LONDON, March 1 - Canadian Greco-Roman wrestler Ari Taub has qualified for the Beijing Olympics just by weighing in at the Pan-American Championships. Under federation rules, only nations which entered a wrestler at certain weights at the 2007 world championships can use the continental championship as a qualifier for Beijing. Taub was one of only three Pan-American athletes to fight in the 120 kg class at the 2007 worlds and the other two won medals to qualify directly for the August 8-24 Olympics. So Taub needed only to turn up at the Pan-American championships in Colorado Springs on Friday to earn his ticket. Taub was injured in the Canadian Olympic trials and lost his first fight in Colorado to Rafael Barreno of Venezuela. Cuba won five of the eight finals on Friday although Justin Ruiz earned a qualifying spot for the United States in the 96-kg class by beating Cuban Yosvani Goichochea. Sixto Ochoa of Peru won the 74-kg gold by beating another American, T.C. Dantzler, in the final. Roberto Monzon of Cuba, who won an Olympic silver medal in 2004, won the 60-kg final. The winner of each class guaranteed his country a place at the Olympics.
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