This is a division loaded with World champions and medallists, with no dominant athlete in the field. It offers an opportunity to all athletes with a strong performance. There has been a different champion in the lightest Greco-Roman division for five straight years, giving numerous wrestlers confidence in their chances in Athens.    The reigning World champion is veteran Dariusz Jablonski of Poland. Going back in time, the other recent gold medalists were Geider Mamadaliyev of Russia (2002), Hassan Rangraz of Iran (2001), Sim Kwon-Ho of Korea (2000) and Lazaro Rivas of Cuba (1999). Every one of these athletes have the ability and the confidence to win it all when it counts.    Of this group, Rangraz and Rivas have had many outstanding performances lately, while there has been consistency problems with some of the others. Rivas second at the 2000 Olympics and third at the 2001 and 2003 World meet. He has dominated Pan American competitions since the beginning of his career. In 1999. FILA named him its Greco-Roman Wrestler of the Year.     Rangraz may have the most explosive skills of the top contenders. When Rangraz won the World bronze in 2002, many thought he would win it all that year too. He was tearing through the field that year. In the semifinals, he leading by 10 points when he accidentally pinned himself instead of completing the technical fall scoring move. Rangraz placed seventh at the 2003 World Championships, but has the capability of being dominant when he is wrestling well.     Korea has a two-time Olympic champion in Sim Kwon Ho, but their entry is expected to be Im Dae-Wong, who placed second behind Jablonski at the World meet last year.     Mamadaliyev is an experienced star from Russia, but there are other possible entries at this division. Renat Bikkinin won the 2002 European gold medal. This year, Sergei Petrov wrestled at the European Championships and placed sixth.     Another World champion in the field is American Dennis Hall, who won his title in 1995 at the next weight up. He beat friend and Olympic teammate Brandon Paulson in the U.S. trials. Hall was a 1996 Olympic silver medalist and 1994 World bronze medalist as well, the only American to ever win a medal of each kind in Greco-Roman. Hall is an unknown to almost all the opponents at this weight class at the Olympics, since he always wrestled at a higher division. He only competed at this division once internationally, and he won a gold medal at that tournament.     Ercan Yildiz of Turkey, a 1997 World champion, may also be an entry at this weight. Yildiz placed second behind Paulson at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Bayram Oezdemir won the European Championships gold medal in 2004, and if he beats out Yildiz for the Olympic spot, he will be a formidable challenger. Yildiz was second and Ozdemir third in the Pytlasinki Tournament, a major pre-Olympic tune-up in July.    This year's Asian Championships featured some star athletes at this division, with Kazakhstan's Asset Imanbayev winning the gold medal for the second straight year. He was followed by Im from Korea and Rangraz from Iran. However, Kazakhstan might be represented by Nurbahit Tenisbayev, who qualified the nation to compete in Athens in the final Olympic qualifying tournament.     A crafty veteran to watch is Romania's Marian Sandu, who was fifth in the 2002 and 2003 World Championships. Sandu was a World silver medalist in 1998, and won the European gold medal in 2003.     Another recent World medalist in the field is Petr Svehla of Czech Republic (bronze in 2003). Svehla won a bronze medal at the 2004 European Championships, a good sign that he is talented enough to compete for medals at the Olympics.    Another strong competitor from Asia is Japan's veteran Masutoshi Toyoda, who won a gold medal at the second Olympic Qualification tournament and has a number of World-level placements. Toyoda won the gold at the Pytlasinski Tournament, a major boost heading into the Games.    Greece received its spot in the Olympics automatically as the host country, and the Greek athletes may not be top challengers in some divisions. However, Artioum Kiouregian won the silver medal at the European Championships, which makes him a strong challenger, especially since he is competing in his home country.     This weight class features tremendous depth. Some of the other medal contenders include Marian Sandu of Romania, Uran Kalilov of Kyrgyzstan and Hakan Nyblom of Denmark. Making the field by placing in the top 10 at the World Championships were Svajunas Adomaitis of Lithuania and Oleksiy Vakulenko of Ukraine. Irakli Chachua of Georgia is experienced and has placed at many major events. Others in the field who qualified through the Olympic Qualifier were Hungary's Istvan Majoris, China's Jiang Shen and India's Mukesh Khatri.    FILA gave out two wildcards at this division, with Algeria's Samir Benchenef and the Dominican Republic's Jansel Ramirez getting added to the Olympic Games. It would be a long shot for either of these athletes to survive the pool competition at the Olympics, especially with the wealth of talent that came through the qualifying events.    A way to evaluate a weight class at the Olympics is to see how many past medallists were not able to qualify. This division had many talents who were not able to make it through the qualifying process. The most recent World medalist to miss qualifying for Athens was 2002 World silver medalist Nepes Gukulov of Turkmenistan. Past World champion Alfred Ter-Mrkrtchyan of Germany was not able to get in.     Nations qualified (alphabetically): Algeria, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, India, Japan, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, United States    Past gold medalists expected in field: Dariusz Jablonski of Poland (2003),  Geider Mamadaliyev of Russia (2002), Hassan Rangraz of Iran (2001), Sim Kwon-Ho of Korea (2000, 1996), Lazaro Rivas of Cuba (1999), Ercan Yildiz of Turkey (1997), Dennis Hall of the United States (1995)    Top World-level placement for Dennis Hall: 1st (1995)    55 kg/121 lbs.- Greco-Roman  1st at 2003 World Championships - Poland (Dariusz  Jablonski)  2nd at 2003 World Championships -Korea (Im Dae-Wong)  3rd at 2003 World Championships -Cuba (Lazaro Rivas)  4th at 2003 World Championships -Czech Republic (Petr Svehla)  5th at 2003 World Championships - Romania (Marian Sandu)  6th at 2003 World Championships - Kyrgyzstan (Uran Kalilov)  7th at 2003 World Championnships -Iran (Hassan Rangraz)  8th at 2003 World Championships - Denmark (Hakan Nyblom)  9th at 2003 World Championships -Lithuania (Svajunas Adomaitis)  10th at 2003 World Championships - Ukraine (Oleksiy Vakulenko)  Host Nation entry - Greece (Artioum Kiouregian)  1st at Olympic Qualifier #1 - United States (Dennis Hall)  2nd at Olympic Qualifier #1-Turkey (Ercan Yildiz or Bahram Oezdemir)  3rd at Olympic Qualifier #1 -Hungary (Istvan Majoros)  4th at Olympic Qualifier #1 -Georgia (Iraki Chachua)  5th at Olympic Qualifier #1 -China (Jiang Sheng)  1st at Olympic Qualifier #2 - Japan (Masatoshi Toyota)  2nd at Olympic Qualifier #2 - Russia (Guidar Mamadaliev or Renat Bikkinin)  3rd at Olympic Qualifier #2 - Kazakhstan (Asset Imanbayev or Nurbahit Tenisbayev)  4th at Olympic Qualifier #2 - India (Mukesh Khatri)  Wildcard - Algeria (Samir Benchenef)  Wildcard - Dominican Republic (Jansel Ramirez)    RECENT WORLD AND OLYMPIC RESULTS    2003 World Championships results   121 - Gold - Dariusz  Jablonski (Poland) dec. Im Dae-Wong (Korea), 6-5; Bronze - Lazaro Rivas (Cuba) dec. Petr Svehla (Czech Rep.), 5-1; 5th - Marian Sandu (Romania); 6th - Uran Kalilov (Kyrgyzstan); 7th - Hasan Rangraz (Iran); 8th - Hakan Nyblom (Denmark); 9th - Svajunas Adomaitis (Lithuania); 10th - Oleksiy Vakulenko (Ukraine)    2002 World Championship results  55 kg/121 lbs. - Gold - Geider Mamadaliyev (Russia) dec. Nepes Gukulov (Turkmenistan), 4-0; Bronze - Hassan Rangraz (Iran) won by tech. fall over Ashot Khachaturyan (Armenia), 10-0, 4:39; 5th (tie) Maria