Takedown Report

Spencer Lee’s Begins Quest For An Olympic Gold Medal In Paris

IOWA CITY (KWWL)   Tom Brands and Dan Gable both like Spencer Lee’s chances of bring home a Gold Medal from the Paris Olympics. 
Gable and Brands should know. They are both Olympic Gold Medal winners for Team USA in wrestling. Gable in 192. Brands in 1996.
While many consider Spencer Lee a favorite to win Gold in the 57 kilogram free style division, Spencer doesn’t see it that way right now. Spencer sees it this way: “I wouldn’t say that I’m the favorite. I mean there’s four world champs in this field, and if the Russian was in there would be 5. So I wouldn’t say I’m the favorite.”
He adds: “I would say, they know of me. There are only 16 guys in the bracket for a reason. You’ve got to qualify. It’s a tough tournament to get into. They are the best guys in the world, so, you know that every match is going to be a tough one, and you prepare for that and I’m ready for that.”
Spencer has done it all. The 25-year old is one of the Hawkeyes all-time greatest All-Americans. He’s won wrestling’s top honor, the Dan Hodge Trophy, twice. He’s a three-time world, national and Big 10 Champion. Lee has also battled through tremendous adversity…requiring surgery on both knees from two torn ACL’s.
Then there was the stunning loss to Purdue’s Matt Ramos in the Big 10 Conference semi-finals in 2023, when Ramos got Lee on his back for the shocking fall.
Hawkeye Head Coach, Tom Brands, adds,  “What is means is that he stayed in there. He’s taken everything that’s been thrown at him that’s negative, and he’s always, always rebounded. Always . And, I ‘ll say it again. I’ve said it three or 4 times now. It’s time to perform. The future is upon us for Spencer Lee. Zero hour is upon us.”
Coach Brands notes there is some similarity between Spencer’s stunning loss to Matt Ramos in the Big 10’s and Dan Gable’s loss to Larry Owings in the 1970 NCAA Championship.
University of Washington Sophomore, Larry Owings, pulled the upset of the century in beating Gable. The shocking 13-11 Owings victory ended Dan Gable’s 181-match winning streak, which had started when he wrestled for Waterloo West High School under Coach Bob Siddens, and continued at Iowa State under Coach Harold Nichols.
The loss to Larry Owings proved to be a major motivation for Dan Gable to win the Olympics. Gable once said he “Used the pain of the loss as motivation to dominate my future opposition.” He would go on to win all six matches at Munich, and did not give up a single point to his opposition.
For Coach Tom Brands, who wrestled for Gable at Iowa, it’s like this for Spencer. “Here’s the significance of it. What do you do after you’ve been kicked to the curb? What do you do after you’ve been in a situation where you got your entire guts and heart and spirit ripped out of you? Well, you persevere.”
For Spencer, it’s also significant. “It just meant you’ve got to be better. You can never really be bullet proof, but, you can train harder and smarter, and, do your best to stay healthy. Stay mentally healthy. Stay strong.” When watching Spencer Lee wrestle, the 1972 Olympic Gold Medalist and former Iowa Head Coach says,  “I think that’s where Spencer Lee needs to be. … more at … https://www.kwwl.com/news/spencer-lees-quest-for-an-olympic-gold-medal-in-paris/article_94ccbbe2-4bcd-11ef-8a7f-db65b6ebc070.html

July 28, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized