Silver Stephen

by-Zack Walton

The dream is over.

It was a great dream for Stephen Abas, and it came so close to becoming reality.

But when the final match in the 121-pound Olympic freestyle wrestling division was over, Abas fell one step short.

Abas dropped a 9-1 decision in the gold-medal match to Mavlet Batirov of Russia, capturing Olympic silver—his first international medal.

Abas became Fresno State’s first wrestler to win an Olympic medal in wrestling.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In college, Abas was a three-time national champion, compiling a 144-4 record, including two undefeated seasons.

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.

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.

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.