A total of 87 athletes from 36 nations across the world weighed-in and receive their pool pairings at the Greco-Roman Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Colorado Springs, Colo., March 3.This is the fourth of five Greco-Roman Olympic Qualifiers held across the world from January - March 2000. Nations are only permitted to enter athletes at weight classes which they have not yet qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games.
Among the entries are seven past World or Olympic Champions: Ercan Yildiz of Turkey at 119 pounds, Rifat Yildiz of Germany at 127.75 pounds, Dennis Hall of the United States at 127.75 pounds, Islam Duguchiev of Azerbaijan at 152 pounds, Ryszard Wolny of Poland at 152 pounds, Marko Yli-Hannuksela of Finland at 167.5 pounds and Hamza Yerlikaya of Turkey at 187.25 pounds.
Five athletes from the host United States entered the tournament and received their pairings. The U.S. has already qualified athletes at three of the eight weight divisions.
Competition will be held on Saturday, March 4, with session times of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., and on Sunday, March 5, with session times of 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Admission is free.
U.S. pool pairings for Greco-Roman Qualifier
54 kg/119 lbs. - Steven Mays, Pensacola, Fla. - vs. Dariusz Jablonski (Poland); vs. Vicente Lillo (Spain); vs. Stoytcho Dobromirov Ivanov (Bulgaria)
58 kg/127.75 lbs. - Dennis Hall, Plover, Wis. - vs, Jose Joaquim Teixeira (Brazil); vs. Thomas Kathan (Austria)
63 kg/138.75 lbs. - Shon Lewis, Colorado Springs, Colo. - vs. Sevket Karapinar (Germany); vs. Emil Zdravkov Budinov (Bulgaria)
69 kg/152 lbs. - David Zuniga, New Brighton, Minn. - vs. Saiyinjiya (China); vs. Biser Georgiev Georgiev (Bulgaria); vs. Cam Weatherby (Canada)
74 kg/167.5 lbs. - Kevin Vogel, Temperence, Mich. - vs. Angelo Alberto Brea (Dominican Republic); vs. Leonardo Gonzales (Panama); vs. Sadiev Schukhrat (Uzbekistan)