Takedown Report

Three Days to Budapest: Nick Gwiazdowski

Nick Gwiazdowski fought a lot with his brother when they were young and he grew up with neighbors who wrestled, so wrestling found its way into his life, too.  He enjoyed the sport and had early success as a wrestler and it stuck.  “I had fun and I had good coaches around me,” Gwiazdowski said this summer after making his second World Team. “My parents let me do as much as I wanted to do or as little as I wanted to do. I stuck with it, I found success and I learned and I got better. It wasn’t like there was one key moment where it was like, ‘Poof, I’m going to make a living out of this.’  “Maybe in high school I was like, ‘It would be cool to wrestle in college. I might be good enough to wrestle in college.’ In college I got to a point where I was like, ‘I think I’m good enough to do this after college.’ Now I’m at the point where I think I’m good enough to be the best guy in the world.”  Gwiazdowski was close enough to reaching the pinnacle last year that he could see what it looks like. He reached the World semifinals, where he lost to three-time World and Olympic champion Taha Akgul of Turkey. The 25-year-old New York native and former North Carolina State star bounced back to claim a bronze medal.  Leaving Paris with a medal was a big step for the two-time NCAA champion in his first full year on the Senior level. Gwiazdowski started the year by going 0-2 in February at the World Cup and trailed in the final minute of the U.S. Open semifinals before rallying to beat Dom Bradley.  Rest of the story at http://www.trackwrestling.com/tw/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1539937380170&twSessionId=txtpruynzfrdjwr&postId=740761132&mc_cid=bea521ef73&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

October 21, 2018 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized