News World 212: Jordan Burroughs

Showing posts with label Jordan Burroughs. Show all posts

Saturday, August 20, 2016

74KG Preview: Jordan Burroughs Weight

74 KG Finals - Jordan Burroughs (Sunkist Kids) vs. David Taylor (NLWC)
The Contenders#1Jordan Burroughs (USA)#2Ainuar Geduev (RUS)#3Hassan Yazdani Charati (IRI)

Jordan Burroughs is the reigning world champion and Olympic gold medalist, but he is not the same wrestler he was four years ago. Additionally, this is not the same field. With a different group of opponents operating under a different set of rules, it will be a tremendous challenge to Burroughs" greatness

Mike Mal did an excellent job breaking down Geduev as you will see later today.

Last year in Vegas, I was explaining that Hassan Yazdani Charati scared me because he might give Burroughs a tough match. Fast forward to August 19th and we are liable to find out.

Yazdani Charati does a greatjob of moving his foe around, maybe even better than Burroughs, He will immediately push pressure on them from an underhook and seems to be able to get pushouts at will. He can"t attack legs like Burroughs, but when you are able to wrestle your opponents in a phone booth, you often don"t have to shoot.

Yazdani avenges loss to Tsabolov

Dark Horses#9 Narsingh Yadav#10 Bekzod Abdurakhmonob (UZB)#11 Zelimkhan Khadjiev (FRA)

No wrestler has had a crazier road to Rio than Narsingh Yadav. The Indian star was sabotaged by multiple time world and Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar. Yadav was originally ruled out after his positive test, but was later cleared by India"s National Anti-Doping Agency because of sabotage on the part of Kumar. Someone in Kumar"s camp tainted Yadav"s food with PEDs.

This weight has more than one American to watch as former Clarion star Bekzod Abdurakhmonov makes his Olympic debut. His folkstyle background and unorthodox style make him one of the most unpredictable athletes in the weight class.

Abdurakhmonov wins world bronze

Khadjiev is a wild card. He was the guy up big on Yadav when the lefty headlock came screaming around. Khadjiev had Burroughs in a 3-0 hole before getting teched. He can"t get through Geduev or Burroughs, but Khadjiev can scrap with anyone. Combine Russian training with a purposeful attacking approach and you have a terrifying presence good enough of being the third best wrestler in this weight.

How Burroughs Can MedalThe double leg is not the only shotin Burrough"s arsenal. He is now more patient with it and will score a pushout if he has to so as to keep the points coming and the pressure on his opponent. But in the tournaments leading up to Rio, Burroughs was working on a low ankle attack a la John Smith.

The leglace he has developed the past two years is turning in wrestling"s worst kept secret. Part of why Burroughs is more accepting to take stepouts is because he knows how much his par terre has improved. Being able to turn any takedown into the end of match is very intimidating.

Burroughs" preternatural confidence carries him to victory. He is the hardest working wrestler on Team USA, and it shows when he needs a takedown late in a match. It shows when he knee blocks to prevent a takedown. It shows when he clears an underhook.

Every year that Burroughs has won a world or Olympic title, he has gone through an Iranian to do it. I see no reason for that to change at the the 2016 Rio Olympics.

PredictionsGOLD: Jordan Burroughs, USASILVER: Hassan Yazdani Charati, IRIBRONZE: Ainuar Geduev, RussiaBRONZE: Soner Demirtas, TurkeyFIFTH: Bekzod Abdurakhmonov, UzbekistanFIFTH: Zelimkhan Khadjiev, FranceBracket Reactions Update:Top Matches Of Olympians:Men"s Frestyle: Daniel Dennis | Frank Molinaro | Jordan Burroughs J"den c*x | Kyle Snyder | Tervel Dlagnev

Source: http://www.flowrestling.org/article/45261-74kg-preview-jordan-burroughs-weight

Friday, August 19, 2016

Why Jordan Burroughs doesn"t want a LeBron moment

Olympic Wrestling Trials | Andrew Howe vs Jordan Burroughs, Match 1 | Full Match
Jordan Burroughs will try to defend his 2012 gold medal in wrestling. (AP)

Medal count | Olympic schedule | Olympic news

RIO DE JANEIRO Imagine you are an Olympic athlete. Youve tortured your body for decades, fine-tuning it for that one moment when everything is on the line, when all that work and sweat and sacrifice come down to a few brief moments in some arena halfway around the world.

