Athletes from the former eastern bloc and Cuba are expected to dominate the wrestling competition at the Beijing Olympics and a 60kg battle between two 2004 gold medallists could provide the freestyle highlight.
Russia's Mavlet Batirov won the 55kg title in Athens and has since moved up a weight where he should face champion Yandro Quintana of Cuba who conceded only one point during the 2004 competition.
Batirov won the 60kg world title last year when Quintana was missing and 2006 world champion Syed Morad Mohammadi Pahnehkalaei of Iran failed to get past the quarter-finals.
Russia is the only nation to have wrestlers qualified in all Greco-Roman, freestyle and women's categories. World champions Alexei Michine (84kg, Greco-Roman) and Khadjimourat Gatsalov (96kg, freestyle) will be defending their 2004 Olympic titles.
The 66kg Greco-Roman category could also provide a great spectacle when Azerbaijan's Farid Mansurov defends his 2004 title. A final between Mansurov, the 2007 world champion, and Turkey's Seref Eroglu was one of the Athens highlights and Eroglu will be on the mat in Beijing again.
Iran's Hamid Soryan Reihanpour is the favourite in the 55kg Greco-Roman category after winning the world and Asian titles last year. Eun-chol Park of South Korea looks his biggest rival and Lindsay Durlacher is one of the best United States hopes.
Cuba have a good chance of winning the two heavyweight categories with Alexis Rodriguez Valera in the freestyle and world champion Mijail Lopez in the Greco-Roman where Khasan Baroev will defend his 2004 title.
The US won their first team title at the 2007 world championships but are unlikely to win a gold in Beijing.
Bulgaria's Stanka Zlateva is the biggest favourite to win a gold in the women's wrestling. The 25-year-old has been world champion for the past two years in the 72kg category and is widely considered the best female wrestler in the world.
