The world is here, but wrestling fans are not

CORALVILLE — The first men’s freestyle World Cup wrestling tournament was held in Toledo, Ohio, in 1973.

The dates were May 19-20.

In the years that followed, this international dual-meet tournament has been held in mainly in March and April. Iowa City hosted this event in 2018, in April.

Women’s freestyle teams joined the fun in 2001 in France. In November. Their tournaments have been held in October and January, too, but seven of the previous 18 were in March.

A December date in the United States in 2022 is not the ideal time for an event like this. An important event. An interesting and competitive event.

The problem, in Iowa, is at the same time wrestlers from Mongolia, Ukraine, Iran, China, Japan, Georgia and the United State were hitting the mats at Xtream Arena on Saturday, hundreds of wrestlers from across the state were in gyms in Mount Vernon, Stanwood, Grinnell, Maquoketa, Epworth and Tama — and that’s just in Eastern Iowa. Boys and, now, girls.

And that doesn’t include the UNI Open or dual meets at Luther College in Decorah, among other places.

The crowd at Xtream Arena on Saturday afternoon was sparse, especially after China dominated the U.S. women, 8-2. Only a handful of folks were left to watch the end of the Iran-Japan men’s dual.

Wrestling is a great sport and the World Cup is among the most important events in, well, the world outside the World Championships and, of course, the Olympics.

Terry Steiner, the U.S. national women’s coach and a former University of Iowa NCAA champ, said United World Wrestling isn’t going to consult the American scholastic schedule for events like this.

“It’s definitely an unusual time for it,” he said after his team’s loss. “But I think it’s here to stay.”

It appears so. Last year’s men’s tournament was held Nov. 5-6 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The women’s tournament was Nov. 16-17 in China. This event returns to Xtream Arena next year, Dec. 9-10.

This, by the way, is the first time the men’s and women’s tournaments have been held at the same time under the same roof.

And it’s not just the calendar in Iowa that affects this tournament. Many of the top U.S. wrestlers — women and men — are resting. The World Championships were just held in September.

“They just needed time away,” Steiner said of those who opted out.

Wrestling is, after all, an individual sport at its core — winning World and Olympic medals is the pinnacle.

“They know it’s important,” Steiner said of the World Cup, but they aren’t going to risk injury in an event like this when visions of future gold, silver and bronze bounce around their heads.

“They all love the World Cup.”

And what’s not to love? Fans from around the world chanting and clanging cowbells as their team takes the mat, sometimes from start to finish. The small crowd “cheering” the Iranian team Saturday was actually protesting their countries stance on women’s rights and freedom.

Think about it. An Iowa-Penn State collegiate dual — or and Independence-West Delaware high school dual — is among the best the sport of wrestling has to offer. It’s your team against my team — even if it’s 10 individual matches of one-on-one competition.

The NCAA Championships are what every wrestlers strives for and the thing fans remember of years, but nothing beats a tense dual.

So if UWW isn’t going to change it’s schedule — and why would it? — wrestlers are going to have to change theirs.

“We have to change how we think about the year,” Steiner said.

That’s a big ask to have these wrestlers change their training schedules, but events like this are a rare treat when they come to your country, to your town.

Let’s hope Sunday’s action — starting at 11 a. m. with the women’s finals at 4 p.m. and the men at 5:30 — gets a few more butts in the seats.

The NFL still will be there next Sunday.

Comments: (319) 398-8461; jr.ogden@thegazette.com