CRETEIL, France — Olympic champion Rulon Gardner was knocked out of the Greco-Roman World Championships in the first elimination round Friday, losing 3-0 to Russia's Khassan Baroev.
Gardner must now progress through a qualifying tournament in Kazakhstan in February to qualify for next year's Athens Olympics.
"It's my fault," he said. "I didn't fight to the best of my abilities."
Gardner won the gold medal in the 2000 Olympics by stunning Russian great Alexander Karelin and captured the world title in 2001. Last year, he needed to have a toe amputated after he was stranded in subfreezing temperatures for 18 hours while snowmobiling.
Gardner is the third U.S. wrestler eliminated at the tournament. Captain Brandon Paulson was beaten in the 121-pound class Thursday and Kevin Bracken lost in the 145 1/2-pound category.
"I'm going to stay here, educate myself and learn some more about wrestling," Gardner said. "I'm a student of the sport, there are always things I can pick up here that can help me."
Gardner trailed 3-0 after the first period of the 264 1/2-pound match. Despite applying strong pressure, the American found his opponent difficult to maneuver.
"I was trying to find a way to get points out of him, I was trying to set up a series of gut wrenches but I couldn't manage it," Gardner said.
"He had techniques that I'd never seen before. Everything I'd been watching of him on video tapes turned out different."
Another American, Brad Vering, in the 185-pound division, lost his quarterfinal, 3-2 in overtime, to Norway's Fritz Annes.
Justin Ruiz of the United States won his opening 211 1/2-pound match, as did Olympic champion Filiberto Azcuy of Cuba in the 163-pound category.
Sweden's Aza Abrahamian, the two-time defending world champion, defeated Olympic gold medalist Hamza Yerlikaya in a quarterfinal. Judges awarded the 185-pound match to Abrahamian after the bout finished 2-2 after overtime.
The decision brought angry reactions from several members of the Turkish delegation close to the mat and some jostling and pushing ensued.
Also in the 185-pound quarters, Slovakia's Atilla Batly beat Georgia's Murhban Vakhtangadze and Israel's Gocha Ziziashvilly defeated Belarus' Viachaslav Makaranka.
In the 264 1/2-pound category, Kazhakstan's Georgiy Tsurtsumia, Lithuania's Mindaugas Mizgaitis and Hungary's Mihaly Deak-Bardos — the 2002 silver medalist — also advanced to the semifinals.
In a 121-pound quarterfinal, Cuba's Lazaro Rivas triumphed 4-2 over Kazhakstan's Uran Kalilov; and Petr Svelha of the Czech Republic won 3-0 against Iran's Hasan Rangraz. Also winning were Poland's Dariusz Jablonski and South Korea's Im Dae-Wong.
In the 145 1/2-pound class, Georgia's Manuchar Kvirkelia ousted Turkey's Seref Eroglu and Armenia's Vaghinak Galvstyan downed Azerbaijan's Ferik Mansurov. Ukraine's Armen Vardanyan and Hungary's Levente Furedi also made the semis.
Defending champion Jimmy Samuelsson earlier exited the tournament after a 4-3 overtime loss to Galvstyan.
Defending champion Armen Nazarian of Bulgaria won his opening qualifying match in the 132-pound class with a 10-0 rout of Douletberdi Mamedov of Turkmenistan.