Takedown Report

Helen Maroulis makes record third Olympic team; David Taylor, Adeline Gray dethroned

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania — Helen Maroulis, the first U.S. female wrestler to win Olympic gold, will this summer become the oldest U.S. woman to wrestle at an Olympics and the first to wrestle at three Games.
Maroulis, 32, headlines the first 13 members of the Olympic wrestling team, decided at trials on Saturday at Penn State University.
She’ll be joined in Paris by veterans, including fellow 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Snyder, and newcomers, including 20-year-old world champion Amit Elor, who was one day too young to compete at the last trials and will become the youngest U.S. Olympic female wrestler in history.
Missing the team: Tokyo Olympic gold medalist David Taylor, who lost to NCAA Wrestler of the Year Aaron Brooks; six-time world champion Adeline Gray, who lost to Kennedy Blades, and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs, who was eliminated on the trials’ first day Friday.
WRESTLING TRIALS: Results
Maroulis swept two-time world medalist Jacarra Winchester in their best-of-three series Saturday to earn the Olympic spot at 57kg.
Maroulis was last beaten for a spot on the national team at the 2012 Olympic Trials. Since, she won four gold, two silver and three bronze medals between the Olympics and world championships, including that breakthrough Olympic title in 2016.
She briefly retired in 2019 due to concussions and post-traumatic stress disorder, then came back to win Olympic bronze in Tokyo and a world medal of every color the last three years. “I was giving my dad a hard time because, two years ago, he said, ‘Hey, no more medals. Just retire. Get married. Have kids,’” Maroulis said. “I was like, ‘Let me go one more, dad.’”
Leading into these trials, Maroulis said she was in a car accident and dealt with a two-week “deep sickness.” Snyder, 28, swept Isaac Trumble to make his third Olympic team. … more at … NBCsports.com/Olympic-wrestling-trials-david-taylor-helen-maroulis-adeline-gray

April 26, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized