THE SEOUL GAMES : Wrestling : Monday of U.S. Stops Soviet, Wins Gold

American Kenny Monday scored a takedown 42 seconds into sudden-death overtime Friday night to upset world champion Adlan Varaev of the Soviet Union and win the gold medal in Olympic freestyle wrestling at 163 pounds.

Less than a half-hour later, 1:18 into his 6-minute match, teammate Bill Scherr pinned East German Uwe Neupert to take the bronze at 220 pounds.

Monday’s gold was the second for the United States in freestyle wrestling, and Scherr’s bronze was the third medal overall, with 6 of the 10 weight classes completed. John Smith won the first gold at 136.5 pounds Thursday night.

Defending Olympic super-heavyweight champion Bruce Baumgartner has qualified for the gold-medal match Saturday.

Japan also picked up its second gold of the competition when 114.5-pounder Mitsuru Sato scored a 13-2 decision over 1984 Olympic champion Saban Trstena of Yugoslavia, who wrestled with a bad knee.

The third gold medal decided at Sangmu Gymnasium Friday went to Vasile Ruscasu of Romania, who surprised world champion Leri Khabelov of the Soviet Union with a 1-0 decision at 220 pounds.

The 114.5-pound bronze went to Soviet Vladimir Toguzov, who decisioned Laszlo Biro of Hungary, 14-1. Bulgarian Rakhmad Sofiadi decisioned Lodoy Enhbayar of Mongolia, 8-3, to take the bronze at 163 pounds.

In their showdown, Monday, 26, of Tulsa, Okla., and Varaev stalked one another in center ring and locked heads until the referee cautioned the American for passivity.

The two slow-danced their way through the rest of the scoreless first period and the first minute of the second, jabbing one another in the face and butting heads but doing no damage. During the lengthy deadlock, however, Varaev received two cautions for passivity.

With 1:45 left in the second period, Monday broke the deadlock, taking a 1-0 lead on a single leg pick. Varaev stayed impassive, watching for the right spot before he countered. When he did, the double-leg takedown gave him a 2-1 lead with about a minute left.

Monday quickly sought another scoring opportunity, but it wasn’t until the 17-second mark that he got the chance for a reversal that tied the score and sent the match into sudden death.

“That was the critical thing,” said U.S. Coach Jim Humphrey of Indiana University. “He did what he had to do there. In the overtime Varaev was already dead, and Kenny was still in their pushing, controlling the mat area and taking him to the edge.”

Forty-two seconds into overtime, Monday came underneath to capture his opponent in a body lock, and he slammed Varaev to the mat for a three-point takedown and a 5-2 triumph.

“When he got that body lock,” Humphrey said, “it was just beautiful.”

Meanwhile, an international wresting federation on Saturday denied a protest filed on behalf of U.S. wrestler Nate Carr after he lost a 3-2 decision to Park Jang-soon of South Korea.

It was Carr’s first loss after five victories and relegated him to a shot at the bronze medal at 149.5 pounds against Kosei Akaishi of Japan.

Park, unbeaten in seven matches, later beat David McKay of Canada, 13-4, and moved into the gold medal match against Arsen Fadzaev of the Soviet Union.

Humphrey filed a written protest to the International Wrestling Federation, which turned it down in less than an hour.

“Their reasoning was that the match was not officiated correctly, but the rules say you can’t change the results,” Humphrey said. “They said they’re downgrading (the ratings of) the three officials and suspending them for one year.”

The downgrading of the officials and the suspension were not officially announced.

“Nate is 28 years old and probably won’t be in another Olympics. I told them that doesn’t do him any good,” he said.

The coach said the protest was over a call early in the second period when Carr was trailing 3-0 and went for Park’s legs.

“Nate went for a double-leg (takedown), got him in a body lock and the other wrestler fled right off the mat,” Humphrey said. “We’re protesting the Korean fleeing the mat.