THE LAST WORD
Don’t miss out on chance to witness Olympic Trials
T
he 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials was an outstanding event. It featured enthusiastic sellout crowds, high-caliber wrestling and edge-of-your seat suspense as the most
recent United States Olympic Team was determined at Iowa City’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Olympic Trials are headed back to Iowa City, on April 8-
10, 2016, and the good news for wrestling fans is this event promises to be even better than the 2012 Trials. Record-setting crowds of nearly 14,000 fans packed Carver- Hawkeye for each of four sessions in 2012, smashing the previ- ous attendance records for the Olympic Trials in wrestling. The year after the last Olympic Trials, in 2013, the sport of wrestling was locked in a fight for its life when the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board recommended that wrestling be removed from the Olympic program. As you know, the worldwide wrestling community bonded together in remarkable fashion and convinced the IOC to keep wrestling in the Olympic Games. In the process, numerous changes were made to make the
sport of wrestling considerably better. Wrestling’s international governing body has a new name, United World Wrestling, along with much stronger leadership now and a much stronger vision. One of the biggest improvements is with rules changes that
were made in 2013. Matches are much more action-packed and high-scoring now with cumulative scoring over two three-minute periods. The rules promote a more aggressive, attacking style at the international level. It is very entertaining to watch. The 2016 Olympic Trials field will be very strong. It likely will
include all four wrestlers that went on to win Olympic medals in London in 2012 after winning the Olympic Trials in Iowa City. That group includes Olympic gold medalists Jordan Burroughs and Jake Varner along with Olympic bronze medal-
ists Coleman Scott and Clarissa Chun. The U.S. has a strong women’s
team with two-time World champion Adeline Gray, World champion Elena Pirozhkova and World silver medalist Helen Maroulis leading the way. Pirozhkova beat Gray in the finals of the 2012 Trials, but they
Craig Sesker
are now in different weight classes. Gray won Worlds in 2014 and Pirozhkova was second. 2014 World bronze medalist Andy Bisek, two-time Olympian
Spenser Mango and two-time World medalist Justin “Harry” Lester are among the exciting Greco-Roman wrestlers to watch at the 2016 Trials. Lester won the Olympic Trials in 2012. There should be plenty of strong local flavor at the 2016 Trials
as well. Three-time World Team member Brent Metcalf and 2014 World Team member Tony Ramos headline the list of past University of Iowa standouts that are expected to compete. Metcalf placed second at the 2012 Olympic Trials. You also have Varner, a two-time NCAA champion for Iowa
State, with strong ties to the state of Iowa. In 2012, fans at the Olympic Trials did an amazing job of sup-
porting the athletes with Iowa ties, in addition to being very sup- portive of all of the wrestlers who took the mat in each style. The Olympic Trials are obviously a very important and very prestigious event, and one the folks in Iowa City want to see become a fixture every four years at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It is one of the top wrestling venues on the planet. Fans that attend the 2016 Olympic Trials will see hard-fought, dramatic battles with so much at stake as athletes pursue berths in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Olympic Trials are an event that you don’t want to miss. Make sure you purchase your tickets before this event sells out.
42 USA Wrestler
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