Did he retire because he couldn't handle it, or because his dream was to win olympic gold and he accomplished it? I don't know. Did Cael refuse to take a picture after taking silver at worlds and storm out? Did he climb a chain link fence? Or did he handle himself properly?
He retired in his prime and Andy Hrovat was repping the USA for a number of years. Andy Hrovat couldn't sniff Cael's jock. No one could, really. Cael was sitting on the sidelines year after year watching Hrovat and the Joe Williams and Mo Lawals of the world lose year after year at world's knowing he could hop off the couch and beat them on the spot. Why else did Cael sit on the sidelines for 7 years or whatever it was before coming out of retirement in 2011? He could have been one of the all time greats. That's not what he wanted.
I don't know Cael's motivations, bud. I think we just disagree about basically everything. That's okay. I'm not going to stalk you and post pictures of you and your family.
thank you for that, i'm glad we have an understanding! I'm not even sure what we're arguing about, we are both rooting for the same team this time.
It must be very hard to wrestle Kyle Snyder for 6 minutes. The Mongolian was moving really well for 3:30. Was up 3-1, lost 8-3.
That kid is good. I think he's like 18 or 19 too. Won JR gold this year. When he matures he's going to be a guy that wins medals.
omg. I didn't even pay attention to the ref's call. He must have called 2 and 2. It was Turkey that was challenging, not Russia. The call was upheld. Gazi advances. He is a lucky SOB.
With Bat-Erdene wrestling Gazi in the quarters and Sadulaev looking like the tank of old, we might be looking at a situation where Team USA needs Bat-Erdene to beat Gazi to have a chance for team gold.
Ok, so, yeah, Sadulaev is back and killing folks just for fun. What he just did to Ibragimov... he's all the way adjusted at 97 now
Gazimagomedov knocks off Iakobishvili at 70kg, should just about lock it up for RUS on the team front
If Snyder beats him this time, wow, because Sadulaev is back to looking invincible. He is scoring at will, his gut is back and his defense is incredible.
I actually talked to Cael about his international career and whatnot and what he told me was something like..."I won the gold and I was pretty burnt out. It was time to do something different for a while. Obviously I made a comeback when I had the extreme urge again but I don't regret anything." Also, Cox and Dake should both win right?
Should might be a little much, but both are definite favorite. Dake's opponent, Hasanov, is the old man of the division. Very strong, tough to score on. Dake beat him at the WC and I'd expect him to do so again but Hasanov won't make it easy. The Belarussian Cox will wrestle has looked good, but the top of that bracket was a joke. Like zero international credentials so he's a total unknown. Cox has had his great defense back this tournament so I'd expect him to get it done
And we wrestled about our best tournament, slightly disappointing from Gilman and Gwiz, big disappoint from Green and bad luck for Stieber. The Russians just brought it and, when they do, that's usually going to be enough
Sanayev-Uguev is an incredible match. The Russians faking injuries is a fucking joke. How come they all get injured with 30 seconds left in the match?
Fitting Sanayev lost on the singlet pull, he got away with one on his takedown and at least another. Right call but gross way to lose it
So, Otoguro is my new favorite non-American wrestler. Good, 7-6 up on Bajrang after 1 period. Nonstop action and technique
Sucks that it ended like that but he was grabbing the singlet all match long. Glad it was finally called.
Last year, the WTT finals were Dake-Burroughs and Taylor-Cox, now all of World Champion next to their names. That's almost unreal depth for anyone outside of Russia. Awesome stuff from J'den after a tough World Cup
Gold and 2 bronze and still 23, not bad J'Den and they'll likely all be fighting for 1 Olympic spot in 2 years unless Dake drops to 74, yay.
Only 16 people have won four consecutive world titles and 12/16 are from USSR/Russia. Snyder has the opportunity to become the fifth non-soviet/russian to do it tomorrow. Dagistanli (TUR) '54-'60 (5) Mohaved (IRI) '65-'70 (6) Takada (JPN) '74-'77 (4) Smith (USA) '87-'92 (6)
This is pretttttty slick. She gets the 2016 Olympic champ from Canada next, and then likely last year's world champ from Turkey in the finals if she makes it.
Should be about 15 minutes for Snyder-Sadulaev II, thought they might save it for last but 97kg is going now.