BYERS PLACES SIXTH AT SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT AT 1999 WORLD GRECO-ROMAN WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ATHENS, GREECE 
 Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) placed sixth at 286 pounds, the top U.S. performance during the 45th Greco-Roman World Championships, which concluded in Athens, Greece, Sunday, Sept. 26. 
 Byers lost his only match on Sunday, losing to 1-1 overtime referee's decision to 1996 Olympic bronze medal Sergei Mourieko of Bulgaria. Byers ended the competition with a 3-1 record. He was the only U.S. wrestler who competed on Sunday. 
 BYERS QUALIFIES USA FOR THE OLYMPICS AT HIS WEIGHT 
 By placing in the top eight of his weight class, Byers qualifies the United States for a position in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia at 286 pounds. 
 Byers, the 1999 U.S. Nationals and Armed Forces champion, was competing in his first World Championships. Byers defeated 1996 Olympic silver medalist Matt Ghaffari to qualify for the U.S. team. 
 KLOHS PLACES SEVENTH AT 213.75 POUNDS, CLAIMS OLYMPIC BERTH 
 Jason Klohs (Maple Grove, Minn./Minnesota Storm), who was defeated in the quarterfinals on Saturday, placed seventh at 213.75 pounds in the final standings. 
 Klohs' finish in the top eight of his weight class qualifies the United States for a position in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia at his weight class. With Byers and Klohs qualifying, the U.S. was able to qualify two of the eight weight classes through this first stage of the qualification process. 
 Klohs won his first three matches in the tournament, before losing to five-time World Champion Gogui Koguaschvili of Russia in the quarterfinals. 
 Klohs competed in the 1998 World Championships and was also the 1998 U.S. Nationals champion. He wrestled in college for the Univ. of Wyoming and the Univ. of Minnesota 
 CLARK PLACES NINTH AT 187.25 POUNDS, MISSES OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION 
 It was also announced that Quincey Clark (New Brighton, Minn./Minnesota Storm) placed ninth at 187.25 pounds. Clark fell one place short of qualifying his weight class for the United States at the 2000 Olympic Games. He won his first two matches, but was defeated in the quarterfinals on Saturday. 
 However, by placing ninth, Clark scored two team points for the United States. 
 U.S. PLACES IN TIE FOR 16TH AS TEAM IN THE FINAL STANDINGS 
 With a total of 11 team points, the United States placed in a tie with Poland for 16th in the final team standings at the Greco-Roman World Championships. Russia won the team title with 40 points, edging second place Cuba with 38 points. 
 The team was led by head coach Dan Chandler of Minneapolis, Minn., assistant coach Rob Hermann of Pensacola, Fla. and USA Wrestling Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser of Colorado Springs, Colo. 
 FINAL PLACINGS FOR HALL, ZUNIGA ANNOUNCED 
 The final placings for two U.S. wrestlers who were eliminated on Saturday were announced. Only athletes who place in the top 10 of their weight division score team points and are considered placewinners. 
 Dennis Hall (Plover, Wis./Sunkist Kids) placed 28th of 38 athletes at 127.75 pounds and David Zuniga (New Brighton, Minn./Minnesota Storm) placed 26th of 36 athletes at 138.75 pounds. 
 KARELIN WINS NINTH CAREER WORLD TITLE AND 12TH STRAIGHT GOLD MEDAL 
 Superstar Alexander Karelin of Russia won his ninth career World gold medal at super heavyweight, defeating Cuba's Hector Milian, a 1992 Olympic champion at 220 pounds, in the finals, 3-0. This is the 12th straight year that Karelin has won a gold medal, including three Olympic gold medals (1988, 1992, 1996) and nine World gold medals (1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999). 
 Three other gold medals were determined on Sunday: Kim In-Sub of Korea at 127.75 pounds, Son Sang-Pil of Korea at 152 pounds and Luis Mendez of Cuba at 187.25 pounds. 
 64 OLYMPIC BERTHS DETERMINED, WITH TOP EIGHT NATIONS IN EACH WEIGHT QUALIFYING  
 The 1999 World Championships served as the first and largest qualifying event for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. The top eight place winners at the 1999 World Championships in Greco-Roman qualify their nation to participate in the 2000 Olympic Games in their weight division. In total, 64 Olympic berths were determined at the 1999 World Greco-Roman Championships. 
 There are two other two qualifying phases for the Olympic Games. Phase 2 is a series of Olympic Qualification Tournaments. FILA, the international wrestling federation will host five qualification tournaments in each style during the months of January-April 2000. The tournament locations will include two events in Europe, one in the Americas, one in Asia and one in Africa. Three of the five events count for each nation entered. The top seven nations at each weight class in each style will qualify for the Olympic Games.  
