The Women's World Team just returned from the World Championships in Greece with a pair of medals, a silver for Tina George and a bronze for Kristie Marano. The athletes and coaches were disappointed and rightfully so; this was a talented team with experience and good training.    This year's Greco-Roman World Team returned from Russia with fewer medals, one - a gold by the amazing Dremiel Byers. Many of Byers' teammates also had the skill and conditioning to secure a medal, but it did not happen. Why?    The problem is not that the USA is slipping in international wrestling. The challenge is that it is much, much harder to win a World or Olympic wrestling medal than ever before.    The days of four individual U.S. champions at the same World meet, like the American freestylers did in 1993 and 1995, and large medal hauls by one team, are just plain over.    There are lots of reasons, some of which are quite negative in nature, but certainly not in the control of the U.S. athletes and coaches. Winning a World or Olympic medal has always been a great achievement; I contend that in today's wrestling world it is harder than ever before.    1. Reduced number of weight classes for men    When FILA cut the number of weight classes for men in each style from 10 to eight to seven, the battle for medals became more fierce. More talented athletes were jammed into the fewer weight divisions. Instead of 30 medals up for grabs in each style, there are now only 21. The rest of the world continues to excel in both styles of wrestling. The sheer numbers game makes winning a medal much more challenging.    The stats tell the story. The U.S. in undeniably a power in men's freestyle. During the glory years of the U.S. program in the 1980's and 1990's, multiple champions were common for the USA. But since 1997, when FILA first cut back on the weight divisions, the U.S. has never had more than one gold medal a year. Our champions have been Les Gutches (1997), Sammie Henson (1998), Stephen Neal (1999) and Brandon Slay (2000). In 2001, the U.S. won no gold medals and in 2002, the United States was unable to attend the meet due to security risks.    The Greco-Roman team has won a gold medal for three straight years now, but they are all at the same weight class. This shows our tremendous depth at super heavyweight, not a trend towards easier medal opportunities. For our women, we have only once had more than one champion in the same year, 1999, when Trish Saunders and Sandy Bacher took the gold and Team USA won the overall title. Only three athletes have ever won a Women's gold (Saunders, Bacher, Marano).    2. Pool pairing system    FILA has never seeded the World tournament, meaning the sport's stars often meet in the early rounds and have knocked each other off. However, in some of the past pairing systems, an athlete could rebound from an early loss and still win a medal. Not anymore.    The pool system without seeding is Russian roulette, a pure game of chance. Way too often since this ridiculous format was chosen by FILA, top stars have met in the pools and a medal hopeful was eliminated right away. There is only one "true" medal anymore - the gold medal. Silver and bronze are often determined by the draw, not by outstanding achievement.    Even with this system, the best team usually wins, because they are so good that they can overcome the system. Yet the medal placements and team standings do not always accurately measure the rest of the field.    Consider our Women's World Team last weekend. The USA drew the best women's nation in the world, Japan, in three of its seven pools. The U.S. went 0-3 in those matchups. The U.S. had a chance in all of the matches, and two of the U.S. athletes held leads in their bouts before losing. It was razor close, but it went badly. Just because of this draw against Japan, almost half of the U.S. team was eliminated. Totally out. No chance to wrestle back.    In 1992, 37-year-old freestyler Chris Campbell dropped his opening match at the Olympics to Russian superstar Makharbek Khadartsev. Campbell's battle back after the loss to claim the bronze medal was a classic, a great moment for American wrestling. That opportunity has been eliminated by this unfair pairing system.    Only the champion is a "true" medalist anymore. In the spirit of true competition, this is perhaps the saddest situation in the entire sport.    3. Breakup of the Soviet Union    Although this happened in 1993, it continues to make winning a World medal an amazing task. The Soviet Union had the greatest wrestling machine in history, with depth like no other nation. Suddenly, almost a dozen new national teams were formed when the former republics went independent. Instead of beating one Soviet to win a medal, there may be up to 10 former Soviets in each weight class.    The transfer of Russian talent to other nations is one of the sins of international wrestling. It seems that a wrestler can change nations within the former Soviet Union without a problem. The Russian wrestlers are going to the highest bidder. At the 1995 Worlds in Atlanta, we caught a few Russians who entered for other teams, even though they had wrestled for Russia earlier in the season. FILA was forced to toss a few of them out of the tournament. Now, the countries have gotten smarter. They transfer out earlier, so the "move" can not be challenged. Visit the FILA database and you can find numerous athletes who have wrestled for more than one nation. Americans can't compete for Canada or Mexico, can we?    Many of these independent nations are building their own wrestling machines with youth from their own nation. This will help furnish an endless supply of Soviet-style competitors. This challenge does not go away over time. Also, many former Soviet coaches have been hired by other nations to teach their young athletes. Suddenly, new countries are stepping up in performance, because of the expertise of their coaches.    4. Women's wrestling in the Olympics    Last September, the IOC added women's wrestling to the Olympic program. That move was too late in the season to have affected the 2001 Worlds, but this year was another story.    The 2002 Women's World Championships was the largest and most competitive of any previous Women's meets. The countries had over a year to gear up their women's programs. The USA did the same, hiring a National Coach and starting a resident program. More teams had talented athletes on their squad. The stakes have been raised. The reward is much greater.    Young stars are being developed more quickly all over the world. Six of the seven 2002 Women's World champions won the world title for the first time. There will be fewer multiple World champions in the women's game than ever before, and the battle for silvers and bronze will be even rougher. Consider 48 kg Ida Hellstrom of Sweden who beat World silver medalists Patricia Miranda of the USA and Carol Huyhn of Canada in upsets, yet was only able to place third in her weight class.    5. The officiating    I'm sorry to say, there is still inconsistency and even unfairness in the way that international wrestling matches are officiated. You can make a case that there are still politics in the wrestling judging, in spite of the scandals that have rocked other sports.    Just try to beat a star from the host nation at the World Championships. You better thrash them good, or things could go bad. Just ask our Greco-Roman team what happened to Brandon Paulson in Russia this year. You should have seen the breaks that the young Greek women's wrestler caught on the way to her 51 kg gold.    Athletes are still vulnerable to bad calls, for whatever reason. But with only seven weight classes and the pool system, these questionable decisions are more fatal. If your nation catches a few of them in the same year, your team standing is shot and your medal count reduced.    Please give the U.S. athletes a break when looking at the medal results at the World Championships. Our athletes are as talented and prepared as ever before. They are facing a much more hostile situation that some of their predecessors.     Medals can b