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Joined: Jul 2001
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Three months ago I was surprised with a phone call from Jim Ravannack, president of USA Wrestling. Jim informed me that I had been selected the first recipient of the President’s Award, which he intended to make into an annual honor. In addition to the recognition, this award includes an invitation to accompany our national team to this year’s World Championships!

This is a very special treat for me, and one that I hope to share with our membership through my thoughts and photographs at the World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. Frankly, at this point this is an entire unknown to me – I’ve never traveled outside of the North American continent, the only major international event that I’ve ever attended was the 1998 Junior World Freestyle Championships when they were in Primm, NV, and I don’t know what I’ll actually be doing at the Worlds. As this adventure unfolds I plan on letting everyone know what is happening and what it’s like to be there.

My flight will be leaving from Wichita tomorrow morning. After stops in Chicago and Frankfurt, I should arrive in Baku late the next evening (Friday). Weigh-ins will begin on Sunday, with the first three Greco Roman weights beginning competition on Monday. I don’t know what levels of Internet access I’m going to be able to expect, but hopefully I’ll be able to post periodic updates throughout the week.

If anyone has any questions or special requests, feel free to post them here or send them to me via PM or email.

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This is quite an honor for the Jubster! Congrats!!

I gather you have a new laptop! Do you have any idea what kind of ISP you'll have in Azerbaijan?


Are you making a POSITIVE difference in the life of kids?

Randy Hinderliter
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Go Mr Juby! We are so proud!

Ms. Jenni

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I haven't a clue concerning what kind of ISP I'll find when I get there. Hopefully either the hotel or the venue will have something so that I can let everyone know how things are going.

Randy, one thing that I'm relatively certain about is that the weather is going to be of a kinder/gentler variety that what we experienced this year in Fargo! As you know, it was there that I learned that running a laptop in sweltering heat can prove fatal for the computer! I do have a new laptop from which I hope to share some stories from Azerbaijan with you and anyone else interested in reading about the World Championships and a neophyte’s impression of them.

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Take pictures. Congrats. Good work this year.

Craig Adams
Carroll Jr. Wrestling

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It’s 6:40 a.m. am I’m pretty sure I’m not in Kansas anymore (if I were in Kansas, it would be 11:40 in the evening). Actually I’m in Frankfurt, Germany where I’ll be for the next 7+ hours until I board the final leg of my flight to Baku, Azerbaijan. One thing that I’ve already noticed, and didn’t expect, has been the presence of cigarette smoke in the terminal. I’ve become so accustomed to U.S. rules against smoking in public buildings that I’ve come to take smoke-free air for granted.

Thus far the trip’s been pretty uneventful. My first trip ever across the ocean occurred in the dead of night so I’m going to have to take the word of the airline that we were actually flying over water and not the prairies back home. The flight left Chicago at 3:10 p.m. and the sun had set before we crossed the shoreline somewhere around Toronto. I was flying on Lufthansa and would highly recommend them, based on the service that I experienced on this trip.

Although I haven’t met up with anyone else going to Baku, I did meet a nice couple from Iowa on the plane. As soon as they heard where I was going they began talking about Dan Gable. Not a bad figurehead to start the conversation with, even if you’re not from Iowa …

Although I’ve been on my own to this point, I am supposed to meet up with several others for the final leg: Craig Sesker (Media), Travis Shives (Media), Bernie Feldman (FILA assigned Medical), Tom Clark (official), Dave Errett (official) and Zach Errett (official).

Surprisingly, it does not seem that the Frankfurt airport has wireless available to the public. I have seen several Internet kiosks, so I suppose that they don’t offer wireless to avoid undercutting the fees they get from those machines. So I decided that I would type up my thoughts at this time and wait until I get to Baku to post them. Hopefully I’ll have better luck getting connected there!

Note:
It's now 9:20 a.m. and I tried to connect to a wireless server again. I think I just agreed to pay 2 Euros for 15 minutes of connection, but the site was entirely in German so my credit card bill may have some surprises this month!

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I am green with envy! Sounds like a great time. Keep us posted!!


Are you making a POSITIVE difference in the life of kids?