 Phase 3 is the Continental Championships. The five continental events in wrestling are Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and Pan American, which will be held during April-May 2000. At each weight class, the top placing athlete at each weight class whose nation has not qualified for the Olympics will earn a spot in the 2000 Olympic Games. 
 Visit the USA Wrestling web page at http://www.usawrestling.org or the World Championships web page at http://www.wrestling.org.gr/wrestling/world99/main_en.html 
 1999 GRECO-ROMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS at Athens, Greece 
 U.S. results on Sunday, September 26 
 130 kg/286 lbs. - Dremiel Byers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) - lost by ref. dec. to Sergei Mouryeko (Bulgaria), 1-1, ot, 9:00. Byers placed sixth. 
 Final results 
 54 kg/119 lbs. - Gold - Lazaro Rivas (Cuba) dec. Tae-Yeon Ha (Korea), 7-0; Bronze - Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan (Germany) dec. Ralymzhan Assembekov (Kazakhstan), 3-0, ot, 7:18; 5th -Boris Amertsomov (Russia); 6th - Gyon Kang Kong (N. Korea); 7th - Peter Suemla (Czech Rep.); 8th - Alexander Tsertsvadse (Georgia); 9th - Tero Katajisto (Finland); 10th - Natig Eyvasov (Azerbaijan) 
 58 kg/127.75 lbs. - Gold - Kim In-Sub (Korea) won by ref. dec. over Yuri Melnitchenko (Kazakhstan), 2-0, ot, 9:00; 3rd - Armen Nazarian (Bulgaria) dec. Igor Piatrenko (Belarus), 6-0; 5th - Constantin Borascu (Romania); 6th - Sheng Zetian (China); 7th - Ivan Majoros (Hungary); 8th - Dilshod Aripov (Uzbekistan); 9th - Ali Ashkani-Agheolach (Iran); 10th - Evstathios Theodossiadis (Greece) 
 63 kg/138.75 lbs. - Gold Medal - Mkkhtar Manoukyan (Kazakhstan) dec. Seref Eroglu (Turkey), 4-0; Bronze Medal - Michial Beilin (Israel) dec. Bachodyr Kurbanov (Uzbekistan), 4-2; 5th - Eduard Aplevitch (Belarus); 6th - Ricardo Magni (Italy); 7th - Grygoriy Komyshenko (Ukraine); 8th - Park Young-Sin (Korea); 9th - Wlodzimierz Zadwadzki (Poland); 10th - Peter Ronai (Hungary) 
 69 kg/152 lbs. - Gold - Son Sang-Pil (Korea) dec. Alexander Tretiakov (Russia), 4-0; Bronze - Vladimir Kapytav (Belarus) won by ref. dec. over Csaba Hirbik (Hungary), 4-4, ot, 9:00; 5th - Ghani Yalouz (France); 6th - Liubal Colas (Cuba); 7th - Parviz Zaidvand (Iran); 8th - Rustem Adji (Ukraine); 9th - Adam Juretzko (Germany); 10th - Vagar Aslanov (Azerbaijan) 
 76 kg/167.5 lbs. - Gold - Nazmi Avluca (Turkey) won by tech. fall over Yvon Riemer (France), 10-0, 2:41; Bronze - Dimitrios Avramis (Greece) dec. Tariel Melelashvili (Georgia), 5-0; 5th - Tamas Barzicza (Hungary); 6th - Murat Kardanov (Russia); 7th - Ara Abrahamian (Sweden); 8th - Levon Geganyan (Armenia); 9th - Filiberto Azcuy (Cuba); 10th - Marko Yli-Hannuksela (Finland) 
 85 kg/187.25 lbs.  - Gold - Luis Mendez (Cuba) dec. Thomas Zander (Germany), 5-1; Bronze - Behrooz Jamshidi (Iran) dec. Raatbek Sanatbayev (Kyrgyzstan), 3-1; 5th - Marko Asell (Finland); 6th - Martin Lidberg (Sweden); 7th - Toomas Proovel (Estonia); 8th - Valeri Tsvlente (Belarus); 9th - Quincey Clark (United States); 10th - Aleksan Sardaryan (Ukraine) 
 97 kg/213.75 lbs. - Gold  - Gogui Koguaschvili (Russia) dec. Andrzej Wronski (Poland), 4-0; Bronze - Mikael Ljungberg (Sweden) dec. Hakki Basar (Turkey), 4-2; 5th - Genadi Chkhaidze (Georgia); 6th - Urs Burgler (Switzerland); 7th - Jason Klohs (USA); 8th - Marek Svec (Czech Repub