Olympic Wrestling 2012: What Event Must Do to Make Noise in London

When you think about the incredible events on display at the Olympic Games, I’m guessing wrestling isn’t the first sport that comes to mind.

For whatever reason, the popularity of the sport has never taken off in America and the buzz is rather cold in London.

Despite America’s storied history in the freestyle—at least one gold medal has been won in every Olympics dating back to 1972—the competitors remain anonymous in U.S. pop culture.

How can that change? How can a sport that already dominates at the Olympics magically make you care?

Enter Jordan Burroughs.

The Sicklerville, N.J., native will be competing in the freestyle event at 74 kilograms (roughly 163 pounds) and has given plenty of examples to make us believe he’ll continue U.S.A’s impressive streak.

At the University of Nebraska, Burroughs was undefeated in his final two years of competition, and won two national championships in the process. He’s this country's only current world champ and is a mind-blowing 34-0 at the senior-level freestyle. Nobody has had more success in the past few years. 

He mixes brute strength with elusiveness and agility to give himself a punishing advantage over the competition.

What sets him apart from some of the robots who pollute the world of wrestling is his larger-than-life personality. His Twitter handle is “@Alliseeisgold”, which gives you an idea of where his confidence level resides. He sends out plenty of entertaining tweets, like this one for example:

"

I've been in a couple sexiest Olympian lists. Maybe I am pretty good looking!

— Jordan Burroughs (@alliseeisgold) July 21, 2012"

Or this one:

"

Told myself weeks ago that I wouldn't eat candy till after the Olympics. I'm traveling with Cottoncandy for when I hop off that medal stand!

— Jordan Burroughs (@alliseeisgold) July 22, 2012"

He’s a goofball who can entertain audiences outside of the wrestling mat. 

Burroughs will be wrestling Francisco Daniel Soler Tanco of Puerto Rico in the 16th Round tomorrow morning in what should be a rather one-sided affair. He’s only 19, and not nearly as experienced in senior-level competition. This will be the first of as many as four matches on the day, with the final one being a gold-medal match.

There is no question he’s favored to capture the gold, but will he bow out of the Olympics after winning? Not one single American gold-medal winner has tried to defend his title since 1996. With a fresh batch of names every year, fans don’t get a chance to grasp one particular athlete.

Burroughs sounds as if he wants to change that (via Philly.com):

"

For me to win an Olympic gold and have a chance to win another would be huge for our sport. Hopefully it will put us back into the mainstream media. Wrestling is a great sport, and I just want the world and the country to know that.

"

This is the sport's best shot of raising its national profile.

An athlete who shows his personality, isn’t going to throw in the towel after one Olympic appearance, and experiences success is the perfect formula. Burroughs has it all.

Now it’s up to USA Wrestling's public relations department to promote the heck out of Burroughs, and make sure the casual viewer watches him in action tomorrow.

Burroughs will take care of the rest.

Follow Eric Ball on Twitter.