Spencer Lee Captures Olympic Silver

One of the things I really dislike about freestyle wrestling is the 'push out' rule. In his gold medal match, Lee pushes the guy out twice in the 1st period and gets 2 pts. He pushes the guy out 3 x in the 2nd period and get zero points -- because in the 2nd period the guy is on his knees. Big deal -- you're either getting pushed out or you're not! I'd love to hear the justification for the difference, because I don't get it.
 
Really proud of Spencer. He has been on an absolute tear but ran into a very talented Japanese wrestler in the gold medal match. They were very evenly matched and it could have gone either way.

Japan has really stepped up these Olympics. The US men's team has disappointed somewhat but the future is bright. I'm not sure what happened with Dake. He looked completely gassed early, almost as if he had struggled to make weight. I don't know how that is set up for the Olympics, but there has to be some reason he tanked so early.

As far as freestyle rules, it can be frustrating. The knee down to avoid a push-out doesn't make a lot of sense, and the passivity clock at times seems completely random. I've seen wrestlers put on the clock literally seconds after taking a shot. That kind of random subjectivity allows for potential referee bias, IMO. I also don't think a wrestler should get more than one roll for back exposure unless there is a technique change, much like you have to change your grip on turns in folkstyle.
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Folkstyle isn't perfect, but I generally prefer it. I wouldn't mind getting rid of riding time and limiting a ride to, say, 30 seconds or so. If you don't get a turn in that amount of time, you return to stand up.
 

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