Salon.com > Luke Meredith

Uzbek wrestler wins 3rd straight Olympic gold

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 21:15:12 +0000

LONDON (AP) — As a young boy in Russia, Artur Taymazov wanted to be like Alexander Karelin, his country's most famous wrestler.

Taymazov later moved to Uzbekistan, but his goal remained the same.

On Saturday night, he finally became a three-time Olympic champion — just like Karelin.

Taymazov won his third straight gold medal in the men's 120-kg division, beating Georgia's Davit Modzmanashvili to become the third male wrestler to win golds in three consecutive Olympics — along with Karelin and Alexander Medved of the former Soviet Union.

By virtue of his silver in Sydney in 2000, Taymazov also equaled Karelin's Olympic medal haul in Greco-Roman wrestling. But he quickly acknowledged that Karelin should still be ranked higher because he's won more world championships.

"He's the name in wrestling, and I'm really, really glad that I've equalized with him on the medal total," Taymazov said. "I wanted to be like (Karelin), and now I am."

There had been questions about whether the 33-year-old Taymazov could make a gold medal run, but he has now silenced those doubters. He displayed the quickness of a teenager in beating Modzmanashvili in the first period, escaping a leg clinch and scoring in just five seconds to break a scoreless tie.

US wrestler Burroughs comes through with gold

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 20:08:31 +0000

LONDON (AP) — Jordan Burroughs had his eyes on the gold medal for months, and he let everyone know about his plans.

Then he delivered.

The 24-year-old American backed up all that talk at the London Games, beating Iran's Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi 1-0, 1-0 in the men's freestyle 74-kilogram division to give the U.S. its first wrestling gold medal in London.

Burroughs beat Denis Tsargush of Russia in a tight semifinal, then got past Goudarzi in a rematch of their world-championship bout in 2011.

Burroughs, who grew up in New Jersey, has won 38 straight international freestyle matches and is the first Olympian to claim the $250,000 prize from the Living the Dream Medal Fund, a program designed to support U.S. wrestling.

Dzhamal Otarsultanov took the men's 55-kg freestyle category, beating Vladimer Khinchegashvili of Georgia to give the Russians four wrestling golds at the London Games, tops for any nation.

Otarsultanov earned his first Olympic gold by downing the 21-year-old Khinchegashvili 1-0, 4-3.

Burroughs raised quite a few eyebrows when he made his Twitter handle (at)alliseeisgold.

He lived up to it with a brilliant run in London.

Iowa wrestling star refuses to face girl

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:07:00 +0000

A standout Iowa high school wrestler refused to compete against a girl at the state tournament on Thursday, relinquishing any chance of becoming a champion because he says wrestling a girl would conflict with his religious beliefs.

Joel Northrup, a home-schooled sophomore who was 35-4 wrestling for Linn-Mar High School this season, praised his first-round opponent, Cedar Falls freshman Cassy Herkelman, and Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black, who became the first two girls to make the state wrestling tournament in its 85-year history.

But in a brief statement issued through his school, Northrup said he defaulted on his match with Herkelman because he doesn't think boys and girls should compete in the sport.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times," said Northrup. "As a matter of conscience and my faith I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa."

Bob Feller: A larger than life ace

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:04:00 +0000

Bob Feller was a teenage pitching wonder, a World War II hero and an outspoken Hall of Famer for the Cleveland Indians.

In his tiny hometown of Van Meter, Iowa, he was the farm boy who never forgot his roots.

Flags flew at half-staff Thursday at the Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter, a short drive west of Des Moines, a day after Feller succumbed to acute leukemia at the age of 92.

Museum general manager Scott Havick says Feller was a patriotic, loyal and warmhearted man who wasn't afraid to speak his mind, and museum staffer Delores Jones says Feller always seemed like family, warmly greeting visitors and sharing stories of his time in the big leagues.

Feller won 266 games with the Indians and was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Tea Party billboard linking Obama, Hitler draws complaints

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:26:00 +0000

A billboard created by an Iowa tea party group that compares President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin is drawing sharp criticism -- even from fellow tea party activists who have condemned it as offensive and a waste of money.

The North Iowa Tea Party began displaying the billboard in downtown Mason City last week. The sign shows large photographs of Obama, Nazi leader Hitler and communist leader Lenin beneath the labels "Democratic Socialism," "National Socialism," and "Marxist Socialism."

Beneath the photos is the phrase, "Radical leaders prey on the fearful & naive."

The co-founder of the roughly 200-person group said the billboard was intended to send an anti-socialist message. But Bob Johnson admitted Tuesday that the message may have gotten lost amid the images of fascist and communist leaders.

"The purpose of the billboard was to draw attention to the socialism. It seems to have been lost in the visuals," Johnson said. "The pictures overwhelmed the message. The message is socialism." He said he didn't know of any plans to remove the sign.

But others in the tea party movement criticized the sign.