There are the early wake-ups calls and the demanding practices and the injuries. There are the strange beds in foreign lands, unfamiliar food, someone who always seems to want a piece of your time.

Imagine youve gone through all that and and youve finally done it. Youve won a gold medal.

It would be, it seems logical, a moment of sheer exultation. And, for a brief, fleeting moment, it is. And then, well, let someone who has lived that explain it.

American Jordan Burroughs is the reigning gold medalist in freestyle wrestling in the 74-kilogram weight division. From his earliest days, all he could think of was winning an Olympic gold medal.

[Related:Olympian Gary Russell has an odd plan if he hits it big as a pro boxer]

He went to a New Jersey high school that couldnt even afford singlets for all of the team members. Burroughs was a 135-pounder in high school and had to share a singlet with the teams 119-pounder.

Im gritty because of [my upbringing], Burroughs said. I recognize Ive been on both sides of the track. Ive been in a high school gym with very few fans. Now, Im at the Olympic Games. When I was in high school, we had 14 guys on the team and only 10 singlets. When our 119-pounder would wrestle, hed have to take his singlet off in the locker room and give it to me at 135 so I could wrestle.

We didnt have enough uniforms for our entire team and now Im getting thousands of dollars of free gear on the biggest stage in the world.

Hes won just about everything there is to win. He won 69 consecutive matches on the senior level, an American record. Hes won the world championship and the World Cup and just about everything else.

It all led to that pursuit of gold in London. Burroughs created the Twitter handle@AllISeeIsGold, and the night before he wrestled in London, he tweeted, My next tweet will be a picture of me holding that Gold medal!!!

It wasnt cockiness Burroughs might be the most down-to-earth, least cocky athlete among the 500-plus the U.S. sent to Brazil but more a reflection of his belief that hed done all that could be done to win.

After Burroughs won the gold, though, he had an epiphany of sorts. It wasnt clutching the medal against his chest, allowing his closest friends and family members hold it and take photos with it.

Hed reached the pinnacle and suddenly, the exultation was gone. The next Olympics, he realized, were four years away and there was work to be done.

I tell these guys all the time, he said of his Olympic teammates, its really not about the winning. Its about the pursuit. You spend every waking moment preparing for a particular event. Its almost like Christmas. You say, I cant wait until Christmas. I want to open my presents early. Mom, Dad, what did you get me? Ive got to see it. The presents are under the tree. Let me open it. But once you open them and you play with them, you realize, its over. There are 364 days until the next event. For us, its over a thousand days to the next Olympics.

I dont want to have an Olympic hangover. I want to have a peacefulness within me that understands, You enjoy every single moment of these Games. You soak it all in. You eat it up. You hope for the best. But Ive got a family that reminds me there is a lot more to do between now and Tokyo, [which ishosting the 2020 Games].

Because of his sport, hes never going to collect dozens of gold medals like Michael Phelps. Hes never going to have the fame of a LeBron James, whose entire adult life has played out on live television.

But he wants to make his mark on these Games and the Olympics in general in a very Burroughs sort of way.

There are very few singular moments throughout an athletes career that puts him in a place forever, Burroughs said. I keep going back to LeBron James [in the 2016 NBA Finals], being down 3-1, going back to Cleveland, playing against the reigning MVP and the reigning NBA champions. When everyone counted him out, he won. That singular moment cemented him as a legend.

People appreciated LeBron for a long time, though he was a great athlete and a great player. But now, hes a leader. Hes one of the best players of all time. Thats subjective and arbitrary. Like, I dont know. Maybe there are people who think Im the hots. Thats all up to personal opinion. But for people who think I am, I want to give them something to cheer for.

The last thing, he wants, however, is to have those fans on their feet, roaring, as he mounts a furious late rally to win.

