YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES U.S. athletes make mark SINGAPORE - Four talented young
U.S. wrestlers were a part of history this summer. They participated in the first Youth Olympic Games (YOG), which took place in Singapore from Aug. 14-26, welcoming 3,600 young athletes ages 14-18 from 204 National Olympic Committees. The event featured competition in 26 sports and, for the first time, a Culture and Education Program (CEP). In wrestling, the U.S. effort was led by
Jordan Rogers of Spokane, Wash., who won a silver medal in men’s freestyle at 76 kg/167.5 lbs. Rogers opened the tournament with
three straight wins to capture his pool competition. He stopped Victorin Kouagou of Benin, Amir Ali of Egypt and Christopher Aguon of Guam to qualify for the finals. In the gold-medal match, Rogers fell to Resul Kalayci of Turkey. “It’s disappointing to lose, but it’s also a
great accomplishment to be in the Youth Olympic Games,” said Rogers. “I had to win a national tournament and a qualifier to get here. These are elite guys from each country, and it’s amazing to be No. 2 out of all of the competition. This is my first time overseas, so it’s all new to me.” “The first match, it felt nice to get that
out of the way. Usually you’re a little nerv- ous for that first one, especially since I’ve never really been to international compe- tition so it’s a newer experience. Once I got that first match out of the way, I start- ed feeling a little more comfortable and felt a lot more confident going into the next matches,” he said. Rogers is a junior at Mead High School
in Washington. He was a 2010 Cadet Nationals champion in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. Rogers also claimed a 2010 FILA Cadet Nationals title in freestyle. He was a 2009 Cadet Nationals freestyle runner-up and won Schoolboy National titles in both styles in 2008. Rogers was a Washington state high school champion in 2009, but missed the 2010 state meet due to an emergency appendectomy. Two U.S. wrestlers placed fourth, just missing a medal: Lucas Sheridan of Concord, Calif. in Greco-Roman at 85 kg/187.5 lbs. and Quinton Murphy of Holley, N.Y at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. In his pool, Sheridan scored wins over
30 USA Wrestler
Quinton Murphy tries to turn an opponent during the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. Youth Olympic Photo Service photo.
Teia Mweia of the Solomon Islands and Adil Al-Abedi of Iraq and lost to Hamdy Abdelwahab of Egypt, 1-3. In the bronze- medal bout, Sheridan fell to Ruslan Kamilov of Uzbekistan. “He wrestled him tough - it’s just a
tough tournament,” said U.S. head coach Mark Halvorson. “I think he knows he was in the match, and both he lost were winnable. It was just one of those match- es, and he lost a couple close ones. This whole thing is such a great experience for everyone.” Sheridan is a senior at will be at De La
Salle High School in California. He was a 2010 Junior Nationals Greco-Roman champion. At the 2010 FILA Cadet Nationals, he was second in freestyle and third in Greco-Roman. Sheridan was also second in freestyle and third in Greco- Roman at the 2009 Cadet Nationals. He placed third in the 2010 California state high school tournament. Quinton Murphy of Holley, N.Y. won two
of his three pool matches to advance to the bronze medal match. He defeated
Amadeus Pereira of Guinee-Bisau and Mohamad Boudraa of Algeria and was beaten by Bakhodur Kadirov of Tajikistan. He finished fourth after falling to Irakli Mosidze of Georgia. Murphy is a junior at Holley High
School in New York. He placed third in the 2010 FILA Cadet Nationals in freestyle. He was a 2009 Central Regional Cadet freestyle champion, and has won numerous medals at USA Wrestling age-group regional events. He is a two-time New York state high school champion (2008 and 2010) and a state runner-up in 2009. Jenna Burkert of Middle Island, N.Y. finished fifth at 60 kg/132 lbs. in women’s freestyle. She dropped her first two matches, but rallied to win her final two bouts over Natasha Puteri of Singapore and Christiana Victor of Nigeria. “Like everyone else, I was here to win.
I came up a little bit short, but I pushed through, and I got fifth and I’m happy,” Burkert said. “I remember looking up and
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