The night before he competed at the London Olympics, Jordan Burroughs sent out a tweet:
A highly confident tweet from a highly confident guy. After all, you don’t make your Twitter handle @alliseeisgold unless you plan to back that sort of talk up.
And back it up he did. Burroughs went out the next day and won a gold medal.
“I will never tweet that again, put it that way,” Burroughs told NBC Olympics. “The older you get, the more perspective you gain and you don’t do crazy stuff like that because now the expectations are high.”
The expectations certainly are high. Burroughs has won a major global title (world or Olympic) four of the last five years and is the current world No. 1 in the 74kg (163 lbs) division. With a career international record of 129-2, he enters competition as the gold medal favorite.
He could be challenged early though. Assuming Burroughs gets past his first bout, the draw is set up for a potential matchup against Russia’s Aniuar Geduev, the world No. 2, in the quarterfinals.
When he won gold in London, Burroughs’ defining match came in the semifinals against another Russian, Denis Tsargush. The two wrestlers, who have combined to win every 74kg world title since 2009, developed an exciting rivalry. Burroughs beat Tsargush in London, but Tsargush got revenge at the 2014 World Championships by handing Burroughs one of his two career losses.
More recently though, Tsargush has been unseated as Russia’s top option at 74kg. Geduev essentially locked up his spot on the Olympic team when he defeated Tsargush at this year’s Russian Nationals.
The winner of the match will still have to win two more bouts before they can lay claim to a gold medal, but when all is said and done, a Burroughs/Geduev showdown could go down as the day’s most pivotal duel.
Coverage starts with the preliminary rounds of men’s 74kg and 57kg freestyle wrestling at 9 a.m. ET and will conclude in the final session at 3 p.m. ET. Details on how to watch and more info on the field are below.
Schedule and live stream
Prelims: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET
Live stream: Mat A | Mat B | Mat C
Preliminary rounds all the way up through the semifinals will take place during the morning session, with competition taking place on three mats.
Finals: 3: p.m. – 6 p.m. ET
Live stream: Finals
The final session will feature repechage matches, bronze medal matches and gold medal matches.
All live streams will be archived as replays shortly after the event ends.
Men’s freestyle 57kg
Pre-Olympic world rankings of entrants
No. 1: Vladimir Khinchegashvili (GEO)
No. 1 at 61kg: Haji Aliev (AZE)
No. 2: Hassan Rahimi (IRI)
No. 3: Yowlys Bonne (CUB)
No. 3 at 61kg: Vladimir Dubov (BUL)
No. 4: Erdenebat Bekhbayar (MGL)
No. 7: Viktor Lebedev (RUS)
No. 8: Nurislam Sanayev (KAZ)
No. 10: Rei Higuchi (JPN)
No. 11: Sandeep Tomar (IND)
No. 15: Daniel Dennis (USA)
No. 13: Suleyman Atli (TUR)
No. 16: Ivan Guidea (ROU)
No. 18: Garnik Mnatsakanyan (ARM)
No. 19: Adama Diatta (SEN)
No. 20: Abbos Rakhmonov (UZB)
NR: Chakir Ansari (MAR)
NR: Asadulla Lachinov (BLR)
NR: Yang Kyong-Il (PRK)
NR: Yun Jun-Sik (KOR)
Recent Olympic/world champions in the field
2013 world champion (57kg): Hassan Rahimi (IRI)
2014 world champion (61kg): Haji Aliev (AZE)
2015 world champion (57kg): Vladimir Khinchegashvili (GEO)
2015 world champion (61kg): Haji Aliev (AZE)
Team USA
Daniel Dennis, the world No. 15, will make his Olympic debut. In 2013, after failing to qualify for the London Games, he decided to leave the sport. Dennis headed out west and lived out of his truck for several months. After two years away from wrestling, he returned and ultimately ended up being a surprise champion at U.S. Olympic Trials.
Bracket
View the full 57kg bracket
Men’s freestyle 74kg
Pre-Olympic world rankings of entrants
No. 1: Jordan Burroughs (USA)
No. 2: Aniuar Geduev (RUS)
No. 3: Purevjav Unurbat (MGL)
No. 4: Hassan Yazdani (IRI)
No. 5: Livan Lopez (CUB)
No. 7: Soner Demirtas (TUR)
No. 8: Jabrayil Hasanov (AZE)
No. 10: Bekzod Abdurakhmanov (UZB)
No. 11: Zelimkhan Khadjiev (FRA)
No. 12: Jakob Makarashvili (GEO)
No. 14: Sosuke Takatani (JPN)
No. 17: Evgheni Nedealco (MDA)
No. 19: Taimuraz Friev-Naskidaeva (ESP)
No. 20: Georgi Ivanov (BUL)
NR: Asnage Castelly (HAI)
NR: Talgat Ilyasov (AUS)
NR: Carlos Izquierdo (COL)
NR: Augusto Midana (GBS)
NR: Galymzhan Usserbayev (KAZ)
Recent Olympic/world champions in the field
2012 Olympic champion (74kg): Jordan Burroughs (USA)
2013 world champion (74kg): Jordan Burroughs (USA)
2015 world champion (74kg): Jordan Burroughs (USA)
Team USA
This weight class has been under the control of Jordan Burroughs for the last several years. He holds three world titles (2011, 2013, 2015) plus Olympic gold. Burroughs is the gold medal favorite in this weight class but faces a tough draw thanks to a potential matchup with Russia’s Aniuar Geduev, the world No. 2, in the quarterfinals.
Bracket
View the full 74kg bracket