THE LAST WORD
Burroughs, Varner follow winning path
L
ONDON – Brandon Slay was done wrestling after he won Olympic gold in 2000.
So were Cael Sanderson (2004) and Henry Cejudo (2008) after they won Olympic titles. All three of those wrestlers seemingly had plenty of
good wrestling left in them, but they elected not to stick around after winning gold on the sport’s biggest stage. That trend appears to be changing now with 2012 Olympic gold medalists Jordan Burroughs and Jake Varner expected to continue wrestling into the next four-year Olympic cycle. And that’s tremendous news for USA Wrestling. A large part of the reason countries like Russia (freestyle) and
Japan (women’s freestyle) have been so dominant is that their star athletes keep wrestling. Burroughs wants to be the face of wrestling, and he already is. He just turned 24, and he is setting an example that could lead the U.S. to once again be the premier freestyle program on the planet.
Sure, Burroughs is immensely talented. But he’s also very smart, very coachable and has an excellent work ethic. He showed great composure in his matches in London. He has the intelligence and charisma to promote the sport to mainstream America. He handles himself extremely well, and is very quick on his feet with a great sense of humor. All of those traits were on display when he was interviewed by Jay Leno on NBC’s Tonight Show following the Olympics. Varner is another wrestler who is just hitting his peak. Varner, 26, showed tremendous composure in winning the Olympics. He has benefited greatly from his relationship with Sanderson and could do something his mentor never did. Win a World title. With the support of the Living the Dream Medal Fund,
wrestlers now have an opportuni- ty to cash in. Burroughs and Varner each won $250,000 for capturing Olympic gold medals. Coleman Scott also wrestled very well at the Olympics.
Craig Sesker
Scott, 26, endured a challenging season where he had to win the Olympic Trials before beating past World Team members Reece Humphrey and Shawn Bunch just to earn a trip to the Olympics.
Scott is the type of wrestler who is aggressive and offensive- minded. Those qualities are essential when you are down late in a match and you need to go get a point. That’s why Scott won a bronze medal in London.
The U.S. nearly had another freestyle medalist before Tervel Dlagnev fell just short at heavyweight. He finished fifth at the Olympic Games. He suffered an injury late in training that may have prevented him from winning a medal in London. Dlagnev did beat the reigning World champion from Belarus before falling to Uzbekistan legend Artur Taymazov in the semifi- nals. Taymazov went on to win his third Olympic title. Dlagnev is a wrestler who is right there with the best big men in the World, and let’s hope he decides to stick with it. The U.S. has a strong group of young stars, guys like Logan
Stieber and Jordan Oliver, who are ready to make an impact. Credit U.S. coach Zeke Jones for the job he has done with the freestyle program. U.S. Olympic coaches John Smith, Mark Manning, Cael Sanderson and Lou Rosselli also made huge contributions in London. The U.S. is back, and the American freestyle team is ready to make a run at the team title at the 2013 World Championships.
42 USA Wrestler
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