FIELD FOR 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES WRESTLING COMPETITION SET; UNITED STATES, RUSSIA, UKRAINE TO FIELD FULL 16-ATHLETE TEAMSFILA, the international wrestling federation, has concluded its qualification process for the wrestling competition at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
The Olympic Games wrestling competition is not an open tournament. The International Olympic Committee has set a fixed number of participants for wrestling at the Olympic Games. The nations which provide wrestlers for the Olympic Games must go through a qualification process.
The approved total number of wrestling participants for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia is 320, with 160 Greco-Roman athletes and 160 freestyle athletes.
A three-phase qualification system was used, to determine what nations may send wrestlers to the Sydney Olympic Games. Athletes did not qualify themselves for the Olympics; rather they qualified their nations to participate at their weight class in Sydney.
The United States, Russia and Ukraine qualified full 16-athlete teams for the Olympic Games wrestling tournament, including athletes at all eight freestyle weight classes and all eight Greco-Roman weight classes.
Belarus qualified 14 wrestlers, seven in each style. Georgia and Cuba will bring 13 athletes to Sydney. Georgia will have seven Greco-Roman wrestlers and six freestyle wrestlers, while Cuba will have seven freestyle wrestlers and six Greco-Roman athletes.
Host Australia and Turkey will feature 12 wrestlers. Australia's team includes seven freestyle athletes and five Greco-Roman athletes, while Turkey will have six athletes in each style. Unlike the last two Olympic Games, the host nation will not automatically have a complete team, and Australia had to participate in the qualifying events along with all the other nations.
Iran will field a full eight-man freestyle wrestling team, along with three Greco-Roman athletes as well.
The first phase of Olympic qualifying occurred during the 1999 World Championships in both freestyle and Greco-Roman, where the top eight nations at each weight class qualified athletes for the 2000 Olympic Games.
The second phase of the qualifying procedures were the Olympic Qualification Tournaments, which included five qualification tournaments in each style. The tournament locations included two events in Europe, one in the Americas, one in Asia and one in Africa. Athletes scored points for their nation at each event, based upon their placing at the weight class. After the five events were concluded, the top three placements at the weight class were totalled. The top seven nations at each weight class from these events qualified for the Olympic Games.
The third and final qualifying phase were the 2000 Continental Championships, which included the Asian, African, European, Oceania and the Pan American Championships. Only the top non-qualifying nation at each weight class from the Continental Championships qualified for the Olympic Games. A special wrestle-off between non-qualified nations was held in many of the weight classes to determine the Olympic qualifier.
GRECO-ROMAN OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS (by nation) as of 6/1/00
Russia (8): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Ukraine (8): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
United States (8): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Belarus (7): 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Georgia (7): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Cuba (6): 54 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Korea (6): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 97 kg
Poland (6): 54 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Turkey (6): 54 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Armenia (5): 58 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Australia (5): 58 kg, 69 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Hungary (5): 58 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 130 kg
Kazakhstan (5): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 97 kg
Sweden (5): 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Uzbekistan (5): 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg
China (4): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 130 kg
Egypt (4): 54 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg
Finland (4): 54 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg
Germany (4): 54 kg, 58 kg, 69 kg, 85 kg
Japan (4): 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg
Romania (4): 54 kg, 58 kg, 69 kg, 97 kg
Azerbajian(3): 54 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg
Bulgaria (3): 58 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Czech Republic (3): 54 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Estonia (3): 69 kg, 85 kg, 130 kg
France (3): 58 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg
Iran (3): 54 kg, 58 kg, 69 kg
Israel (3): 63 kg, 85 kg, 130 kg
Tunisia (3): 58 kg, 85 kg, 130 kg
Greece (2): 76 kg, 97 kg
Italy (2): 63 kg, 130 kg
Krygyzstan (2): 54 kg, 85 kg
New Zealand (2): 54 kg, 63 kg
Switzerland (2): 63 kg, 97 kg
Venezuela (2): 85 kg, 130 kg
Algeria (1): 63 kg
American Samoa (1): 76 kg
India (1): 63 kg
Lithuania (1): 97 kg
Mauritius (1): 69 kg
North Korea (1): 54 kg
Norway (1): 85 kg
Turkmenistan (1): 58 kg
FREESTYLE OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS (by nation) as of 6/1/00
Iran (8): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Russia (8): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Ukraine (8): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
United States (8): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Australia (7): 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Belarus (7): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Cuba (7): 54 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Azerbaijan (6): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Georgia (6): 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Germany (6): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Kazakhstan (6): 54 kg, 58 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg
Turkey (6): 58 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Uzbekistan (6): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg, 130 kg
Bulgaria (5): 54 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 76 kg, 130 kg
Greece (5): 54 kg, 58 kg, 69 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Slovakia (5): 58 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg
Canada (4): 58 kg, 69 kg, 85 kg, 97 kg
Japan (4): 54 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 85 kg
Korea (4): 54 kg, 63 kg, 76 kg, 85 kg
Kyrgyzstan (4): 54 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 130 kg
Moldova (4): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg
Mongolia (4): 54 kg, 58 kg, 76 kg, 130 kg
Armenia (3): 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg
Hungary (3): 76 kg, 85 kg, 130 kg
Egypt (3): 54 kg, 63 kg, 130 kg
North Korea (3): 54 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg
Poland (3): 69 kg, 76 kg, 97 kg
Macedonia (2): 76 kg, 85 kg
Nigeria (2): 69 kg, 97 kg
Switzerland (2): 85 kg, 97 kg
China (1): 130 kg
Colombia (1): 69 kg
Guinea-Bissau (1): 58 kg
Ivory Coast (1): 85 kg
Latvia (1): 85 kg
Lithuania (1): 97 kg
Netherlands (1): 97 kg
New Zealand (1): 58 kg
Romania (1): 85 kg
Senegal (1): 85 kg
South Africa (1): 76 kg