From the vault of Sports Illustrated

Click here to read a 1989 Sports Illustrated article about the U.S. wrestling team's defeat of the Soviets for the first time in 17 years.

"The Americans didn't beat cream puffs. The Soviet squad included four 1988 Olympic gold medal winners, plus a silver medalist and a bronze medalist. "Soviet wrestlers like to come out and get a handful of points and then just hang on," says Douglas. "But here they were running out of gas at about the four-minute mark." Indeed, two U.S. wrestlers, former Iowa Hawkeyes Randy Lewis and Rico Chiapparelli, pulled out wins in the final seconds of their matches."



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