Top Stories of the Decade

Golden Years: Jordan Burroughs Doubles His Way Into a Decade of Gold

By Eric Olanowski

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 23) -- Every path to greatness starts with a first step on the mat. For Jordan Burroughs, it was  July 23, 2011, when the future Hall of Famer made his international debut, at the International Ukrainian Tournament in Kyiv. 

Nine years later he hasn’t stopped to look back.

Over the course of the next 31 months, the American youngster would go on a 69-match win streak that spanned 31 months which included a pair of world championships (2011, 2013) and a gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Burroughs’ unprecedented 69-match win streak ended on February 2, 2014, with a nail-biting loss to fellow American Nick MARABLE. The Team USA captain settled for a bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships in Tashkent but rebounded in 2015 winning his third career world championship in Las Vegas. 

After a disappointing finish at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro Burroughs has won the 2017 World Championships in Paris and finished with bronze medals at the 2018 and 2019 world championships, losing razor-thin 1-point matches to two-time defending world champion Zaurbek SIDAKOV.

Since 2011 Burroughs has collected a world medal in 8 of 9 world-level events: 1 Olympic gold, 4 world championship gold, and 3 world championship bronze. He’s also taken gold at six world cups, three Pan Am championships and three Pan Am Games. 
 

Development

Big step in women’s wrestling leadership with new members in UWW Bureau

By United World Wrestling Press

TIRANA, Albania (November 6) -- At the UWW 2024 Congress that took place in Tirana, Albania on the October 27, a historic milestone was achieved in women wrestling leadership.

There were seven female candidates for the UWW Bureau, the supreme body of wrestling, marking the highest-ever participation by women in the process.

Kuniko Tanioka (JPN), Annette Kure (NOR), Lise Legrand (FRA), Cholpon Sultanbekova (KGZ), Buyana Peljee (MGL), Nadine Pietschmann (SUI) and UWW Vice-President, Natalia Yariguina (RUS) took part in the race for the Bureau role.

This was the first time that Women Lead Sports alumni being elected to NF president positions and the highest registered female candidates for the Bureau in the history. Rodica Yaksi (TUR) was promoted to Vice-President and Ye Zhang (CHN) has two years left in her term.

A report on the progress made for women coaches and referees at the Paris Olympic Games through the various initiatives and programmes established by UWW Technical Assistance and Development Commission was shared with the national federations that attended the 2024 congress.

“From Tokyo to Paris, we made great strides to promote gender equality within our wrestling community. It is our duty to pave the way for our future generations for equal opportunities, no matter the gender, the religious beliefs, ethnicity, etc.,” UWW President Nenad Lalovic said. “We value and praise those who promote wrestling at all levels. We witnessed that by providing the right programmes and opportunities it strengthens our sport and our community worldwide.”