EXECUTIVE NOTES By Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR OLYMPIC YEAR OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD At press time for this issue, USA Wrestling just returned from
the World Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. It was an exciting week of competition, and Team USA turned in a strong performance against tremendous competition. The effort of our U.S. World Teams in Istanbul will serve as a strong foundation for our organization heading into the 2012 Olympic year. The United States was able to celebrate a new Senior World Champion, as Jordan Burroughs captured the gold medal in men’s freestyle at 74 kg. Like many of the past greats in American wrestling, Burroughs won a gold medal on his first trip to the World Championships. Jordan’s amazing performance, which included great technique and tremendous heart, captivat- ed wrestling fans around the world. We congratulate and salute Jordan Burroughs for his outstanding achievement and look for- ward to his continued success in the future. The United States brought home four medals from Istanbul, which included bronze medals from men’s freestyle star Jake Varner at 96 kg and women’s freestyle wrestlers Adeline Gray at 67 kg and Ali Bernard at 72 kg. It was the first World medal in each of their careers, and their best effort yet on the internation- al level. All of our World medalists showed great improvement this season. The World Championships served as a qualifying event for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. The top six in each weight division qualified their nation to compete at the Olympics at that weight. Team USA was able to qualify for London at nine of the 18 Olympic weights, a strong effort in comparison with the rest of the world. Team USA also brought home a team trophy in men’s freestyle with a third-place finish. It was a huge improvement from 2010, when the team missed the top 20 in the standings. Our last World trophy in freestyle came in 2006, when our freestyle team was third in Guangzhou, China. Our women’s freestyle team also had a wonderful perform-
ance, placing in a tie for third with Mongolia in the final standings. We lost the tiebreaker, so Mongolia took home the trophy. This was an improvement on our women’s fifth place a year ago. The Greco-Roman effort was led by a
fifth-place finish by Justin Lester at 66 kg, who qualified our only weight class for the London Games. The U.S. team members fought hard in their matches against some talented opponents. Our Greco program has some work ahead in the upcoming Pan American Olympic Qualifier this coming winter, but we have great faith in the athletes and coaches. The performance in Istanbul should be a springboard to an active and exciting Olympic year ahead for our National Teams as well as for the entire organization. We will be working hard to qualify the remaining nine weight classes for London through our continental qualifier in March, and other qualifying events if necessary.
The Olympic Trials process has already begun, as our
nation’s best athletes in all three styles are seeking to qualify for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City, Iowa, April 21- 22. We expect this event to be spectacular, and hope to set attendance records working with our outstanding local organiz- ing committee there. We are coming off a strong year of membership growth, where USA Wrestling set records again in a number of our membership categories, most importantly in terms of athlete members.
Alongside the good news comes many challenges for the organization during the next membership year. The wrestling community has many options within the marketplace, and USA Wrestling must continue to strive to be the absolute best wrestling organization in our nation and in the world. We need to find opportunities to provide an improved product and expanded services to our membership at every level of the sport. I am confident that our volunteer leadership and national staff is the best in the business, and we look forward to provid- ing a positive wrestling experience for each of you.
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