ABBOTT BLOG: My personal highlights from 2015 Las Vegas Worlds

Photo of World champions Helen Maroulis and Adeline Gray taking a selfie while posing for photographers at the World Championships by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers Are Warriors.


It has been 12 days since the conclusion of the 2015 World Wrestling Championships at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., and the memories from the week of competition remain very vivid. For those of us who were there in person, as well as the thousands who followed the action through webcasts, television, social media and the internet, there were many highlights from this year’s Worlds.


The United States very rarely gets the opportunity to host a Senior World Championships. This was only the sixth time in history that the event has been held in a U.S. city, and the first time that we have hosted since they combined all three Olympic styles into one event.


I have now worked three of those World Championships, the 1995 World Freestyle Championships at the Omni in Atlanta, Ga., the 2003 World Freestyle Championships (men and women) at Madison Square Garden in New York City and this year’s World Championships down in Las Vegas. Each of these competitions had some very special memories, and all three provided historic moments which have provided a lasting impact on the sport.


It was the goal of USA Wrestling’s leadership to host the best World Championships ever held in Las Vegas. There was a tremendous amount of time and effort invested in making the tournament as world-class as possible. Although it is not for us to make this judgement, those involved in running the World Championships feel very good about how things went last week. We have been getting much feedback from those who attended, and we appreciate all of the comments received so far. Please feel free to share your thoughts with our national staff and our volunteer leadership on how things went in Vegas.


I am sure everybody has different things which stand out in their minds as they look back on the 2015 Las Vegas Worlds. Here are the most prominent memories of the competition, a dozen days removed.


• Kyle Snyder is an amazing young man who gave an inspiring and historic performance on the way to gold. How is it possible that he is just 19 years old? We knew that Kyle was way ahead of his time, going back to the year he spent at the U.S. Olympic Training Center during high school and his Junior World title at the age of 17. During the second period of his finals bout against the monster Russian Gadisov, when he was trailing on criteria, I remember thinking that Kyle had one more takedown in him. Then Snyder hit the low leg shot and finished it off, taking the lead and getting the win. It was hard to believe it happened, but I long ago learned not to put any limits on what Kyle could achieve. He wanted to be the best wrestler in the world, and he was able to achieve that on his first try. Kyle now is aiming to be the best wrestler in history, the kind of goals which should drive him to more future success.


• What a night on Thursday when the USA had a pair of women win World titles, Helen Maroulis and Adeline Gray!!! Both came into the Worlds ranked No. 1 in the world at their weights. There is a big difference between being predicted to be a champion and actually making it come true. Earlier that night, there was a reunion of past U.S. Women’s World Team members. It is fitting that our pioneers were on hand for one of the greatest nights in the history of the American women’s program. Helen Maroulis had a great season, and showed dominance on the way to her gold. She should be in the hunt for future golds. Adeline Gray won her third title, this time with a dominance surpassing her earlier triumphs. She is truly one of our nation’s wrestling greats. I will never forget when we were able to get Helen and Adeline together on the stage after the finals in front of more than 50 photographers, posing together with their golds. It was a great promotion for these fantastic athletes and for women’s wrestling.


• Just when you think you’ve seen Jordan Burroughs achieve everything in our sport, he continues to add to his legacy. Now a four-time gold medalist, each of his triumphs have been different and special in its own way. Just a year after winning a bronze after suffering an injury at Worlds in Tashkent, Burroughs was healthy and wrestled with dominance and crispness. He had to beat a tough Russian in the semifinals, Aniuar Geduev, then lit up the scoreboard with a technical fall in the finals against a veteran Mongolian. Burroughs talked about this being his most difficult year, coming off last year’s injury, becoming a father and joining the coaching staff at Nebraska adding to the challenges of achieving greatness. After his gold-medal triumph, Burroughs said “I’m back.” Not only is he a superstar on the mat, he remains one off the mat. His press conference after the victory was awesome. Jordan says and does the right things all the time, a great ambassador for wrestling. It is no surprise that fans follow him around like a rock star, which they did in Las Vegas.


• Those of us around USA Wrestling every day already knew about Robby Smith’s amazing heart and passion for wrestling. However, his unbelievable comeback in the bronze-medal match against Russian star Bilyal Makhov showed everybody in the world what an inspiring man he is. Smith is way undersized against the tall and strong Makhov, and fell behind early, nearly losing by technical fall. But the energy and intensity that Smith showed in coming back before losing 8-10 will be remembered forever. When it ended, Makhov was slumped in a pile on the mat, while Smith reacted to a fired-up crowd. The USA coaches think Smith should have won that match, with an uncalled penalty after Makhov grabbed his leg and a possible pin which was also not called. Smith made a lot of friends for Greco-Roman wrestling with the way that he competed. UWW President Nenad Lalovic called it the greatest Greco match he has ever seen. No matter what you think of it, you will remember this match.


