Lowney Upsets Russian Wrestler

S Y D N E Y, Australia, Sept. 24, 2000 -- Garrett Lowney, a 20-year-old wrestlercompeting in his first major international tournament, scored oneof America’s biggest upsets ever in Greco-Roman by defeatingRussia’s five-time world champion 8-3 today.

Lowney, in danger of losing in overtime on two passivitywarnings after squandering a 3-0 lead, stunned Gogui Koguouachviliwith a five-point throw at 7:50 of the match to advance to thequarterfinals at the Olympics.

Eleven world and three Olympic champions competed in theGreco-Roman wrestling but by the end of the day just four ofthem remained in the tournament.

As the top names fell by the wayside, several young starsof the future scored impressive victories.

Vartares Samourgachev

The 21-year-old European champion, Russian Vartares Samourgachev, was the first to strike, eliminating reigning Olympic champion, WlodzimierzZawadzki of Poland.

Samourgachev also beat former World champion, Seref Erogluof Turkey.

But the most dramatic upset of the day belonged to Lowney.

Banner Day for U.S. Team

Lowney, cheered on by a vocal, 50-member group of friends andfamily from the Minneapolis area, earlier had beaten Marek Svec ofthe Czech Republic 2-0 at 213¾ pounds.

By defeating both wrestlers in his three-man pool, Lowneyadvances and eliminates Koguouachvili, who cannot get a medal.Koguachvili and three-time Olympic super heavyweight championAlexander Karelin of Russia were the biggest favorites in the eightweight classes.

Lowney, who will be 21 next week, is eight years younger thanany other U.S. Greco-Roman Olympic wrestler.

His victory highlighted one of the United States’ best days everin Greco-Roman as three wrestlers advanced into the championshipround.

The United States hasn’t won a gold medal in Greco-Roman sincethe boycotted Los Angeles Games in 1984 and came away from theAtlanta Games in 1996 with only three silver medals.

Matt Lindland, whose legal appeal to make the team went all theway to the Supreme Court, won three matches at 167½ pounds to winhis four-man pool and advance into the semifinals.

Kevin Bracken split his two matches in his three-man pool at138¾ pounds but moved into the quarterfinals via the tie-breakingsystem when all three finished 1-1.

Going for High Score

Koguouachvili was the world champion in 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998 and1999. Losing to Lowney is wrestling’s equivalent of a major-leagueteam losing to a Single-A farm club in the World Series.

Lowney, who already had surprised Koguouachvili by taking thematch into overtime, was looking to score a decisive one-pointtakedown.

Instead, he saw an opening and surprised the Russian by duckingbehind him and throwing him in the air and to the mat. A five-pointhigh-amplitude throw is the biggest scoring move in a sport wherematches often are decided by low scores.

“This doesn’t mean the gold medal, but he’s the best wrestlerin this weight class,” said Lowney, who had the Olympic rings anda Minnesota “M” tattooed onto his right shoulder a few weeks ago.

Lowney was angry since he lost the 3-0 lead partly because hewas penalized two points for using his legs. Holds below the waistare barred in Greco-Roman, and a wrestler cannot use his legs orattack an opponent’s legs.

“I knew they would make it tough for me and I wouldn’t get anybreaks,” Lowney said. “He got one point and that’s all he earned.The other two points were a gift.”

Only a month ago, Lowney worked out with Koguouachvili in Moscow,and Lowney got the feeling the Russian had no idea he might lose tohim.

“He was not real happy,” Lowney said.

Lindland: Glad to Be Back

Lowney meets Georgia’s Genadi Chkhaidze, who upset two-timeOlympic champion Andrzej Wronski of Poland, on Tuesday.

The pairings were done by blind draw, meaning some of thetoughest bouts — such as Lowney’s against Koguachvili — may come in the earliest matches.

Lindland, saying he wasn’t fatigued from his summer-long legalbattle, won 3-0 over Tarieli Melelashvili of Georgia and by injurydefault over Algeria’s Kader Slila, who trailed 6-0 late in thematch when he apparently sprained an ankle. He finished by beatingEvgeniy Erofaylov of Uzbekistan on a referee’s decision.

Lindland, who can finish no lower than fourth, will wrestleDavid Manukyan of the Ukraine on Tuesday.

Lindland reversed his U.S. trials loss to Sieracki by arguingsuccessfully through two rounds of arbitration and a variety ofcourts that Sieracki used a hold below the waist, a move notpermitted in Greco-Roman.

Lindland was glad to finally be on the mat after spending mostof the summer fighting for the opportunity to get there.

“This is the fun part,” Lindland said. “This is what all thework was for.

“I never stopped working out, so my preparation was the same asit would have been if [if he had won at the trials]. I neverstopped training,” he said.

Bracken, of Colorado Springs, Colo., was a 12-5 winner over ChoiSang Sun of South Korea, but couldn’t hold a 2-0 lead over RiccardoMagni of Italy in overtime and lost on a referee’s decision afterthe two tied 2-2 after eight minutes.

His quarterfinals match Tuesday is against Samourgachev.

U.S. Greco-Roman captain Steven Mays of Pensacola, Fla., losthis three matches at 119 pounds and is out of the Olympics. He lost10-0 to Uran Kalilov of Kyrgyzstan, 11-0 to Andriy Kalashikov ofUkraine and 5-3 to Mohamed Abou Elela of Egypt.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.