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The so-called "foreign legion" — rejected by their own nations — will help achieve the target of finishing fourth in the 2012 Games medal table.
An investigation has found that several world-class wrestlers from the Ukraine and Bulgaria — among the sport's leading nations — have been recruited by two Ukrainian coaches working for the Great Britain team.
They officially perform the role of "sparring partners" to home-grown wrestlers but make no secret of their desire to switch allegiances and compete for the host nation.
They receive grants from a dedicated 2012 Lottery fund to train twice a day with the British team at its base in Salford, near Manchester.
Each of the potential Olympians have been granted work visas and arrived ahead of last year's deadline potentially to qualify for a British passport on the basis of five years' residency.
As many as five wrestlers, including two former European junior champions, hope to make the 11-strong British team for 2012. In contrast, Team GB will struggle to send a single wrestler to this summer's Beijing Games.
Among the 2012 hopefuls are Yana Stadnik and Olga Butkevich — European junior champions who competed for Ukraine in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
They would struggle to make the Ukrainian Olympics team as they face competition in their weight categories from the Olympic gold medallist and world junior champion.
Other hopefuls are Bulgarian Krasomir Krastonov and Oleg Druzhynets.
Another, Miroslav Dykan, who arrived in Britain in 2003 and has married an English woman, hopes to be given a passport this month. British Wrestling faces a recruitment crisis particularly in the women's sport, which only made its Olympic debut at the 2004 Athens Games.
Malcolm Morley, chairman of British Wrestling, said the wrestlers had been recruited primarily as training partners. He said: "I've not signed them up because I want them to be here in five years (2012).
"But if they stop here for five years they are eligible. If they want to stay here I am very pleased, the more the merrier.
"If a person has a British passport it doesn't matter if he is Ukrainian, Iranian or what the hell he is. If he's got a British passport he is eligible to compete for Britain. Why should he be denied?”
Ms Stadnik said: "My dream is to get to the London Olympics — every sportswoman wants this."
A spokesman for the British Olympic Association said: "The sparring partners are here so that they can give the best chance to British athletes to raise their standards."
2012 hopefuls? Yana Stadnik and Olga Butkevich are wrestlers recruited by Ukrainian coaches working for Britain
One of the newest sports at Mountain Home High School is quite possibly the oldest in the world.
The Bomber wrestling team is in its second year of existence and has grown from 13 participants last year to 26 this season. Last year was the first for high school wrestling in the state of Arkansas. The sport will be fully sanctioned by the Arkansas Activities Association during the 2008-09 school year, making Mississippi the final state without the sport of wrestling.
Local fans will get their first glimpse of this year's squad when they host
Springdale for a match at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Mountain Home
Junior High gym. Admission to the event will be $4 for adults and $3 for
students. Finding wrestlers in the Mountain Home school system was hard for head coach
Randy Barnhill and volunteer assistants Mark Haynes and Harley Carlsen.
"I think Mountain Home, being the kind of community it is with people from
other parts of the world, a lot of people had already been exposed to it,"
Barnhill explained. "Mountain Home also had it years ago as a club sport."
Professional wrestlers battle in a four-sided ring with a pre-determined
outcome in what is now being acknowledged as "sports entertainment."
Amateur wrestling is completely different.
In amateur wrestling, competitors meet on a mat and battle for points or a
pinfall in three two-minute periods. Each round is different, and earning points
is the name of the game.
Scoring a pinfall immediately ends a match. If a wrestler builds a 15-point
lead during the match, the match ends and he is awarded a superior decision. If
there is no pinfall or superior decision, the wrestler with the most points
after the third period is the winner.
Haynes, a high school and college wrestler in Iowa, explained the point
system.
"The first period, both men are up on both sides of the circle and they start
in a neutral position," he said. "Then they try to make a takedown and take
control from behind. They get two points for that.
"From that position, anything can happen. If the bottom man gets away, then
that's an escape and they get one point. If the bottom man reverses his
position, then that's two points.
"If the top man exposes the bottom man's back on the mat past a 45-degree
angle, then the referee counts," Haynes said. "They can get a 2-point near fall
for a three-second count or a 3-point near fall for a five-second count."
High school wrestling is the only fully co-ed sport in the state. Boys and
girls compete directly against each other, being matched by weight class.
"We have two — Ashley Pellham and Heather Whitlow — that have wrestled guys
all year," said Barnhill. "Heather won a match earlier this year and Ashley had
done real well.
