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“I have a lot of fire for this year after what happened to me last year. Missing out on the Olympics, that really drives me. That’s why I was so ready for this year.”


- Reece Humphrey Reece Humphrey


2011 World Team member seeks big year after missing out on competing in Olympics By Craig Sesker


LAS VEGAS – Reece Humphrey doesn’t hold back when talk- ing about what it was like watching the 2012 Olympic Games on television.


“It was absolutely miserable,” he said. “Watching someone else do what I expected to do, it was brutal.”


Humphrey was among millions watching worldwide when the best athletes in the world gathered to compete in the London Games this past summer.


“Anytime I saw someone step on the podium and win a gold medal, it was pretty hard to handle,” he said. “No matter what sport they were competing in or what country they were from, it was tough when I heard their national anthem being played. It gave me a pretty vivid picture of what it would’ve been like for me if I had won. I figured I was on track to do that.” One of the favorites to make the Olympic Team in 2012, Humphrey instead lost to Coleman Scott during a three-man Olympic wrestle-off for the U.S. freestyle spot at 60 kg/132 lbs. Scott went on to defeat Shawn Bunch in the finals of the wrestle-off before earning an Olympic bronze medal in London, England.


“I obviously wanted Coleman to win because he’s wrestling for our country,” Humphrey said. “Plus he’s a friend of mine and


Continued on page 14 12 USA Wrestler


Reece Humphrey celebrates after winning a U.S. Open freestyle title in Las Vegas. Tony Rotundo photos.


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