EXECUTIVE NOTES By Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director
U.S. OLYMPIC WRESTLERS NOW FOCUSING ON WINNING MEDALS FOR TEAM USA IN RIO All focus of our Senior-level programs are now on the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The wrestling compe- tition will be held August 14-21 at Carioca Arena 2 in Olympic Park in Rio, with many other sports venues for the Games. USA Wrestlng was very active during the months that led to
the completion of the Olympic wrestling field, as well as the selection and preparation of the U.S. Olympic Team in wrestling. It started with the successful hosting of the 2015 World
Wrestling Championships at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. in September. This was the largest and most important of the qualifying events for the 2016 Olympic Games. The compe- tition has set a high bar for future World Championships in wrestling. USA Wrestling also hosted the Pan American Olympic Qualifier in Frisco, Texas in March, as well as the Pan American Championships held there one week earlier. As a national feder- ation, we agreed to host both events, giving the nations from the Pan American continents two high-quality events during the Olympic year. This is where an additional 36 spots in Rio for the Pan American nations were determined. The U.S. team was set at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in
Iowa City in April, once again a spectacular showcase for our sport and a great send-off for our Olympic athletes as they head off to Rio to seek medals for their nation. Five Olympians received high quality matches during the Beat
the Streets Gala event in Times Square in New York City in April, a fantastic event once again. We wil also host the World Cup of Freestyle Wrestling at the Forum in Los Angeles, Calif. on June 11-12. This is an opportunity for our men’s freestyle Olympians to get a great competition prior to the Olympic Games, in front of American wrestling fans. We have so many people that we need to thank and recog-
nize for working on all these competitions held on U.S. soil dur- ing the Olympic year. Their hard work and commitment has helped make international wrestling a better sport, and has also provided considerable support for the members of the U.S. Olympic wrestling team on their Olympic journey. Our team has been set and the athletes in all three Olympic dis-
ciplines are going through preparation train- ing camps and competitions, so they will be at their peak level of performance in Rio. The USA will have four reigning World champions on its 2016 Olympic wrestling team, an amazing fact that gives us great confidence in our medal chances going into the Games. In addition to competing at the World
Cup in Los Angeles, our men’s freestyle athletes will also compete in the German Grand Prix in Dortmund, Germany. They will host training camps at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, prior to going to Brazil, for their final training right there in Rio de Janeiro. Our women’s freestyle team has scheduled a training camp
with the Candian team and will compete in the Canada Cup in Guelph, Canada as part of their preparations, and will also be conducting extensive training in the Colorado Springs U.S. Olympic Training Center. They will also do some of their final preparation in Rio. Our Greco-Roman team has already done a training camp in Concord, Calif. and will do an extensive training camp in Baku, Azerbaijan. Their final preparation will be at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, where they will remain until just before they wrestle in Brazil. This is a great time to thank the U.S. Olympic Committee for
its extraordinary and consistent support for our wrestling pro- grams leading into the Rio Olympic Games. First of all, they were a great partners with USA Wrestling in
the creation of the new Bill Farrell Wrestling Complex at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, a world-class training facility that all three of our Olympic teams will use prior to competing at the Rio Olympic Games. On site in Rio de Janeiro, the USOC has developed a world-
class training location for U.S. wrestling called Lonier. This train- ing site, which is close to both the Athlete’s Village and the wrestling venue, is a fantastic place for our athletes as they finalize their preparation. They will have complete access to wrestling mats, as well as numerous other support services. When our wrestlers step on the mats in Rio, our country will have done everything it can to give them the best possible chance for success on the Olympic stage.
4 USA Wrestler
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