GARY D'AMATO

D'Amato: Jesse Thielke defiant in defeat

Gary D'Amato
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jesse Thielke, left, is defeated by Azerbaijan's Rovshan Bayramov in the men's greco roman 59g kg wrestling quarterfinals.

Rio de Janeiro — Greco-Roman wrestler Jesse Thielke wasn’t about to take a bite of humble pie after losing in the 59-kilogram quarterfinals at the Olympic Games. It’s not in his nature to be contrite.

“My composure as a champion from here on out is not going to change,” Thielke said Sunday. “I have that in the bag.… It’s just frustrating because I know I’m better than those guys and I know I’m better than how I wrestled out there.”

Either he’s really good at deflecting disappointment, or his confidence is unshakeable.

After beating Morocco’s El Mahadi Messaoudi by technical fall in the opening round, Thielke, of Germantown, Wis., bowed out of the Olympic tournament with a 9-0 loss to Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan at the Carioca Arena 2.

Bayramov then lost in the semifinals to Shinobu Ota of Japan, ending Thielke’s chance to wrestle back for the bronze medal.

“It was pathetic,” Thielke said of that match, in which Bayramov had a 2-0 lead before Ota flipped him and pinned him. “Now, I don’t even have a chance to come back for bronze. So it’s upsetting.”

Thielke’s loss to Bayramov, a world champion and a two-time Olympic silver medalist, was a case study in the weirdness in Greco-Roman that can sometimes make even avid wrestling fans scratch their heads.

First, with both wrestlers on their feet early in the match, the referee ruled Thielke was guilty of passivity. With the wrestlers constantly tangling arms and pushing and shoving, it’s a subjective call.

“I’m biased, but I thought Jesse was more aggressive,” said U.S. Roman-Greco coach Matt Lindland.

The referee’s decision put Thielke in the bottom position in par terre (ground wrestling), where he is most vulnerable.

“That was their game plan,” Thielke said. “That’s what they wanted to do. Keep it close on the feet, stall, try to get me put down. That’s the only way they can beat me. I’d do the same thing to myself.”

Then, in a quick flurry, Bayramov rolled Thielke three times with gut-wrenches, briefly exposing his shoulders to the mat. Each turn was worth two points.

Lindland, however, thought Bayramov’s locked hands slid below Thielke’s waist on the second gut-wrench — holds beneath the waist are barred in Greco-Roman — and challenged the call.

It turned out to be the wrong move. The jury not only upheld the decision but upon video review changed the second throw to a four-point throw. The extra point for the lost challenge made it 9-0 and the match was over, with Bayramov winning by technical fall.

Thielke had the option to dismiss Lindland’s challenge. Had he done so, the score would have been 6-0 because the officials wouldn’t have watched the video and thus wouldn’t have changed the scoring.

“It was an odd series of events. Pretty cruddy,” Thielke said. “Basically, I screwed myself by challenging it. I could have left it. I had a whole second period to gas him and score because clearly, he wasn’t going to score on his feet.”

In the end, though, Thielke lost because his par terre defense is not good enough. FILA, the international wrestling federation, has eliminated forced par terre at the junior and cadet levels; Thielke said it would be eliminated on the senior level next year. Par terre would still be used after throws from the standing position, but Thielke rarely gets thrown.

“There’s no forced par terre after this year so I will never lose a match again because I will never have to go down again, and that’s the only spot where I don’t dominate,” he said.

Said Lindland, “We’ll see what happens with the rules after this year, if they’re going to take forced par terre away. I haven’t heard anything official. But we’ve still got to get better on the bottom. Everybody has to make those adjustments.”

Thielke spoke confidently about winning the gold medal in the weeks leading up to the Olympics. Now, he’s got to wait four long years for another chance.

“I should have won the match, should have defended (in par terre), should have not challenged… so many things,” he said. “Shoulda, coulda, woulda. I can only move forward.”