There have been new World Champions for three straight years in this division, all who have legitimate shots at winning this division. There are also a number of other past World medallists in the field, making this a weight class hard to predict.    The 2003 champion was Gocha Ziziashvily of Israel, who is seeking to become the first Olympic champion from his nation. Like much of the Israeli team, he emigrated there, in his case from Georgia. Ziziashvili also has a World silver medal to his credit, and has placed in the World meet a number of other times.    Ara Abrahamian of Sweden was the 2002 champion, and placed second at the 2003 World meet. The 2001 World Champion was Mukran Vakrangadze of Georgia, who was also a 2000 Olympic bronze medalist. Vaktangadze dropped to sixth at the 2003 World meet. Both of these wrestlers are experienced and talented, and will have high confidence that they can win the gold medal in Athens.    Lurking out in the field is two-time Olympic champion Hamza Yerlikaya of Turkey. Besides winning Olympic golds in Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000), Yerlikaya won World titles in 1993 and 1995. He has not been in the medal rounds since Sydney and was seventh at the 2003 World Championships. There is no guarantee that he will get to compete in Athens.  Nazmi Avluca, a 1999 World Champion at 76 kg, won the gold medal at the 2004 European Championships.     As usual, Russia has a lot of options. Alexander Menshikov was a 1998 World Champion. He also won a World silver medal in 2002 and was fourth in the 2001 World Championships. Alexsei Michine of Russia was a World silver medalist at 76 kg in 2001. It was Michine who won a gold medal at the first Olympic Qualifying tournament to put Russia in the field.    The United States has a strong medal contender in Brad Vering, who was fifth at the 2002 and 2003 World Championships. Vering has gained confidence and experience at this division, and is aiming for a medal this time around. He looked strong in the Olympic Trials, but did not medal on the Poland trip in July. U.S. coaches have confidence that Vering is ready to make the next step up on the world stage.    Atilla Battky of Slovakia was the 2003 World bronze medalist. He placed fifth at the 2004 European Championships and out of the top 10 at the Pytlasinksi Tournament in July, not strong finishes leading into the Olympic Games.    Egypt's Mohammed Ibrahbim Abd el Fattah won the World bronze in 2002. He did not place in the top 10 at the 2003 World Championships, but qualified for the Games with a fifth place finish at the first Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Abd el Fattah and his teammate at 96 kg, Karam Gaber, have shown that Egypt can produce outstanding Greco-Roman stars.     Oleksei Dorogan of Ukraine won the World bronze medal in 2001. His entry into the tournament was a second place finish at the first Olympic Qualifying Tournament.    Viachaslav Makaranka of Belarus finished in eighth place at the 2003 World Championships, and was 10th in the 2001 and 2002 World Championships. He was also the gold medalist at the Pytlasinski Tournament in Poland in July, an important Olympic tuneup event.    Qualifying their nations for the Olympic Games by placing in the top 10 at the 2003 World Championships were Melonin Noumonvi of France in ninth place and Tarvi Thomberg of Estonia in 10th place. Thomberg was seventh at the 2004 European Championships, while Noumonvi did not place in the top 10 there.     Wrestling fans may remember Norway's Fritz Aanes, who tested positive at the 2000 Olympic Games for doping and lost his fourth place finish in Sydney. Aanes paid his two-year suspension and is back on the international scene. He was fourth at the 2003 World Championships, putting him in line to challenge for an Olympic medal in 2004.     Aanes is not the only athlete who tested positive for doping who might be in the field at this division. Behrooz Jamshidi of Iran was a positive test at the 1999 World Championships, and has also done a two-year suspension. He won the gold medal at the second Olympic Qualifying Tournament to place Iran in the field in Athens, and perhaps get a shot at an Olympic medal.    