Takedown Report

USA Greco-Roman Preview at 2024 Olympics

The following is a preview of all four Americans who will represent the United States in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, at the Champ de Mars Arena. This also includes what dates each will compete as each weight will last two days: through semifinals on first day and medal matches on second day.

Kamal Bey • 77k/169.5 pounds (Aug. 6-7)
Age: 26 (born Jan. 3, 1998), Oak Park, Ill., U.S. Army WCAP

Kamal Bey
Other: Got second chance to compete in Olympics when a Russian wrestler failed to meet IOC conditions; missed 2021 Olympic Trials while serving one-year suspension by WADA; the graduate of Oak Park River Forest High (where he was part of two state championship team) spent his senior year at the Olympic Training Center to focus on Greco-Roman wrestling.
Olympic/Worlds Experience: First Olympic team; has competed in three Worlds with overall record of 4-4: finishing seventh (2-1) in 2018; 31st (0-1) in 2022 and 10th (2-2) in 2023; competed in four age-group Worlds, led by U20 gold medal in 2017; also competed in U20 Worlds in 2016 (8^th), U23 Worlds in 2017 (21^st) and U20 Worlds in 2018 (fifth)
2021 USA result at this weight: USA did not qualify this weight
All-Time USA medalists at this weight: silver medal by Matt Lindland (76k) in 2000.
Top Competition: Nao Kusaka of Japan, the 2023 World bronze medalist, will be the No. 1 seed, but the 2023 World finalists will also be in Paris: 2023 World champ Akzhold Makhmudov of Kyrgyzstan, who also earned an Olympic silver medal in 2021; and 2023 World silver medalist Sanan Suleymanov of Azerbaijan

Payton Jacobson • 87k/191.5 pounds (Aug. 7-8)
Age: 21 (born Sept. 12, 2002), Elkhart, Wisc., Northern Michigan/Sunkist Kids WC

Payton Jacobson
Other: Finished sixth at Wisconsin state tournament for Elkhart High School in 2019; also focused on Greco since high school and trained with Ringers WC; 2020 UWW Junior Nationals champ; defeated Spencer Woods at Olympic Trials.
Olympics/Worlds Experience: First Olympics and Senior-level opportunity; competed in two age-group World Championships, finishing 8^thin the 2022 U20 Worlds and 13^th in the 2023 U23 Worlds.
2021 USA result at this weight: John Stefanowicz lost his only bout, 5-3, to Ivan Huklek (Croatia).
All-time USA medalists at this weight: none
Top Competition: Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine), a member of his country’s parliament, is a two-time Olympic medalist, capturing a silver in 2016 and a gold medal in 2021. That goes along with World championships in 2015 and 2019 as well as a silver medal in 2018 and a bronze in 2023; David Losonczi (Hungary) and Ali Cengiz (Turkey) ended up sharing gold-medal honors after a scoring error by officials last fall. This came one year after both men also earned World bronze medals in 2022.

Joe Rau • 97k/213.5 pounds (Aug. 6-7)
Age: 33 (born March 17, 1991), Chicago, Ill., Titan Mercury WC

Joe Rau
Other: Two-time Illinois state qualifier for St. Patrick High School; was a three-time NCAA Division III All-American and 2013 NCAA champ for Elmhurst (Ill.) University; defeated Alan Vera at the Olympic Trials.
Olympics/Worlds Experience: This is his first Olympics after he won the 2016 Olympic Trials but failed to qualify the weight (98k); then qualified the weight in 2021 but failed to win the Trials. Represented Team USA at the 2014 (80k) and 2019 (87k) World Championships but fell short of placing. Overall record of 1-2.
2021 USA result at this weight: G’Angelo Hancock won his first match in Tokyo, 5-1, over Mihail Kajaia (Serbia), before losing his second bout, 4-3, to Tadeusz Michalik (Poland).
All-time USA medalists at this weight: silver by Greg Gibson (1984); bronze by Dennis Kozlowski (1988); silver by Kozlowski (1992); bronze by Steve Lowney (2000); bronze by Adam Wheeler (2008), who is the last American Greco wrestler to place at an Olympics.
Top Competitors: Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) is a three-time Olympic medalist … more at … https://www.win-magazine.com/2024/08/04/29106/

August 13, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized