“I want to try to keep adding to my arsenal and my repertoire. There is still a lot I can improve on. Until I tech fall everyone, I need to keep getting better.” - Jordan Burroughs
Jordan Burroughs
Olympic champion takes aim at winning his third straight World title for United States
By Craig Sesker Jordan Burroughs already owns an Olympic gold medal, two
World titles and the longest international winning streak in U.S. wrestling history.
His last performance was perhaps his most amazing when he captured a World title this past September despite breaking his ankle less than a month before he competed. And he just passed 90,000 in the number of followers he has on his popular Twitter account, @alliseeisgold. So what does the unflappable, 25-year-old Burroughs possi- bly do for an encore?
Burroughs took time out of his busy schedule to talk with USA Wrestler about the past, present and future as he prepares to return to the mat this season.
He plans to resume competing at an event in Turkey in February. He is seeking his third straight World title this year. How much of a break did you take after the Worlds and when did you resume training? I was off the mat for a few weeks. I had some time to take a break and recover, and then Lauren and I got married in Buffalo in October. It was really good to take some time off. I got back on the mat with some of the college guys here at Nebraska and I’m trying to return to form. I spend a lot of time working out with (Husker All-Americans) Robert Kokesh and James Green.
6 USA Wrestler
Everything is going good. Life is great. I’m a very happy man right now. You had five screws and a plate inserted into your ankle
after you broke it in August. Are they still in there? Yes, they are. The doctors gave me an option to leave them in or have another operation to take them out. I don’t want another surgery and I don’t want to have to rehab again. The ankle feels great and I can still compete at a high level with them in there.
How many doubts did you have about competing in the
World Championships after first sustaining your injury? There were definitely some initial doubts after the injury. Knowing the World Championships were extremely close, I had to make a decision fairly quickly. I had surgery the day after I got hurt. It was really tough for a while. I could barely walk up the stairs, so there were a lot of questions and concerns at first about whether I would be able to get back. I rode the bike and climbed ropes every day to stay in shape when I couldn’t wres- tle. I never want to ride that bike again.
Why did you make the decision to try and compete instead of just healing up for next season? I didn’t want to sit back and give anyone else an opportunity to wrestle in my weight class. I earned that spot and I had trained really hard to prepare for the Worlds. I wanted to seize the moment and win another World title. You wrestled live for the first time after the injury just days before you competed at the Worlds in Budapest, Hungary. What was that experience like?
I was nervous. I had to prove to (U.S. National Coach) Zeke Jones that I was healthy enough to compete. Zeke was making
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