"They've both lost a few pounds, so they've gotten in lower weight classes
and that will help them out."
Despite the physicality of the sport, injuries are few and Barnhill says
stringent rules keep the sport safe.
"There are rules that you have to follow," Barnhill said. "You can't just
pick someone up and throw them on the ground," he said. "If you pick a kid up
and go down with him in the mat, you've got to have one knee on the ground
yourself before he hits the ground."
Both Barnhill and Haynes say wrestling is about sportsmanship.
"Wrestling is, from the earliest of times, about sportsmanship and treating
the other team right," Haynes said. "We really stress sportsmanship.
"We encourage our kids to help the other team when they get there. When we're
at a tournament, you wrestle someone as hard as you can, but when the match is
over, it's over.
"You get to know that kid, be a friend, learn from him or have him learn from
you. The good thing about wrestling is that when you're through, you can't blame
anyone but yourself."
"If you watch a match, the kids shake hands before and after," Barnhill
added, "The first thing they do when the match is over, they go over and shake
the opposing coach's hand, win or lose."
For fans attending their first wrestling match, Haynes says this is what to
watch for.
"We're hoping you see pins," he joked. "It's hard if you've never been to a
wrestling tournament before.
"You want to look for us to take the person down from on top and get control
of them," he said. "If we're on the bottom, you want to look for us to escape
and get completely away from them or reverse ourselves and get control of them.
If we're on top, we're trying to tilt them onto their back and keep them there
for three to five seconds so we can get points."
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After a slow start, Tascosa got on a roll to squeak out a 24-18 victory over the Lady Dons at the Tascosa Old Gym in front of about 120 predominantly Lady Rebels fans.
"We had some young girls come through," 20-year veteran Cobb said. "When Jami (Martinez) came through with a fantastic win to bring it home, it made my heart leap."
It wasn't only his heart that leapt: The entire team jumped for joy with Cobb's final girls victory.
PD took an early 12-6 lead with quick pins by Sabrina Plascencio (102-pounds) and Brittanie Lomeli (119-pounds).
"Brittanie Lomeli had an upset match, giving us a chance to win the dual," PD coach Steve Nelson said. "We just ended up on the wrong side of a close one."
The Lady Rebels came back with an 18-6 run, capped by sophomore Jami Martinez's 5-2 victory over PD's Amburn Bernard to secure the dual victory.
"I was really nervous," Martinez said. "I thought I was going to lose, but I'm glad I won."
The crowd began cheering wildly, knowing the outcome of the dual hinged on Martinez's match.
The two began physically, pushing each other back and forth with neither taking the advantage in a scoreless first period.
Early in the second period, Martinez had a huge double-leg takedown. The girls then battled back and forth while trading control, with Martinez holding a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.
It looked as if the two would have a scoreless third period until Martinez took down Bernard with 20 seconds left, setting the crowd into a frenzy.
After the victory, the teary-eyed Tascosa girls flooded onto the mat, surrounding Cobb for one final "Hurrah."
Tascosa's comeback began with freshman Jodi Martinez's 7-1 victory against Jasmine Stell at 128 pounds.
"I just went out there and did what Coach Cobb told me to do," Martinez said.
An early takedown by Martinez with a quick escape by Stell left Martinez with a 2-1 advantage heading into the second period. From then on, it was all Martinez.
"I was just thinking of Coach Cobb," Martinez said. "That made all the difference. We all wanted to do our best for his last dual."
Nelson had kind words for Cobb, his former coach.
"Johnny Cobb is a coaching icon," Nelson said. "He will be missed greatly by the wrestling community."
On the boys side, Tascosa dominated the Dons, securing a 66-15 victory.
Collin Brown (145) received a forfeit, ending his regular season with a 23-0 record.
Lady Rebels 24, Lady Dons 18
102: Sabrina Placencio, Palo Duro, pinned Stephanie Morgan, 3:40.
110: Alexis Morgan, Tascosa, forfeit.
119: Brittanie Lomeli, Palo Duro, pinned Megan Gilvin, 3:09.
128: Jodi Martinez, Tascosa, dec. Jasmine Stell, 7-1.
138: Sarah Alpar, Tascosa, pinned Irene Arroyo, 3:02.
148: Breena Maul, Tascosa, pinned Bailee Lomeli, 1:14.
165: Jami Martinez, Tascosa, dec. Amburn Bernard, 5-2.
185: Dorthy Scott, Palo Duro, forfeit.
