In the photo: The 2007 World Greco-Roman team champions from the United States. Bottom row (from left): Joe Betterman, Lindsey Durlacher. Top row: Justin Ruiz, T.C. Dantzler, Dremiel Byers, Harry Lester, Brad Vering.





COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The U.S. Olympic Committee announced Co-Team of the Month was awarded to both the U.S. Greco-Roman Wrestling Team and the U.S. Women's Gymnastics World Championship Team.

The USOC also announced that gymnastics' Shawn Johnson and cycling's Brian Lopes were its September Athletes of the Month. 

The month of September was also a month of firsts for the U.S. Greco-Roman Wrestling Team. The team became the first to win a world team title when they edged out Russia at the World Wrestling Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 17-19. The U.S. was trailing Russia 30-29, but a victory by American heavyweight Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo.) in the bronze-medal match ended up being enough to overtake Russia for the lead when Russian Khasan Baroev lost in the championship match. Byers' win earned the U.S. the necessary two points to earn the title, 31-30.

Brad Vering (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won a World silver medal at 84 kg/185 lbs., Harry Lester (Akron, Ohio) won a World bronze medal at 66 kg/145.5 lbs., Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won a bronze medal at 120 kg/264.5 pounds and Lindsey Durlacher (Colorado Springs, Colo.) placed fifth at 55 kg/121 lbs. The U.S. World team also includes Joe Betterman (Chicago, Ill.), T.C. Dantzler (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Justin Ruiz (Colorado Springs, Colo.)

The U.S. Women's Gymnastics World Championship Team added more world accomplishments to the list of U.S. feats the past month with only their second ever team title at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. The team earned seven medals and came home from Stuttgart with the honor of being the most successful gymnastics team ever at the World Championships. Along with Johnson's three gold medals, the rest of the team won a gold, two silver and three bronze. Their finish in the top-12 qualified a full team for the U.S. to compete at the 2008 Olympic Games.

In third place for the team vote was the U.S. Women's Eight for rowing. With a gold medal at the 2007 FISA World Rowing Championships on Sept. 2, the team achieved back-to-back titles in the women's eight for the first time in the 45-year history of the World Championships.  Unlike last season when the crew entered the final as one of the top seeds, the U.S. had to play underdog and overcome Romania and Australia, who were the favorites to win the race. The crew ended up defeating Romania for the gold by 1.13 seconds. The victory also gave the U.S. Women's Eight a spot in the 2008 Olympic Games.


Lopes (San Clemente, Calif.) also brought home a world title for the U.S. after finishing first in the 4-cross competition at the 2007 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Fort William, Scotland on Sept. 7. Lopes was nearly eliminated in the semifinal, but was able to recover and place second in the heat to advance to the finals. A flawless final allowed Lopes to stay ahead of top-seeded Romain Saladini (FRA) to win the event.

Second place for the men went to track and field pole vaulter, Brad Walker (Mountlake Terrace, Wash.). Walker topped the rest of the field by 5 cm with his clearance of 5.91 meters at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart on Sept. 23. Walker currently owns the top two clearances in the world this year and equaled the No. 3 performance at the event.

Wrestling's Brad Vering (Colorado Springs, Colo.) was part of the Greco-Roman team that made history at the World Championships and finished third in the men's vote for September. Vering had the top performance among the members of the Greco-Roman squad with his five victories in a row. His streak qualified him for the finals in the 84kg division, where he eventually was defeated and awarded the silver medal. His finish played a large role in the 31-30 victory for the U.S. in the team standings. 

He opened the tournament with a victory over Nikola Kinezvic of Montenegro, 7-0, 6-0, then defeated Bolat Abdullayev of Ukraine, 4-0, 4-0. In the third round, he beat Jan Fischer of Germany, 3-0, 4-0, the stopped Saman Tahmasebi of Iran, 2-1, 0-3, 2-1 in the quarterfinals. In dramatic fashion, Vering pinned Korea's Jung-Sub Kim in the semifinals in the second period, 3-0, 1:59. In the championship round, he dropped a 4-0, 4-0 finals match to 2004 Olympic champion Aleksey Mishin of Russia.

Johnson (West Des Moines, Iowa) became just the fourth U.S. woman ever to win the world all-around gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Sept. 1-9. The only other U.S. women to win the award were Kim Zmeskal (1991), Shannon Miller (1993-94) and Chellsie Memmel (2005).

While the all-around medal was the most impressive of her feats at the 2007 Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, Johnson also won two other gold medals to bring her overall total for the event to three. Her other two world titles came in the floor and team exercises. Johnson's performance for the team allowed the squad to win only their second title in history and the first at a World Championship outside of the U.S.

Second place for the female vote went to cycling's Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash.). Kintner won her third consecutive UCI Mountain Bike 4-Cross World Championship. Kintner earned the top qualifier spot in the head-to-head discipline and continued her success in the round of 16 to obtain the coveted rainbow jersey, signifying the best in the world.

Third place for the women went to judo's Ronda Rousey (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Rousey became the first American woman since 1995 to win a medal at the World Judo Championships. Rousey won a silver medal in the 70kg division on Sept. 14 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil after defeating reigning World Champion Edith Bosch (NED) for ippon (instant win) in the semifinals. Her victory against Bosch didn't come until she overcame a difficult route to the finals that featured victories over reigning Asian Champion Asuka Oka, 2007 Pan American Games silver medalist Mayra Emane (FRA) and the No. 3 ranked player in the world Ylenia Scapin (ITA).

Results

Team
1. (tie) U.S. Greco-Roman Team, Wrestling
1. (tie) U.S. Women's World Championship Team, Gymnastics
3. U.S. Women's Eight, Rowing

Men
1. Brian Lopes, Cycling
2. Brad Walker, Track & Field
3. Brad Vering, Wrestling

Women
1. Shawn Johnson, Gymnastics
2. Jill Kintner, Cycling
3. Ronda Rousey, Judo