

TOP 10 YEARS FOR WORLD GOLD MEDALS
1. (tie) 1995, 2019, 2021 – 5 gold medals
4. (tie) 1993, 2015, 2018 - 4 gold medals
7. (tie) 1985, 1991, 1999, 2017 - 3 gold medals

TOP 5 WORLD MEDAL-WINNING SUMMARIES

2021 –15 medals (7 in men’s freestyle, 7 in women’s freestyle, 1 in Greco-Roman)
30 weights: (10 FS, 10 GR, 10 W): 50% medal percentage
Men’s Freestyle - Thomas Gilman (125, gold), Kyle Dake (163, gold), Jordan Burroughs (174, gold), Daton Fix (134, silver), Kyle Snyder (213, silver), David Taylor (189, silver), J’den Cox (202, bronze)
Women’s Freestyle – Helen Maroulis (gold, 125), Adeline Gray (gold, 167.5), Sarah Hildebrandt (silver, 110), Kayla Miracle (silver, 136), Tamyra Mensah Stock (bronze, 149.5), Jenna Burkert (bronze, 121), Forrest Molinari (bronze, 143).
Greco-Roman – G’Angelo Hancock (silver, 213)

2018 – 12 medals (7 in men’s freestyle, 4 in women’s freestyle, 1 in Greco-Roman)
30 weights: (10 FS, 10 GR, 10 W): 40% medal percentage
Men’s Freestyle - Kyle Dake (174, gold), David Taylor (189, gold), J’den Cox (202.5, gold), Kyle Snyder (213, silver), Joe Colon (134, bronze), Jordan Burroughs (163, bronze), Nick Gwiazdowski (275, bronze)
Women’s freestyle - Adeline Gray (gold, 167.5), Sarah Hildebrandt (silver, 116.5), Tamyra Mensah-Stock (bronze, 149.75), Mallory Velte (bronze, 136.5)
Greco-Roman: Adam Coon (silver, 286)

1979: 10 medals (7 in men’s freestyle, 3 in Greco-Roman)
20 weights: (10 GR, 10 FS): 50% medal percentage
Men’s Freestyle: Lee Kemp (gold, 163), Bob Weaver (silver, 105.5), Jimmy Haines (silver, 114.5), John Peterson (silver, 180.5), Russ Hellickson (silver, 220), Joe Corso (bronze, 125.5), Andre Metzger (bronze, 136.5)
Greco-Roman - Abdurahim Kuzu (silver, 136.5), Brad Rheingans (bronze, 220), Bob Walker (bronze, Hwt)

1989 – 10 medals (6 in men’s freestyle, 3 in women’s freestyle, 1 in Greco-Roman)
29 weights: (10 FS, 10 GR, 9 W): 34.4% medal percentage
Men’s Freestyle - John Smith (gold, 136.5), Kenny Monday (gold, 163), Melvin Douglas (silver, 180.5), Jim Scherr (silver, 198), Bill Scherr (silver, 220), Bruce Baumgartner (silver, 286)
Women’s Freestyle – Asia DeWeese (silver, 110), Leia Kawaii (silver, 154), Afsoon Roshanzamir (bronze, 103)
Greco-Roman: Michial Foy (silver, 198)

1991 – 10 medals (6 in men’s freestyle, 2 in women’s freestyle, 2 in Greco-Roman)
29 weights: (10 FS, 10 GR, 9 W): 34.5% medal percentage
Men’s Freestyle - Zeke Jones (gold, 114.5), John Smith (gold, 136.5), Kevin Jackson (gold, 180.5), Brad Penrith (silver, 125.5), Kenny Monday (silver, 163), Mark Coleman (silver, 220)
Women’s Freestyle – Marie Ziegler (silver, 97), Shannon Williams (silver, 110)
Greco-Roman: Shawn Sheldon (silver, 114.5), Matt Ghaffari (silver, 286)

OLYMPIC GAMES TOTAL MEDALS WON BY YEAR

TOP 10 YEARS
1. 1904 – 21 medals
2. 1984 – 13 medals
3. 2020 – 9 medals
4. (tie) 1992, 1996 – 8 medals
6. 2000 – 7 medals
7. (tie) 1920, 1924, 1972, 1976, 1988, 2004 – 6 medals