• My highlights from the American effort in Las Vegas includes three bronze medal performances, one in each style. Andy Bisek showed that he is truly one of the best in the world by winning his second straight World bronze medal. Bisek powered through the semifinals, where he was beaten by Denmark’s Mark Madsen, then rebounded with a tough victory in the bronze-medal round. Bisek continues to improve and inspire. On the women’s side, the perseverance of Leigh Jaynes-Provisor, a veteran on her third World Team and now a mother and wife, was also very memorable. In spite of years of challenges, when given this opportunity, she cashed in with a medal, something we can all cherish. She is an example that you should never give up on your dreams. Then there is the talented young James Green in freestyle, who was fearless in his approach to his first World meet. It was quite fitting that Green scored a pin in his bronze-medal bout, firing up the U.S. crowd and making us excited about just how great he will become in the future. James Green didn’t care that it was his first World meet;


• You can’t help continue to marvel at the Japanese women superstars Saori Yoshida and Kaori Icho, who continued their historic dominance with victories in Las Vegas. Their records stand by themselves. Both have won three Olympic golds. Yoshida now has 13 consecutive World titles, and Icho won her 10th World title. Combined, this dynamic duo have 29 career World or Olympic golds. Every year, you wonder if somebody will rise up and stop their streaks. Yoshida has been pushed hard in recent years by Sweden’s Sofia Mattsson, and needed everything she had to beat her 2-1 in the finals. Icho has been more dominant in her recent wins, a 10-0 technical fall over Petra Olli of Finland in this year’s finals. They head into Rio looking to become the first four-time Olympic champions in wrestling history.


• I will also remember the crowds at the event, and the tremendous atmosphere in the arena throughout the week. I felt the Orleans Arena was a great showcase for wrestling, and there were enthusiastic fans there for all six days of wrestling. The great part was when the American fans would get behind the U.S. wrestlers with their “USA” chants, and their response when an American made a great move. The place was truly rocking. I remember a few times when fans from other nations tried to get their chants going and the U.S. fans drowned them out. The final session on Saturday night, with a completely sold out arena and superstar Jordan Burroughs on the mat, had an electricity and excitement which matches any I can remember.


• This memory is not reserved to just this World Championships, but will be lasting. I continue to marvel at the tremendous talent and depth in international wrestling at this time. In all three styles, competing under the new rules, the athletes came out to wrestle hard. They were scoring points. They displayed great technique and determination. There was tremendous emotion because spots in the Olympic Games were on the line. Unless you have watched the international competitors in action, you truly do not appreciate how difficult it is for an American to win a World medal. A few talents come quickly to mind, such as Russian women’s star Natalia Vorbieva, Azerbaijan Greco-Roman wrestler Rasul Chunayev and men’s freestyle star Abdulsalam Sadulayev of Russia. I remember the joy of the German delegation when Frank Staebler won their first Greco-Roman gold in decades. There were some great bronze-medal performances and celebrations, such as Nigerian women’s freestyle bronze winner Odunayo Adekuoroye, who sang and danced with joy after she won, as well as Greco-Roman heavyweight bronze medalist Oleksandr Chernetskyy of Ukraine, who displayed powerful emotion after a sudden pin in his bronze-medal bout.


• One of my favorite memories will be the tremendous effort, teamwork and passion of our Press Operations volunteers at the World Championships. Bob Condron of UWW and I were tasked with putting together the plan to support the media at the Worlds, and it was something we worked on for almost a year. We had tremendous input from Larry Barnson on site in Las Vegas, Pete Isais and his National Events staff, Steve Brunner’s team at KOM and our Communications staff here at USA Wrestling. We pulled together a group of volunteers who were made available to us, and a few we had worked with before, and put a plan into action. Most of them did not know each other. Right from the start, this great group of people came in with a positive attitude and were willing to do whatever task was necessary to make the media feel welcome and to help give them the tools to do their jobs. They all did multiple tasks, chipping in wherever needed. I want to thank all of you: Jo Ann, Dan, Jon, Jean, Michelle, William, Nadine, Van, Louise, Gilbert, Gina, Karen, Tadaaki and Mark, plus all the others who helped when asked. I hope you are as proud of your efforts as I am of you.


Thanks to everybody who participated in some way at the World Championships in Las Vegas, whether a staff member, volunteer, fan, athlete, coach, team leader, media member and more. You were the people who helped make this memorable