Randy Hinderliter
USAW Kansas
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I've arrived in Baku and have checked into the Absheron hotel, which is where the athletes and coaches are staying. It's a nice hotel and has Internet access on the 1st floor & the 10th floor, so I should be able to post updates throughout the World Championships.

One thing that jumped out at me was the security at the hotel. There is at least one policeman standing in front monitoring who enters the hotel, two more in the lobby and four standing guard on our floor (and I assume all of the other floors are likewise secured). Sure lets me know that this isn't just any old wrestling tournament in town!

I've already seen Pete Isais and Doc Bennett, and Mitch Hull was at the airport to get us through Customs and on the bus to our hotel. Mitch is being run a little ragged right now as he works to make sure that everything is running smoothly for Team USA. He said that things will settle down for him considerably once the competition begins, but he's expecting this to be a night where he's lucky if he gets one hour of sleep.

The Greco Roman and freestyle athletes are already here (although I haven't seen them yet) and the Women will be arriving on the 18th.

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I went to the Greco Roman team's practice today and took a few pictures. You can see them by clicking here or by going to the Photo Index.

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Mike, pass some love from the Furches family to TC.

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I'm nearing the end of my first full day in Baku and, although I haven't gotten to see any competition yet, I'm really enjoying the international experience. Right now I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel which is full of coaches and athletes, all carrying on their own conversations. The result is about 10 different languages coming from every direction; I don't understand a word, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

Our hotel is located very close to the Caspian Sea, so around sunset today I went for a walk down by the sea and found the area very active. The Caspian is one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world, and I didn't see anyone in the water, but despite this the beauty is undeniable and it clearly attracts lots of people.

Tomorrow is weigh-in for the first three Greco Roman weights; so while there won't be any competition tomorrow either, at least I'll know we're getting closer.

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Another (nonwrestling) thing I haven't talked about is the very high level of construction that is going on all over the city. I would find it interesting to come back here in 4-5 years, because I think that the city is going to look entirely different. The building is partially being motivated by the fact that Baku is one of seven cities in the running to host the 2016 Olympics. Probably the greatest reason for the building boom is the high price of oil, which is Baku's principal source of revenue.

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Today has definitely had the feel of being the calm before the storm. For those of you who were bored by my photos of the old inner city, tomorrow should bring the focus back to wrestling as our first three Greco Roman weights open the competition.

To make sure that the photo gallery was not entirely void of any new wrestling pictures I posted some shots that I took at the freestyle team practice. The freestyle team had made some special arrangements to utilize a local wrestling club's practice facility. Although not nearly as nice as the workout room at the venue, it is walking distance from the hotel and they had it entirely to themselves.

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My roommate here in Azerbaijan is Larry Slater who, unlike me, is a real photographer. If you want to see an alternate site for some photos from the World Championships, go to his site by clicking here. There are any pictures on there yet, but there will be after the competition begins tomorrow. Wrestling will start at 9:00 Azerbaijani time, which is 11:00 p.m. in Kansas.

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I'm in the venue waiting for the start of the 2007 World Championships. I'd tell you the name of the venue, but I don't know how to print it in English.

They are currently announcing the athletes and action is set to begin. Hopefully the day will end with three U.S. medals!

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Although I was able to successfully access the Internet when I first arrived at the venue, the connection was soon closed and I lost and was unable to reestablish it. Although I can’t report live, we have Travis Shives and Craig Sesker who are doing live updates for TheMat.com from the press area (where they have Ethernet lines giving them access). Without a press pass, I am also unable to get on the floor to take photographs. Since I can’t give you good photos or live updates, I’m going to try and provide some insights that the other sites may not give you.

In the first USA match, Lindsey Durlacher split the first two rounds in a low scoring cautious match against Ronningen of Norway. The third period was all Lindsey’s though, as he came on strong, scoring on two push-outs.

Joe Betterman is considered a dark horse at 60 kg, but he had a good first match and had a real chance to win it. Although he lost his first match, he still has a chance that he might qualify to wrestle in through the back side. Since the top eight finishers qualify their nation in that weight at next year’s Olympics, the consolations have more impact here than at a normal World Championships.