That was OK for James and his story, coming back to win three consecutive games to claim a world title for a city that had gone a half-century without one, but thats not what Burroughs has in mind.

In that sense, he doesnt want his own LeBron moment.

[Related:Shakur Stevenson, U.S. boxings best chance at gold, beats Brazilian favorite]

Hopefully, Im not down, he said. Hopefully I lead the entire Games, all four matches. I want to dominate. I dont want to wrestle to my opponents. I dont want to just win. I really think the reason Phelps is so cool, and Katie Ledecky and all these different athletes, is that they just dont win. They dominate. They break records. They do it consistently. Domination, consistency: Put those together and youre a legend.

It was suggested to him that hes wired the same way they are, that hes the kind who will dominate round after round, match after match, meet after meet and year after year.

Burroughs grinned broadly.

I am, the reigning gold medalist said, shaking his head affirmatively. I am.

Former Husker Jordan Burroughs seeking rare back-to-back golds

Olympic Wrestling Trials | Andrew Howe vs Jordan Burroughs, Match 2 | Full Match

RIO DE JANEIRO Jordan Burroughs chance of adding to his legacy has arrived.

The former Husker will try Friday to become the first freestyle wrestler since 1992 to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals.

Burroughs, the favorite in the 74-kilogram class (163 pounds), will face Augusto Midana of Guinea-Bissau in the first round. The quarterfinals and semifinals also will take place in the morning, while the medal round is slated to start at 2 p.m.

Burroughs was a two-time national champion for Nebraska. But since winning at the NCAAs in 2011, Burroughs has been virtually unstoppable on the international stage, winning world championships in 2011, 2013 and 2015 along with gold at the 2012 Olympics.

He breezed through the London Games, dropping one round and surrendering six points overall. He defeated Irans Sadegh Goudarzi 1-0, 1-0 to take gold.

I feel like Im a much better wrestler than I was four years ago, Burroughs said before leaving for Rio. Ive prepared in areas where I was weak in 2012. Its not going to be any easier (winning gold again). I just feel more prepared.

Nebraska coach Mark Manning is serving as a U.S. Olympic freestyle coach and as a personal coach to Burroughs.

Burroughs appearance marks the 11th time a former Husker wrestler has competed in the Olympics. Former Huskers have collected six medals, including golds from Burroughs four years ago and Rulon Gardner in 2000.

Former Loper seeks medal

UNK graduate and two-time NCAA Division II national champion Tervel Dlagnev wraps up his wrestling career Saturday by competing for the U.S. in the 125-kg (275 pounds) division.

Dlagnev will retire after this weekend as he has accepted an assistant coaching position at Ohio State.

Dlagnev is aiming to pick up his first Olympic medal. Four years ago, he won his first two matches before losing to the eventual gold-medal winner. Dlagnev finished fifth. He also finished with bronze at the 2009 and 2014 world championships.

Favorites in Dlagnevs weight class include Irans Komeil Ghasemi, Turkeys Taha Akgul, Azerbaijans Jamaladdin Magomedov and Russian Bilyal Makhov.

Maroulis first place is first for U.S.

It took a moment for Helen Maroulis accomplishment to sink in.

The American defeated Japans Saori Yoshida 4-1 in the 53-kilogram freestyle final to win the first gold medal for a U.S. womens wrestler and derail Yoshidas quest for a fourth straight gold. It evoked memories of Gardners victory over three-time gold medalist Aleksandr Karelin at the 2000 Olympics.

Maroulis celebrated Thursdays win by leaping into coach Valentin Kalikas arms, then running around the mat in a circle and gripping the American flag with both hands while it was draped over her back.

Yoshida was trying to become the second woman to win four Olympic golds in a single event across four Summer Games, and the second wrestler to win four Olympic golds.

Maroulis fell behind 1-0, but a takedown early in the second period gave her the lead for good.

Ive dreamed of this my whole life, Maroulis said. I put it on this pedestal.

Source: http://www.omaha.com/huskers/wrestling/former-husker-jordan-burroughs-seeking-rare-back-to-back-golds/article_d4686b72-7462-557e-ac64-253c8fed7370.html