OLYMPIC GAMES MEDAL PERCENTAGE
(medals won divided by total weight classes)
1. 1904 – 100%
2. 1984 – 65%
3. 2000 – 50%
4. 1924 – 46.1%
5. 2000 – 43%
6. (tie) – 1920, 1992 – 40%
8. 1932 – 35.7%
9. 2004 – 33.3%
10. (tie) 1972, 1976, 1988 – 30%

TOP 10 YEARS FOR OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALS
1. 1984 – 9 gold medals
2. 1904 – 7 gold medals
3. 1924 – 4 gold medals
4. (tie) – 1932, 1960, 1972, 1992, 1996, 2020 - 3 gold medals
10. (tie) – 1908, 1948, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2016 - 2 gold medals

TOP 5 OLYMPIC MEDAL WINNING SUMMARIES

1904: 21 medals (21 in men’s freestyle) – Note: Only U.S. entries
7 weights: 100% medal percentage, multiple entries per weight
Men’s Freestyle: Robert Curry (gold, 105), George Mehnert (gold, 115), Isador Niflot (gold, 125), Ben Bradshaw (gold, 135), Otto Roehm (gold, 145), Charles Erikson (gold, 158), Bernhulf Hansen (gold, 158+), John Hein (silver, 105), Gustav Bauers (silver, 115), August Wester (silver, 125), Theodore McLeer (silver, 135), Rudolph Tessing (silver, 145), William Beckman (silver 158), Frank Kungler (silver, 158+), Gus Thiefebthaler (bronze, 105), William Nelson (bronze, 115), ZB Strebler (bronze, 125), Charles Clapper (bronze, 135), Albert Zirkel (bronze, 145), Jerry Weinholz (bronze, 158), FC Warmbold (bronze, 158+)

1984: 13 medals (9 in men’s freestyle, 4 in Greco-Roman)
20 weights: (10 FS, 10 GR): 65% medal percentage
Men’s freestyle: Bobby Weaver (gold, 105.5), Randy Lewis (gold, 136.5), Dave Schultz (gold, 163), Mark Schultz (gold 180.5), Ed Banach (gold, 198), Lou Banach (gold, 220), Bruce Baumgartner (gold, 286), Barry Davis (silver, 125.5), Andy Rein (silver, 149.5)
Greco-Roman: Steve Fraser (gold, 198), Jeff Blatnick (gold, 286), Greg Gibson (silver, 220), Jim Martinez (bronze, 149.5)

2020: 9 medals (5 in men’s freestyle, 4 in women’s freestyle)**
18 weights (6 FS, 6 GR, 6 W): 50% medal percentage
Men’s Freestyle: David Taylor (gold, 189), Gable Steveson (gold, 275), Kyle Snyder (silver, 213.75), Thomas Gilman (bronze, 125), Kyle Dake (bronze, 163)
Women’s Freestyle – Tamyra Mensah Stock (gold, 149.5), Adeline Gray (silver, 167.5), Sarah Hildebrandt (bronze, 110), Helen Maroulis (bronze, 125.5)
** - 2020 Olympics held in August 2021 due to COVID pandemic

1992: 8 medals (6 in men’s freestyle, 2 in Greco-Roman)
20 weights: (10 FS, 10 GR): 40% medal percentage
Men’s freestyle: John Smith (gold, 136.5), Kevin Jackson (gold, 180.5), Bruce Baumgartner (gold, 286), Zeke Jones (silver, 114.5), Kenny Monday (silver, 163), Chris Campbell (bronze, 198)
Greco-Roman - Dennis Koslowski (silver, 220), Rodney Smith (bronze, 149.5)

1996: 8 medals (5 in men’s freestyle, 3 in Greco-Roman)
20 weights: (10 FS, 10 FS): 40% medal percentage
Men’s Freestyle: Kendall Cross (gold, 125.5), Tom Brands (gold, 136.5), Kurt Angle (gold, 220), Townsend Saunders (silver, 149.5), Bruce Baumgartner (bronze, 286)
Greco-Roman - Brandon Paulson (silver, 114.5), Dennis Hall (silver, 125.5), Matt Ghaffari (silver, 286)