Provisor and Smith suffer first round defeats, out of medal running at Olympic Games

Ben Provisor (USA) executes a lift on Rustam Assakalov UZB in first round match at 2016 Olympic Games. Photo: Larry Slater.

RIO DE JANEIRO – The struggles continued for the U.S. Greco-Roman men at the Olympic Games with Ben Provisor and Robby Smith both dropping their first match to non-finalists, eliminating them from medal contention.


Provisor was first on the mat for the U.S. team, and competed admirably against 2015 World silver medalist Rustam Assakalov of Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, the two-time U.S. Olympian was unable to overcome a late four-point throw in the second period and was defeated, 6-3.


In the quarterfinals, World No. 4 Assakalov was ousted from the tournament by two-time World bronze medalist and current World No. 2 Viktor Lorincz of Hungary, 2-1, dashing Provisor’s hopes to enter the repechage rounds.


"I have to hope that I can come back in four years and do it again. It sucks that I didn't have the chance to go as far in this tournament than I wanted to but it is a live-and-learn process. The last three or four years, I have not been able to be on this stage. Now that I have gotten on this stage, I know I can wrestle and bang with these guys as well as I can. I made one mistake. I let the refs get to me a little bit and it is what it is,” said Provisor.


The eccentric Smith led the majority of his match against World No. 15 Sabah Shariati of Azerbaijan after executing an arm spin early in the first period to lead, 2-0. Halfway through the second period Shariati turned Smith four times to go on top, 8-2, which would be the final score. Smith and Shariati were the fifth place finishers at last year’s World Championships.


“"I was prepared for this day. This is the day I have been looking for my whole entire life. I was very excited to wrestle. I was in the best condition in my life. I thought I wrestled a very good match. I was prepared to go four matches today. It didn't happen,” said Smith.


Following the win over Smith, Shariati was overwhelmed by defending World champion Riza Kayaalp of Turkey, losing by fall in 1:03. The loss prevented Smith from wrestling back for a medal.


"My teammates are amazing,” Smith continued. “This team is way better than how it performed. I don't know what happened out there. These guys deserve it. Everybody is top-notch. We are a band of brothers. We are strong. We will come back stronger. That is what we will do. That is who we are. We don't give up."


With no wrestlers qualified to compete in tomorrow’s 66 kg and 98 kg tournaments, the U.S. Greco-Roman team has completed competition at the Rio Olympics and will leave with no medals for the second-consecutive Olympic Games. Adam Wheeler was the last American to medal in Greco-Roman at the Olympics, grabbing a bronze in 2008.


“They have done everything I asked them to do,” said U.S. head coach Matt Lindland. “We have got to continue doing what we are doing. I fell in love with the team, the guys. They are a part of each other's lives. They are more than a team; they are a family.”


There were no surprises in terms of finalists on Monday with heavy favorites qualifying for the gold medal match in both weight categories.


Defending World champion and World No. 1 Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine will battle World No. 3 David Chavketadze of Russia for gold at 85 kg. The two met in the finals of the Golden Grand Prix Finals in Baku, Azerbaijan last Nov. with Chakvetadze emerging victorious, 2-0.


Two of the most credentialed wrestlers in history, World No. 1 Riza Kayaalp of Turkey and World No. 2 Mijain Lopez Nunez of Cuba, will meet for all the marbles once more. The two giants have met in the World finals three times with Kaayalp owning the series edge, 2-1. Kayaalp is a seven-time World and Olympic medalist and two-time World Champion. Lopez has earned 10 World and Olympic medals, five World titles and is looking to win his third Olympic gold.


Greco-Roman competition will resume at 3 p.m. (ET) today with the repechage rounds and medal matches at 85 kg and 130 kg.


Every match from the 2016 Olympic Games can be viewed live courtesy of NBC at NBCOlympics.com. Complete brackets and match-by-match results can be found at unitedworldwrestling.org.

2016 OLYMPIC GAMES

Aug 14-21 at Carioca Arena 2 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Finals Matchups
85 kg/187 lbs.

Gold – Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine) vs. David Chakvetadze (Russia)


Bronze – Javid Hamzatau (Belarus) vs. Repechage 1 Winner

Repechage 1 – Nikolai Bayrakov (Bulgaria) vs. Ahmed Saad (Egypt)


Bronze – Viktor Lorincz (Hungary) vs. Repechage 2 Winner

Repechage 2 – Denis Kudla (Germany) vs. Repechage 1 Winner

Repechage 1 – Habibollah Akhlaghi (Iran) vs. Saman Tahmasebi (Azerbaijan)

130 kg/286 lbs.

Gold – Riza Kayaalp (Turkey) vs. Mijain Lopez Nunez (Cuba)


Bronze – Eduard Popp (Germany) vs. Repechage 1 Winner

Repechage 1 – Sabah Shariati (Azerbaijan) vs. Edwin Caraballo Cabrera (Venezuela)


Bronze – Sergey Semenov (Russia) vs. Repechage 1 Winner

Repechage 1 – Heiki Nabi (Estonia) vs. Johan Euren (Sweden)

U.S. Greco-Roman Results

85 kg/187 lbs. – Ben Provisor, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)

LOSS Rustam Assakalov (Uzbekistan), 6-3


130 kg/286 lbs. – Robby Smith, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)

LOSS Sabah Shiarati (Azerbaijan), 8-2