Rau drops opening match, has one more chance to qualify
Former Elmhurst wrestler and 2016 Olympic Trials champion Joe Rau competed Friday in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Mongolia. The top three finishers at each weight would qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Rau traveled to the event becaus the United States had not yet qualified at 98kg. Rau took on Fredrik Schoen of Sweden in his first bout. Rau had previously defeated Schoen last summer at the Grand Prix of Spain but was unable to repeat his victory in Mongolia. Schoen won 4-1 in the opening round of the tournament. Rau could have wrestled back if Schoen had made the finals, but he was defeated in the semifinals. Schoen did come back to place 3rd and qualify for the Olympics.
Rau will next travel to Istanbul and compete May 6-8 for a final chance to make the Olympics. Rau will need to make the finals of that event to qualify the weight. The U.S. still needs to qualify at 59kg, 66kg, and 98kg in Greco-Roman. Only countries that have not yet qualified at a weight can enter this tournament. At Rau’s weight of 98kg, Belarus, Georgia, and Sweden all secured spots with their performances today.
98 kg Qualified Wrestlers
| Competition | Places | Qualified wrestlers |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 World Championships | 6 |  Artur Aleksanyan (ARM) Ghasem Rezaei (IRI) Islam Magomedov (RUS) Dimitriy Timchenko (UKR) Elis Guri (BUL) Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu (ROU) |
| Pan American Qualification Tournament | 2 |  Yasmany Lugo (CUB) Luillys Pérez (VEN) |
| Asian Qualification Tournament | 2 |  Xiao Di (CHN) Hardeep Singh (IND) |
| African & Oceania Qualification Tournament | 2 |  Hamdy El-Said (EGY) Hamza Haloui (ALG) |
| European Qualification Tournament | 2 |  Ardo Arusaar (EST) Ádám Varga (HUN) |
| 1st World Qualification Tournament | 3 |  Aliaksandr Hrabovik (BLR) Revazi Nadareishvili (GEO) Fredrik Schöm (SWE) |
| 2nd World Qualification Tournament | 2 | May 6-8, 2016 in Istanbul |
| Invitational / Host Nation | 0 | — |
| Total | 19 |