A familiar face will grace Carver-Hawkeye’s wrestling mats again this weekend. This time, not only Iowa City will see the spectacle, the entire world will as well.
Thomas Gilman, a world silver medalist and 2017’s Big Ten Champion, graduated from Iowa in 2017; he will return to Carver-Hawkeye for the Freestyle World Cup on Saturday and April 8. The Iowa alum will join a talented Team USA at the cup as the 57-kilogram wrestler.
Gilman will not be the only Hawkeye in the mix.
Iowa alum Bill Zadick will be in the corner for Team USA as its head coach. The former Iowa wrestler won a NCAA Championship under head coach Dan Gable in 1996 and a World Wrestling Championship in freestyle in 2006.
“It means a lot. Obviously, I have history here,” Zadick said. “As part of the Gable legacy and in the house that he built, so to speak. That adds a lot to it. It’s exciting to be part of that.”
The rich wrestling culture in Iowa City makes it an ideal location for the best wrestlers in the world to face off. Gable created an international wrestling beacon in Iowa City.
“When the World Championships were held in Las Vegas, wrestlers from other countries wanted to know why it wasn’t being held in Iowa City, why it wasn’t where Gable was,” Iowa associate head coach Terry Brands said on Tuesday. “Gable is United States wrestling to a lot of people around the globe, and next week, the world is coming to Gable.’’
Team USA will be the favorite because Russia and Iran are both unable to attend the event. In January, both countries were confirmed as participants in the event. Russia faced visa troubles.
Iran has won the last six World Cups in a row. In last year’s event, hosted by Iran in Kermanshah, the Iranians took gold and Team USA took silver.
The United States has not won a World Cup since 2003, but with Iran and Russia out, and on home soil, the odds will be in its favor.
“It’s a top-notch event. It’s an international event,” Terry Brands said. “It’s the highest team award in international wrestling, and we’re fired up to have it.”
Despite two world powers not competing, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Japan, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and India will be in the mix of countries gunning for gold.
“I expect it to be like any other international event,” Gilman said. “These guys are going to come out. I can’t let the hype of the atmosphere get to me. I’m excited to compete in front of Carver, but I got to put that aside and focus. I need to focus on what I need to focus on and put these guys down hard.”
As the best wrestlers in the world come to Carver-Hawkeye, their focus will be on each other. But the world’s focus will be on the arena. Iowa City, at least this weekend, is the center stage of wrestling.
“Carver-Hawkeye Arena is the greatest place to wrestle, to train, in the world,” Gilman said. “And it’s proven that, year in, year out. This is the wrestling capital of not only this country but the world, I believe. And we’re bringing them here, and we’re ready to take them on.”
