U.S. Gold Medalists
As many years pass, we have an Olympic champion every 4 years. These are some of the greatest from the U.S:
Dan Gable, Cael Sanderson, Tom Brands, Terry Brands, Jordan Burroughs, Tony Purler, Dennis Hall, Brandon Paulson, Steve Frasure, Rulon Gardner, Jeff Blatnick, and many more.
Dan Gable, Cael Sanderson, Tom Brands, Terry Brands, Jordan Burroughs, Tony Purler, Dennis Hall, Brandon Paulson, Steve Frasure, Rulon Gardner, Jeff Blatnick, and many more.
MSN Gold Medalist Gallery
Dan Gable
Dan Gable is considered one of the greatest wrestlers the world has ever known. Dan Gable was born October 25, 1948 in Waterloo, Iowa. He was an American amateur wrestler. He is famous for having only lost one match in his entire career. He won gold at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany while not giving up a single point. He was the head coach at the University of Iowa where he won 16 NCAA team titles from 1976 to 1997.
Cael Sanderson
Cael Sanderson was born June 20, 1979 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is considered one of the greatest American amateur wrestlers in recent years. A 2004 Olympic champion in Athens, Greece. He went undefeated in four years of his college wrestling career at Iowa State University (159-0), winning four consecutive NCAA titles (1999 to 2002). He is the only wrestler in NCAA Division I history to go undefeated in official matches with more than 100 wins. Sports Illustrated named his college career as the second most impressive in college sports. He is the current head wrestling coach at Penn State University and has led the Nittany Lions to three consecutive national championships, and three consecutive Big Ten titles.
Jordan Burroghs
Jordan Burroughs was born on July 8, 1988, and is an American world and Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling. He went to the University of Nebraska, and he went on to win the 2012 Olympics in Freestyle at 74kg. He won one NCAA title, and took third his sophmore year. He has won every tournament he has entered since the beginning of the 2009 season. Burroughs stated that he is interested in pursuing a career in mixed martial arts after his wrestling career is over in 2017. He plans to compete in every World and Olympic competition until 2017.