Levon Gaghamgan of Armenia placed a strong fourth at the 2002 World Championships, and was also a European runner-up in 2003. He qualified his nation for the Olympics by placing second at the final Olympic Qualification Tournament.    Greece gets an automatic bid, and their potential entry, Dimitrios Avramos, won a silver medal at the 2004 European Championships.     Gaining their nation entry into the Olympic field through the Olympic Qualification Tournaments were Andre Minguzzi of Italy, Ganarbek Kenjaev of Kyrgyzstan, Shingo Matsumoto of Japan and Vladislav Metodiev of Bulgaria. None of these athletes placed in the top 10 at the World meet in this four-year Olympic cycle. Kenjaev comes off a silver medal finish at the Asian Championships in 2004 as well as a fourth place at the Pytlasinski Tournament.    Nations qualified (alphabetically): Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Egypt, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, United States    Past gold medalists expected in field: Gocha Ziziashvily of Israel (2003), Ara Abrahamian of Sweden (2002), Mukran Vakrangadze of Georgia (2001), Hamza Yerlikaya of Turkey (2000, 1996, 1995, 1993), Nazmi Avluca of Turkey (1999), Alexandre Menshikov of Russia (1998)    Top World-level placement for Brad Vering: 5th (2002, 2003)    84 kg/185 lbs.-  Greco-Roman  1st at 2003 World Championships - Israel (Gocha Ziziashvilly)  2nd at 2003 World Championships -Sweden (Ara Abrahamian)  3rd at 2003 World Championships -Slovakia (Atilla Batky)  4th at 2003 World Championships -Norway (Fritz Aanes)  5th at 2003 World Championships - United States (Brad Vering)  6th at 2003 World Championships - Georgia (Murhban Vakhtangadze)  7th at 2003 World Championnships -Turkey (Hamza Yerlikaya or Nazmi Avluca)  8th at 2003 World Championships - Belarus (Viachaslav Makaranka or Vasili Tsilent)  9th at 2003 World Championships - France (Melonin Noumonvi)  10th at 2003 World Championships - Estonia (Tarvi Thomberg)  Host Nation entry - Greece (Dimitrios Avramis)  1st at Olympic Qualifier #1 - Russia (Alexei Michine or Alexander Menshikov)  2nd at Olympic Qualifier #1-Ukraine (Alexandre Daragan)  3rd at Olympic Qualifier #1 - Italy (Andre Minguzzi)  4th at Olympic Qualifier #1 -Kyrgyzstan (Ganarbek Kenjaev)  5th at Olympic Qualifier #1 - Egypt (Mohammed Abd El Fatah)  1st at Olympic Qualifier #2 - Iran (Behrouz Jamshidi)  2nd at Olympic Qualifier #2 -Armenia (Levon Gaghamgan)  3rd at Olympic Qualifier #2 -Japan (Shingo Matsumoto)  4th at Olympic Qualifier #2 -Bulgaria (Vladislav Metodiev)    RECENT WORLD AND OLYMPIC RESULTS    2003 World Championships results  84 kg/185 lbs. - Gold - Gocha Ziziashvilly (Israel) won by ref. dec. over Ara Abrahamian (Sweden), 2-0, ot, 9:00; Bronze - Attila Batky (Slovakia) decl Fritz Aanes (Norway), 3-2; 5th - Brad Vering (USA); 6th -  Murhban Vakhtangadze (Georgia); 7th - Hamza Yerlikaya (Turkey); 8th -  Viachaslav Makaranka (Belarus); 9th - Melonin Noumonvi (France); 10th - Tarvi Thomberg (Estonia)    2002 World Championships results   84 kg/185 lbs. - Gold - Ara Abrahamian (Sweden) dec. Aleksandre Menshikov (Russia), 3-1; Bronze - Mohamed Ibrahim Abd El Fattah (Egypt) dec. Levon Geghamyan (Armenia), 5-0; 5th - Brad Vering (United States); 6th - Hamza Yerlikaya (Turkey); 7th - Bojan Mijatov (Yugoslavia); 8th - Cotcha Tsitsiashvili (Israel); 9th - Mukhran Vakhtangadze (Georgia); 10th - Viachaslav Makaranka (Belarus)    2001 World Championships results   85 kg/187.25 lbs. - Gold  - Mukran Vakrangadze (Georgia) won by ref. dec. over Matt Lindland (United States), 2-1, ot; Bronze  - Oleksei Dorogan (Ukraine) dec. Alexandre Menshikov (Russia), 3-2, ot, 6:33; 5th - Sandor Bardosi (Hungary); 6th - Martin Lidberg (Sweden); 7th - Luis Mendez (Cuba); 8th - Evgeniy Erofaylov (Uzbekistan); 9th - Hamza Yerlikaya (Turkey); 10th - Viachaslau Makaranka (Bel