It's time to make predictions for the 2002 World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships, to be held Sept. 20-22 in Moscow, Russia. The bases of these predictions are a mixture of evaluations of wrestlers' recent performances, educated guesses, hunches, luck, and other subjective factors, like hometown advantage.     But don't think there is any proven formula for making these predictions correctly, as each factor and others that may be unknown to us end up having unequal weights. In the recently completed 2002 World Freestyle Wrestling Championships, held Sept. 5-7 in Tehran, Iran, a brief examination of the gold medal winners will demonstrate just how hard it is to balance all these factors.    The winner at 55 kg was Cuba's Rene Montero, a 22-year-old competing in his first senior World Championships. Along the way he knocked off 2000 Olympic gold medalist Namik Abduallayev in the finals, and last year's silver medalist, Iran's Babak Nourzad, in the opening pool. So much for past records, experience, and hometown advantage.    At 60 kg, the winner was Harun Dogan of Turkey, who was 1999 World Champion, but lost both his opening pool matches in last year's World Championships to finish 30th.    At 66 kg, gold went to Elbrus Tedeev of Ukraine, who edged Iran's golden boy, Ali Reza Dabir, 5-4 in overtime. Tedeev was third last year, losing only to Bulgaria's gold medalist Serafim Barzakov, who had the hometown advantage last year. That factor wasn't decisive this year, as Tedeev beat this year's hometown favorite. Experience was, as the 27-year-old Tedeev had been a world champion before, in 1995 and 1999.    At 74 kg gold went to Iran's Mehdi Hadjizadeh, who turned just 21 after the event. This was his first major senior win. He finished sixth at last year's World Championships after losing in the quarter-finals to America's Joe Williams    At 84 kg the gold belonged to Russia's Adam Saitiev, no stranger to that honor. He was a 1999 world champion and a 2000 gold medalist.    At 96 kg, the winner was 30-year-old Eldar Kurtanidze of Georgia, who defeated Iran's Ali Reza Heidari in a close 2-1 overtime final. After bronze medals in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, the veteran Kurtanidze captured his   first world gold medal this year.    And at 120 kg, it was recent experience that played the major role. Russia's David Musulbes took it again, adding to his 2000 Olympic gold medal and 2001 world championship.    I ended up getting only two picks right, both from Russia: Adam Saitiev at 84 kg and David Musulbes at 120 kg. My pick at 55 kg, Babak Nourzad, lost his pool. At 60 kg, Oyunbileg Purevbaatar of Mongolia took bronze. At 66 kg, Dabir of Iran took silver. At 74 kg, Bouvaisa Saitiev of Russia didn't wrestle, but his replacement, Isagadzhiev, got silver. At 96 kg, Georgi Gogchelidze finished sixth.    See the pattern yet? That's right, there is none. So save your betting money, or better yet, donate it to a youth wrestling program.    In Greco, there seems to be even more unevenness in results than freestyle. Perhaps it is because there are more high-scoring throws which are few and far between, and very difficult to get on this world-class level. Whatever the reason, unless one's name is Kareline (who retired after 2000), from year to year there seems little certainty as to who ends up on top.    All that said, here are my gold medal predictions for the 2002 World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships:    55 kg/121 lbs. - Hassan Rangraz of Iran. I'm going with a hunch that we will have a repeat performance by last year's winner, the 22-year-old Rangraz. He appears hot, also winning the 2002 World University Championships. In major competition, he last lost to North Korea's Yong Gyun Kang in the finals of the 2001 Asian Championships. But Kang, also a 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, will likely not be competing, as North Korea usually doesn't attend the World Championships.    60 kg/132 lbs. - Roberto Monzon of Cuba. The 24-year-old Monzon got bronze at last year's world Championships. He only lost to world champion Dilshod Aripov of Uzbekistan 4-2 in the finals, but thendefeated 1996 and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Armen Nazarian of Bulgaria 3-1 in the bronze medal match. He has been wrestling since he was 10, and was a junior world champion in 1994 and 1996, and Pan Am champion in 2001 and 2002. This could be his year.     66 kg/145.5 lbs. - Seref Eroglu of Turkey. The 26-year-old Eroglu has, like so many other wrestlers, had an up-and-down career. He won a world championship back in 1997, but had to settle for 10th in the 2000 Olympics at 63 kg, when he drew eventual gold medalist Varteres Samourgashev of Russia in his opening match and fell 5-2. Samourgashev has since moved up in weight. Eroglu also didn't get out of his opening round pool in the 2001 World Championships, officially finishing 16th after losing to Hungary's Levente Fueredy, who finished 8th.     However, Eroglu seems to be on the rebound. He won the 2002 European Championships, defeating Vaghinar Galustyan of Armenia 8-7 in the opening round. Galustyan was last year's world champion at 63 kg. Fueredy also finished 8th at the 2002 European Championships. Eroglu also defeated Israel's Michael Beilin in the European semi-finals. Beilin was a world bronze medalist last year. So Eroglu could be the man to take it all once again thus year.    74 kg/163 lbs. - Badri Khasaia of Georgia. Khasaia, who turns 23 just days after this year's Greco World Championships, has been making his mark this year. He has won gold at the 2002 European Championships and the prestigious Pytlasinki Tournament in Poland, often a testing ground for the Worlds. This would be his first major world gold medal, if he can continue his hot streak.    84 kg/185 lbs. - Hamza Yerlikaya of Turkey. The 26-year-old Yerlikaya has been at the top of the Greco ladder for almost a decade. He won his first senior world championship at the age of just 17, in 1993. He won another world championship in 1995, and was an Olympic gold medalist in 1996 and 2000. He fell to 9th in the 2001 Worlds, only losing to Sweden's Martin Lidberg 6-4, who finished 6th. But Yerlikaya won the 2002 Europeans, beating Sweden's Ara Abrahamian 5-1 in the finals. He allowed few points, defeating Bulgaria's Vladislaw Metodiev 4-0 in the semi-finals, and Russia's Andrei Tcherepakhine 7-1 in the quarters. In his five matches, he outscored his opponents 30-3. He is my pick to remain hot for this year's World Championships.    96 kg/211.75 lbs. - Gogi Koguachvili of Russia, that is, if he wrestles. If not, Russia's Alexandre Bezrouthkine. Koguachvili is a five-time world champion, and won this year's Europeans. Bezrouthkine was world champion last year. Whichever man represents Russia takes gold.    120 kg/264.5 lbs. - Youri Patrikeev of Russia. He may not be the new Kareline, but then again, don't expect another one for a long, long time. Patrikeev, who turns 23 just after this year's Worlds, has already been near the top of the Greco heavyweights. He beat Mihaly Deak-Bardos of Hungary 6-0 in the finals of this year's Europeans, after losing to him in the Hungary Grand Prix. Deak-Bardos was a silver medalist last year, losing in the finals to America's Rulon Gardner, after Deak-Bardos also beat him in the 2001 Hungary Grand Prix. Patrikeev was pinned by Gardner in the 2001 World Championships after first leading in that match. But the American Gardner will not compete this year, as he is still recovering from his snowmobile accident in February that led to one toe being amputated and skin graft procedures being done. That leaves the young Russian Patrikeev as the favorite to recapture the heavyweight Greco crown for the country that had so long dominated at this weight.    I am also picking Russia to win the unofficial team title.     The wrestling starts Friday, Sept. 20, and goes through Sunday, Sept. 22. The home page in English for the 2002 World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships is:    http://www.wrestrus.ru/default_en.html    Expect, as always, there to be a special section on TheMat.com for this event, including live updates from Moscow. The U.S.