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Summary of the 2008 Olympic Trials qualification procedures

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by Mitch Hull

Last year, USA Wrestling established the procedure to qualify for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Teams in Men's and Women's Freestyle and Greco-Roman. These procedures can be found on TheMat.com under Team Selection Criteria.

A summary of the selection procedures for each style is as follows:

Men's Freestyle - Qualification to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials
- Past World/Olympic Team members
- Top 7 per weight category from the 2008 Senior Nationals (freestyle) April 25-26
- Champion 2008 University Nationals-Olympic Weight Categories
- Champion per weight category at the four following Regionals:
Northwest Regional, March 28-30, 2008, Battle Ground WA
Northeast Regional, April 4-6, 2008, Brockport NY
Northern Plains Regional, May 8-10, 2008, Waterloo IA
Rocky Mountain Regional, May 15-17, 2008, Pueblo CO

For the complete freestyle qualification document, visit:
http://www.themat.com/forms/2008FreestyleCriteria.pdf

Greco-Roman - Qualification to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials
- Past World/Olympic Team members
- Top 7 per weight category from the 2008 Senior Nationals (Greco) April 24-25
- Champion 2008 University Nationals - Olympic Weight Categories
- 2008 Interservice Champion at each weight category
- Champion per weight category at the four following Regionals:
Northwest Regional, March 28-30, 2008, Battle Ground WA
Northeast Regional, April 4-6, 2008, Brockport NY
Northern Plains Regional, May 8-10, 2008, Waterloo IA
Rocky Mountain Regional, May 15-17, 2008, Pueblo CO

For the complete Greco-Roman qualification document, visit:
http://www.themat.com/forms/2008GrecoCriteria.pdf

Women's Freestyle - Qualification to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials
- Past World/Olympic Team members
- Top 7 per Olympic weight category and top 4 from non Olympic weight category from the Senior National Championships, April 24
- Champion from the 7 World Championship weight categories at 2008 Women's College Nationals
- Finalists from 4 Olympic weight categories and Champion from 3 non-Olympic World Championship weight categories at 2008 University Nationals
- Champion per weight category at the Northern Plains Regional, May 8-10, 2008 in Waterloo IA

For the complete Women's Freestyle qualification document, visit:
http://www.themat.com/forms/2008WomenCriteria.pdf

Olympic Trials Format in Las Vegas NV, June 13-15
The 2008 Olympic Games Team Trials will be held in a one day format. The Trials will be a line bracket double elimination to third place format. The finals will be a single match where the 2008 National Champion has met the criteria to sit out and meet the Trials winner in a best of three format. At the weight categories where the 2008 National Champion has not met the criteria to sit out of the Trials Tournament, the finals of the Trials Tournament will be a best of three matches. This will also be the case where the 2008 National Champion has been granted a delay of the Final Wrestle-off for the Olympic Team by the appropriate Sport Committee.

The criteria for 2008 National Champion to sit out of the Olympic Games Team Trials tournament and face the tournament winner in a best of three matches follows:

Men's Freestyle
- Top Ten finish from the 2005-07 Senior World Championships
- 2005 University World Medalist
- 2005-07 Junior World Medalist
- Multiple-time World Team member

Greco-Roman
- Individuals placing 5th or higher at the 2005-07 Greco-Roman World Championships

Women's Freestyle
- All 2008 Senior National Champions at the Olympic Weight categories will sit out of the Olympic Games Team Trials and face the trials winner in a best of three matches

Olympic Qualification Exception
At 60kg in Men's Freestyle, USA Wrestling must participate in the Olympic qualifiers in April. Because this will affect the National Championship participation for the athlete that will compete in the qualifier, the Olympic Trials competition structure will be modified depending on the results of the 2008 Senior Nationals and the Olympic Qualifier. Please check TheMat.com under Team Selection Criteria for Freestyle to read more on this or contact Mitch Hull at the USA Wrestling office.

We also have to participate in the Olympic qualifiers at 55kg for Women's Freestyle. If we need to compete in the Final Qualifier May 31-June 1, there will be a modification to the Olympic Games Team Trials at the 55kg weight category. This information can also be found on TheMat.com under Team Selection Criteria for Women's Freestyle.

The Olympic qualifiers for Greco-Roman are May 9-11 and May 23-25. Because these dates have minimal or no effect on the National Championships or the Olympic Trials, there will be no potential changes in the Olympic Trials structure at the 60kg and 74kg weight categories that we will be participating in the Olympic qualifiers.

To download a pdf file of this document, visit:
http://www.themat.com/forms/08OlympicTrialsProcedures.pdf


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