Summer Olympics 2000 Golden touch not there for Lindland

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Tuesday, September 26
Golden touch not there for Lindland
Associated Press

SYDNEY, Australia -- Matt Lindland lost. And this time, there was no appeal and no debate.

Lindland, who successfully overturned his loss in the U.S. trials with a lengthy legal fight, lost 3-0 to Mourat Kardanov of Russia for the Olympic gold medal in 167½ pound (76 kg) Greco-Roman wrestling Tuesday.

Lindland wasn't expected to get even a silver -- he didn't place in last year's world championships, and he has had relatively few high world finishes.

"I lost to a Russian for a gold medal in the Olympics. That's not bad," Lindland said.

Still, he was clearly disappointed with his loss to Kardanov, who, like Lindland, was one of the least-decorated of the Greco-Roman finalists. Kardanov has won only one world-level medal, a bronze in 1993.

"He's a tough competitor, but this is not what I wanted," Lindland said. "If the match had gone nine minutes (into overtime), maybe it might have been different."

Garrett Lowney, a 20-year-old with no prior senior-level international competition, got a surprise bronze medal for the United States, beating Konstantinos Thanos of Greece 3-1 in 6:53 at 213½ pounds (97 kg).

Lowney, unknown to most of the other wrestlers in his weight class, stunned five-time world champion and gold-medal favorite Gogui Koguachvili of Russia 8-3 before losing in the semifinals.

"After the (U.S.) trials, I started believing I could compete here, and it just started to steamroll," said Lowney, a freestyle wrestler at Minnesota. "Once I got here, I knew I had a shot."

Lindland, 30, was taken down at 57 seconds to fall behind 1-0, then was turned at the 1:20 mark to trail 3-0. Kardanov now had the required three points to win without sending the match into overtime, and he shut down his offense and went into a defensive mode.

Lindland had a chance with four minutes gone in the six-minute match, applying a gut wrench -- locking his arms around Kardanov's midsection -- in a move that often leads to scoring.

But Kardanov successfully fought off Lindland, and the referee finally waved the wrestlers back to the standup neutral position with no scoring awarded.

"When he got on top, I was dry and he was able to work me, and when I got on top he was wet and I couldn't do what I wanted to do," Lindland said. "He defended it, and that's how it ended."

Lindland lost to Keith Sieracki in the U.S. trials in Dallas in June, but successfully argued in arbitration that Sieracki improperly used his legs; holds below the waist are barred in Greco-Roman.

Lindland then won a rematch with Sieracki, beginning a lengthy legal fight that ultimately extended to the Supreme Court before the arbitration ruling that ordered the second bout was upheld.

The 167½-pound class was considered the weakest of the eight in Greco-Roman and was the only one with no returning Olympic champions. The 10 weight classes in Atlanta were condensed to eight in Sydney.

South Korea's Sim Kwon Ho, the most dominating wrestler so far in Greco-Roman, easily beat 1999 world champion Lazaro Rivas of Cuba 8-0 to win at 119 pounds (54 kg).

Rivas was chosen as the world Greco-Roman wrestler of the year in 1999 by FILA, which regulates the sport, and was the gold-medal favorite.

Sim, a two-time world champion, also beat the bronze medalist, Kang Yong Gyun of North Korea 11-0, meaning he beat the other two medalists by a combined score of 19-0.

Kang avenged a loss in the bronze medal match in Atlanta by beating Andri Kalashnikov of the Ukraine 7-0.

Cuba also lost at 138½ pounds (63 kg), as Varteres Samourgachev of Russia beat three-time medalist Juan Luis Maren 3-0 in 6:43. Maren also got a silver medal in Atlanta and a bronze medal in Barcelona in 1992.

With Russian swimming star Alexander Popov among those cheering him on, Samourgachev beat two world champions in winning the gold medal.

Sweden's Mikael Ljungberg, a two-time world champion who beat Lowney in the semifinals, won 2-1 over David Saldadze of the Ukraine for the gold medal at 213½ pounds.

Akaki Chachua of Georgia pinned Beat Motzer of Switzerland in 1:57 for the bronze at 138½ pounds. Marko Yli-Hannuksela of Finland took the bronze at 167½, defeating David Manukyan of the Ukraine 4-2, then playfully tackled his coach and pinned him in celebration.

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