Takedown Report

Abbott Blog: Why voting now and often for Adeline Gray for USOPC Athlete of the Year is so important

BY GARY ABBOTT, USA WRESTLING | OCT. 24, 2019

There are only four days left for fans to vote for the USOPC Athletes of the Year. Five-time World champion Adeline Gray is a finalist for the Female Olympic Athlete of the Year.
USA Wrestling always reaches out to the wrestling community whenever one of our athletes is a finalist for the USOPC awards, whether it be for the Athlete of the Month or the Athlete of the Year. There is an important part of the selection process for this which includes a fan vote. With the USOPC awards, you can vote as many times as you want, over and over again.

Vote for Adeline Gray for USOPC Athlete of Year
There are many reasons why I think it is vitally important that the wrestling community rally behind Adeline and vote for her over the last four days of this campaign.
1. She deserves it. Becoming the first five-time World champion wrestler (in a sport in which an athlete can only win one gold medal a year) is a huge achievement. Adeline Gray keeps making history, and should be recognized beyond the wrestling community for her achievements. She is one of the biggest stars in the Olympic family.
2. Fan voting accounts for 50% of the selection for this award. The bigger sports with active social media and communication have an advantage in these situations. Wrestling is large enough and active enough online to do well in this format. We just need to get motivated and stay motivated.
3. It seems they pick the same athletes, over and over again. In a lot of cases, these athletes are in sports where an athlete can enter multiple events and winning many medals, not a sport where you can only win one medal. Swimmer Michael Phelps won this four times, swimmer Katie Ledecky won this three times, speedskater Eric Heiden won this three times and track star Michael Johnson won this three times. It is time to put in an athlete who can only win one World or Olympic gold medal a year. There is no margin for error in our sport.
4. No USA women’s wrestler has ever won this award. Men’s freestyle wrestlers who have won include John Smith, Rulon Gardner, Jordan Burroughs and Kyle Snyder. It is time one of our superstar women to get this award. It is Adeline’s turn. Rest of Gary’s story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/October/24/Abbott-blog-Vote-for-Adeline-Gray?mc_cid=5efd70627f&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

October 31, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized