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<td width="343" valign="bottom"><p class="date"><!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="date" --><a href="../../../../../default.html">8/30/04•
Vol. 129, No. 4</a><!-- InstanceEndEditable --></p></td>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font style="font-size: 30pt">Silver Stephen</font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><i>by-Zack Walton</i></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The dream is over.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was a great dream for Stephen Abas, and it came
so close to becoming reality.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But when the final match in the 121-pound Olympic
freestyle wrestling division was over, Abas fell one step short.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Abas dropped a 9-1 decision in the gold-medal match
to Mavlet Batirov of Russia, capturing Olympic silver—his first
international medal.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Abas became Fresno State’s first wrestler to win an
Olympic medal in wrestling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Entering the Olympics, Abas was marked as a long
shot by wrestling experts in a division that held several athletes
capable of winning the gold.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The field at the Olympics included the world
champions from the last three years and the reigning Olympic champion.
Winning the title in 2003 was Dilshod Mansurov of Uzbekistan, and
Roberto Montero of Cuba and Herman Kontoyev of Belarus preceded him as
world champions in the two previous years. Also, Namik Abdullayev of
Azerbaijan, the 2000 Olympic champion competed this year in Athens.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Abas began the tournament in a very difficult pool.
Drawing the same pool as Montero, Abas defeated the 2002 world champion
to move on to the quarterfinals. He then cruised through the
quarterfinals, defeating China’s Li Zhengyu 6-1, and shutting out
Chikara Tanabe of Japan 3-0 in the semifinals.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the finals, Batirov jumped out to a quick 2-0
lead in the first minute of the match and extended his lead to three
before Abas earned his only point of the match.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Down 3-1, Abas watched his gold-medal dreams fade
away when his Russian opponent dominated the second half. After a
Batirov counter, making the score 5-1, the match was delayed as trainers
tended to a cut above Abas’ right eye. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The trainers controlled the bleeding, but Abas
couldn’t control the 20-year-old Russian he was up against, losing his
final match of the tournament and finishing 4-1 in his Olympic debut.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The reigning two-time United States champion, Abas
earned a spot on the Olympic squad when he defeated 2000 silver medalist
Sammie Henson during the Olympic trials.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In college, Abas was a three-time national
champion, compiling a 144-4 record, including two undefeated seasons.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Abas’ medal was the United States first in
freestyle wrestling of this Olympics. Two American wrestlers followed
Abas in the medal ceremonies, as Jamill Kelly won silver and Cael
Sanderson captured gold.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Abas had faced Batirov in the preliminaries at the
2003 World Championships, defeating him 4-2. Abas went on the finish
fifth and Batirov seventh.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Abas had a number of friends and family that made
the trip to Athens, including his former coach Dennis Deliddo, his
mother, sister and brother Gerry, a former Fresno State wrestler and
four-time All-American.</p>
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