Iconic wrestling moments are just that: fleeting events.
This list is not meant to represent lasting influence or dominance, although some do fit that criteria. Rather, these unparalleled U.S. Olympic wrestling memorabilia are ones that will stand the test of time.
As we prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympics, here are 10 memorable moments.
10. Bill Smith’s Surprise Olympic Gold Medal
Smith famously won the bronze medal when tournament officials had to point to him at the top of the podium during the awards ceremony at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The former University of Northern Iowa star lost to Sweden in the round-robin tournament, but an Iranian player beat Sweden, and Smith beat the Iranian player.
Because the match ended so quickly, Smith didn’t look at his bad scores, the system used to determine the winner. The Council Bluffs, Iowa native thought he had won the bronze medal because he wasn’t able to pinfall the Iranian. To his surprise, Smith went on to win the Olympic gold medal in the men’s freestyle 73kg division.
9. Jack VanBebber reaches the Olympic final
Van Bebber had to run and hitchhike four miles to the gold medal game at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics when the former Oklahoma State University star learned that the schedule had changed and the final was just an hour away.
No transportation was provided, so he set out on foot and then caught a ride to the finish line. He won the race, beating four-time Olympic medalist Eino Leino of Finland (one gold, one silver, two bronzes).
8. Doug Blubaugh pins Iran’s Emery Habibi
Bourbau’s pinfall of Iranian Olympic champion Emam Ali Habibi in the fifth round of the 73 kg weight class at the 1960 Rome Olympics remains one of the most memorable moments in American wrestling history. The Iranian repeatedly tossed his American opponent, but Bourbau fought back and pinned Habibi onto his back for the fall. Bourbau ultimately won the gold medal.
Watch Bluebow’s dramatic pinfall of Habibi at the 1960 Olympics
7. Chris Taylor Launches
There are few more powerful scenes than super heavyweight Chris Taylor being launched into the air in one of the most spectacular and awe-inspiring throws of all time. The match became an iconic poster plastered in wrestling arenas across the country, but some details about the match are wrong.
Taylor competed in the 412-pound Greco-Roman and freestyle events at the 1972 Munich Olympics, then an unlimited weight class. The former Iowa State University star lost a controversial 3–2 match in the first round of the freestyle competition to Alexander Medved of the Soviet Union, a 10-time world and Olympic champion. Medved won the gold medal and Taylor won the bronze medal.
“The Throw” happened in Greco-Roman wrestling, when Wilfried Dietrich of West Germany threw Taylor with a belly-to-belly suplex, knocking him down. According to U.S. Greco-Roman national team coach Alan Rice, Dietrich hugged Taylor before the match, trying to get his arms around him.
Watch Dietrich pitch Taylor at the 1972 Olympics
6. Kurt Angle’s dramatic finish
Angle’s life would have been different had he not won the gold medal in the 100-kilometer freestyle at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. The Pittsburgh native was tied 1-1 with Iran’s Abbas Jadidi in overtime, where the judges decided the winner after eight minutes of wrestling.
Jadidi went to the scorer’s table and raised his hands in celebration, a clear sign that Angle might have lost. The Iranian tried to raise his hand, but the referee held him back and raised the American’s arm in the air. Angle dropped to his knees in celebration, and his moving celebration caught the eye of WWE president Vince McMahon and led to a long and illustrious professional wrestling career.
“I’ve been working for this moment my whole life,” Angle said in a tearful interview. “I can’t believe this happened. This is the best feeling ever. I didn’t know if I would have won. This is the best thing that’s ever happened. I can’t believe it. If I died tonight, I’d be the happiest man in the world.”
5. Rulon Gardner shocks the world
No one in their right mind would have thought that Rulon Gardner would defeat Alexander Karelin in the super heavyweight Greco-Roman gold medal final at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Why would you think that? Karelin had won 12 World and Olympic Championships and held an unbeaten record for 13 years.
Gardner sent the world into a frenzy, scoring the only point when Karelin released his hands during a clinch in the second period. The Russian nightmare retired after the bout, but Gardner proved it was no fluke by winning the world championship the following year.
4. Kenny Monday makes history
History will forever remember Kenny Monday as the first black wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal. His overtime victory in the 74 kg freestyle final against Adlan Barayev of the Soviet Union at the 1988 Seoul Olympics was a dramatic and emotional moment.
The newly crowned Olympic champion raised his arms in celebration before Dave Schultz, the current Olympic champion in his weight class, hoisted Monday on his shoulders and paraded him around the mat.
It was a landmark moment for wrestling and the progress of black wrestlers around the world. Monday’s win meant much more than an Olympic gold medal: It paved the way for black wrestlers to see what was possible.
“Some people, especially black wrestlers, who are now adults and have kids of their own, started wrestling because they saw me win an Olympic gold medal,” Monday said. “When you win an Olympic gold medal, it gives you a different platform. You can win an NCAA title or a world title, but the Olympics gives you a whole different platform.”
“I didn’t realise it until I won it. The impact of an Olympic gold medal is so much bigger. It’s on a global scale. I have Africans come up to me at international competitions and say I inspire them. It resonates with them. You don’t see that many (black wrestlers) so to have that happen is on a global scale.”
3. Brandon Slay surprises Bubaysar Saitiev
Things weren’t looking good for Slay when he faced Russia’s Bubaisar Saitiev in pool play. Saitiev had won the 1996 Olympics and had three world titles, so was the overwhelming favorite going into the match.
Slay scored with a powerful double and gut-wrench in the opening seconds, then Saitiev scored late in the period to tie the score at 3-3. Neither player scored in the second period, but Slay hit another powerful double in overtime to seal a shocking 4-3 victory and leave the American cornerbacks jubilant.
The Amarillo, Texas, native ultimately won the gold medal after Germany’s Alexander Leopold tested positive for nandrolone. Though he didn’t medal in 2000, Saitiev won Olympic gold medals in 2004 and 2008 and won nine world and Olympic titles before retiring.
2. Gable Steveson and David Taylor win gold medals in the final seconds
David Taylor was down 3-2 to Iran’s Hassan Yazdani in the final seconds of the 86-kilogram gold medal final when he unleashed a slingshot double to defeat the 74-kilogram Olympic champion.
Gable Steveson’s victory was even more dramatic.
Steveson was in control of the 125-kilogram gold medal bout against three-time world champion Geno Petriashvili of Georgia. The star from Apple Valley, Minnesota, was beating Petriashvili at will, but Steveson was leaned over, rolled twice and fell to an 8-5 lead with 13 seconds left.
And then the unbelievable happened: Steveson scored on a go-behind with 10 seconds left, then had the foresight to quickly get up, forcing the referees to return the game to neutral with 6.5 seconds left, and then he finally scored on a go-behind with 0.6 seconds left, after losing a challenge by a Georgia cornerback, to seal a thrilling 10-8 victory.
Watch David Taylor’s dramatic Olympic gold medal match
1. Helen’s Big Trouble
Women’s freestyle wrestling was introduced at the 2004 Athens Olympics, but it was Helen Maroulis’s breakthrough for the United States at the 2016 Rio Olympics, when she defeated Japan’s Saori Yoshida, a 16-time world and Olympic champion, to become the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling.
Yoshida pinned Maroulis twice at the world championships before the Rockville, Maryland, native claimed the 53-kilogram gold medal with a stunning 4-1 victory. Maroulis added to her legacy by becoming the first American woman to win multiple Olympic medals in 2020. She has the chance to win a third medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“At that moment, I was transported back to 7-year-old Helen,” she said after the match, “a small, shy girl who had just started wrestling and loved the sport.”