After waiting for three hours to see our wrestlers’ second matches, both Harry Lester and Lindsey Durlacher ended up wrestling at the same time, making it impossible to fully observe both matches. It looked like Durlacher was pretty dominant over his guy, although there was some controversy and a TV review was necessary for him to get some of his points. Lester’s match was much closer, with several near throws by his Turkish opponent almost costing him the match. His athleticism won out in the end, helping him to avoid giving up back exposure from some improbable positions.

The loudest match of the tournament thus far was at 55 kg when Azerbaijan met Armenia on the mat. The two countries are bitter rivals, having recently warred with each other and having continuing unresolved disputes. Roushan Bayramov of Azerbaijan was considered one of the front runners coming into the tournament, but Amoyna took control in the first period, putting Bayramov on his back. After Bayramov won a close second period, the already steady cheering rose to a higher level. It looked like the home crowd’s support wouldn’t be enough, however, as Amoyna caught Bayramov in a three point throw, knocking the wind out of the crowd. When Bayramov managed to lift Amoyna off the mat the noise suddenly became deafening. As the home town boy was cheered on, he thrilled the crowd with a three point throw that won the match for Azerbaijan.

I just got to see Alexander Karelin – the man still looks like he could walk out on the mat!

Harry Lester’s third match was against Consuegra, a Cuban. The Cubans are uniformly tough and Lester had not met this particular wrestler before. Early in the match Harry seemed to be almost recklessly aggressive, nearly getting caught on his back as he tried to force a gator roll. After holding on to win the first period 1-1, he took over the second period. After initially scoring on a push-out, he used a gut tilt to score back points on the Cuban, catching him on his back at the all-important 1:30 mark. Since his opponent was on his back the action was not stopped and the Cuban did not get a chance to take the top position. Lester held on for a solid win.

Lindsey Durlacher’s third match was against Iran’s Hamid Sourian is the defending World champion at 55 kg. Durlacher seemed to be unable to stop Sourian’s reverse lift, which resulted in losing the first period to a throw and the second period to leg fouls.

I had been watching Harry Lester’s next opponent, Puscasu from Romania, in the first few rounds and had been very impressed. I thought Harry was going to have a tough time handling this wrestler. I was wrong.

Once again, Lester’s speed and aggressiveness nearly got him in trouble when his attempt at a high dive nearly put him under his opponent. In this match, however, he showed how devastating his gator roll can be as he scored on two consecutive rolls (would have been three but he ran out of real estate). A reversal late in the period gave Harry a 5-0 first period win. In the second period, he initially appeared to have given up the first point, but a TV review resulted in the call being corrected and Harry received two points (the mat official thought Lester had stepped out of bounds before the throw). Lester lost a second TV review later in the match that would have given him an additional three points, but it was unimportant as he held on for a very solid 3-1 second period win. Harry Lester will now advance to the semi-finals where he will meet 2004 Olympic champion Farid Mansurov.

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It's tough to beat an Olympic champion. It's that much harder when you have to wrestle that former champion in his home country. Harry Lester made a great attempt to defeat Azerbaijani Farid Mansurov but was unable to get the win. Mansurov wrestled a very good match, but it was undeniable that there were some very biased calls made that changed the outcome of this match.

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Well, at the moment I am in the venue and have Internet access ... no telling how long it will last, though. Lindsey Durlacher just wrestled his first match on the back side and was victorious. The schedule has not gone exactly as published and we have not left the venue since arriving this morning. Part of this time was spent on the opening ceremonies, which were actually kinda cool (that may just be my newby status talking, though).

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 Originally Posted By: Mike Juby
Mansurov wrestled a very good match, but it was undeniable that there were some very biased calls made that changed the outcome of this match.


As always, Mike is being diplomatic!

[Content deleted]

At this level NEVER should this type of error be made.

Last edited by Mike Juby; 09/17/07 04:33 PM.

Richard D. Salyer
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 Originally Posted By: RichardDSalyer
 Originally Posted By: Mike Juby
Mansurov wrestled a very good match, but it was undeniable that there were some very biased calls made that changed the outcome of this match.


As always, Mike is being diplomatic!

[Content deleted]

At this level NEVER should this type of error be made.


Did I just read this post?

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