When you speak about Greco-Roman wrestling on the world level, you start with Russia, then add everybody else to the list. Starting with the dominance of the Soviet Union going back 30 years, Russia continued to dominate this style of wrestling after the breakup back in 1992.    Certainly, Russia was dominant in 2002, winning the World title with 45 points, a full 18 points ahead of runner-up Georgia. In order to accumulate that many points, a team must put most of their athletes through the pools, then get a number into the medal matches. Last year, Russia had had two individual champions, one silver medalist and one bronze medalist, plus a few other place winners. This kind of depth is hard to beat at the world level. Winning gold medals for Russia last year were Geider Mamadaliyev at 55 kg and Varteres Samourgashev at 74 kg.    However, beating Russia is possible. Just a year earlier, in 2001, Cuba won the World Team title with a dominant effort, scoring 16 more points than runner-up Russia. This is achieved by winning gold medals and placing athletes into medal matches. Cuba was also third in the 2002 World Championships. Cuba is coming off a dominant performance at the Pan American Games, winning all seven gold medals. The team has a mix of experienced veterans and some new young stars, the kind of combination that wins titles. Everybody knows about two-time Olympic champion Filiberto Azcuy at 74 kg along with some other veteran stars, but young super heavyweight Mijian Lopez could be the team's star of the future.    These days, when you talk about Greco-Roman wrestling, you have to include the United States. After taking a unofficial third place with a three-medal performance at the Sydney Olympics, Team USA followed it up with a third place at the 2001 World Championships and a fifth place at the 2002 World Championships. The USA is showing consistency, experience and a winning attitude in the classic style, something that should help the team stay near the top of the standings moving forward. The USA has a three-year streak of gold medals at super heavyweight, something that Rulon Gardner will attempt to keep alive this year.    Georgia has developed a world-class team in both international styles. Just last week, Georgia won the freestyle team title in New York City. By placing second last year in Greco-Roman, Georgia has shown that its wrestling program is capable of great things. Georgia had a silver and a bronze medalist last year, but also put a number of other wrestlers into the top 10 in their divisions.    Bulgaria has returned to Greco-Roman prominence, placing fourth in the world in 2002. The team has been led by superstar Armen Nazarian at 60 kg, but is also showing an ability to score team points in a number of weight divisions.    European powers Turkey and Sweden were among the top seven teams last year, and both teams have strong individuals capable of providing many team points. Sweden had a pair of World champions last year, Jimmy Samuelsson at 66 kg and Ara Abrahamian at 84 kg. Turkey also had an individual champion, Mehmet Oezal at 96 kg. Turkey boasts a multiple World and Olympic champion in Hamza Yerlikaya at 84 kg. Turkey had a strong performance at the 2002 World Cup as well, which indicates a team with both talent and experience.    Egypt has developed a tremendous Greco-Roman team, with two medalists last year. The team has received tremendous coaching, and their athletes are competing at all of the major events. If super talent Karim Gaber can continue to excel at 96 kg, Egypt will have a national wrestling hero for a long time.    As usual, the independent nations that were former republics of the Soviet Union continue to do well in Greco-Roman. Along with Russia and Georgia, other former Soviet republics that placed in the top 20 at last year's World Championships were Uzbekistan, Armenia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.    Poland shocked the world in 1996 when it won the unofficial Greco-Roman team honors, placing ahead of powerful Russia. The team has not had that kind of performance since. Poland was 12th in the World Championships last year, but missed out of the top 20 in both 2000 and 2001. Poland has enough solid competitors that it should remain a threat in the team race.    Greco-Roman wrestling has traditional roots in places such as Hungary, Greece and Romania, nations that have enough strong individuals to score team points at the World Championships.     Iran, which has always been a freestyle power, has become a successful nation in Greco-Roman as well. Iran was tied for fifth at the 2001 World Championships and was 14th at the 2002 World meet. Traditionally, Korea was the top Greco-Roman power in Asia, but Iran may have moved past them in recent years. Korea was also tied in fifth at the 2001 World meet, but did not score a single point in the 2002 World Championships.    Nations such as Israel, Germany, Estonia, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Norway and others are challengers for a spot in the world's top 20 in Greco-Roman.    So, Russia enters the Greco-Roman World Championships as the team to beat, just like every other year. Cuba, Georgia, the United States and other nations are hoping to have enough horses in the race to stay with Russia, and possibly pass them in the finals standings. The name of the game is surviving the pool competitions (meaning luck of the draw is very important), and the nations that can do that in France this year will have strong team finishes.    RECENT WORLD AND OLYMPIC RESULTS    2002 World Championships results   1. Russia, 45 pts.; 2. Georgia, 27 pts.; 3. Cuba, 26 pts.; 4. Bulgaria, 22 pts.; 5. United States, 22 pts.; 6. Turkey, 21 pts.; 7. Sweden, 20 pts.; 8. Egypt, 17 pts.; 9. Uzbekistan, 17 pts.; 10. Armenia, 16 pts.; 11. Hungary, 15 pts.; 12. Poland, 15 pts.; 13. Ukraine, 15 pts.; 14. Iran, 13 pts.; 15. Greece, 11 pts.; 16.  (tie) Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, 9 pts.; 18. Romania, 8 pts.; 19. Israel, 8 pts.; 20. Germany, 8 pts.; 21. (tie) Estonia and Slovakia, 6 pts.; 23. Yugoslavia, 6 pts.; 24. Moldova, 4 pts.; 25. (tie) Italy and Czech Republic, 4 pts.; 27. Belarus, 4 pts.; 28. Kazakhstan, 3 pts.; 29. (tie) Finland and Norway, 2 pts.; 31. (tie) Japan and China, 1 pt.    2001 World Championships results   1. Cuba, 54 pts.; 2. Russia, 38; 3. United States, 33; 4. Sweden, 26; 5.(tie) Iran, Korea and Hungary, 24; 8. Ukraine, 23; 9. Armenia, 19; 10. Uzbekistan, 18; 11. (tie) Georgia and Bulgaria, 17; 13. Belarus, 12; 14. Turkey, 11; 15. (tie) Greece, Romania and Kazakhstan, 9; 18. (tie) Israel and Czech Republic, 8; 20 (tie) Kyrgyzstan and China, 7    2000 Olympic Games results   Unofficial team standings for Greco-Roman: Russia, 41 pts; Cuba, 39 pts.; United States, 37 pts.; Ukraine, 34 pts.; Korea, 32 pts.; Georgia, 25 pts.; Belarus, 20 pts.; Sweden, 19 pts.; Turkey, 14 pts.; Japan, 14 pts.; Israel, 14 pts.; China, 13 pts.; Germany, 13 pts.; Switzerland, 11 pts.; Bulgaria, 10 pts.; Kazakhstan, 10 pts.; Norway, 9 pts.; Azerbaijan, 9 pts.; Finland, 8 pts.; People's Republic of Korea, 8 pts.; Estonia, 8 pts.; Greece, 7 pts.; Uzbekistan, 7 pts.; Iran, 6 pts.; Poland, 6 pts.; Italy, 4 pts.; Romania, 4 pts.; Lithuania, 3 pts.; Kyrgyzstan, 3 pts.; Czech Republic, 2 pts.; Egypt, 2 pts.; Turkmenistan, 1 pt.