Top Stories of the Decade

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

Monday, December 23, 2019 - 15:55 By Eric Olanowski

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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

UWW Training PE Teachers at ISF Gymasiade in Bahrain

Monday, December 2, 2024 - 12:18 By United World Wrestling Press

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Bahrain (December 2) – United World Wrestling partnered with the International School Sports Federation (ISF) to train PE teachers at the ISF Gymnasiade in Bahrain. The ISF Gymnasiade event took place from 23-31 October. This annual event involves competitions for sport school athletes over 26 sports. Wrestling has been a part of this event in each edition. During the Gymnasiade, ISF also provides training to local PE teachers to potentially implement more sports within their curriculum.

UWW was fortunate to be able to provide training sessions to the PE teachers on using the Wrestle4Fun curriculum. The training was led by UWW Educators Ahmed Khedhri (TUN) and Rafael Galva (PUR).

The training was held on 25 October and included 51 participants. The training included 2-hour theoretical and 2-hour practical sessions, with participants actively participating in Wrestle4Fun activities. These activities provided the participants with the advantages of adding wrestling to physical education. “Collaborating with PE teachers provided a very valuable experience. I hope this experience will become more common, allowing wrestling to be part of the physical education curriculum,” said Mr. Khedhri.

Mr. Galva also participated in the ISF International Educational Forum. During the forum, Mr. Galva discussed Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle to School Kids. He also spoke about the importance of positive role modeling from parents and coaches. 

ISFParticipants go through the Fun and Skills Zone at the ISF Gymnasiade in Bahrain. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

Mr. Galva and Mr. Khedhri also conducted sessions at the Fun and Skills Zone throughout the event. This was a chance for young athletes to try wrestling games and activities. This included athletes from many different sports and countries.

The wrestling competition was held on October 28-30 and included participation in all three styles. The competition had 321 athletes from 18 countries participating. 

Wrestle4Fun is developmentally appropriate for all age levels and designed to support girls’ and boys’ physical literacy journeys. It has five stages based on different developmental levels. Each stage has 15 lessons. In total, there are 75 lessons with over 200 games and activities. The entire Wrestle4Fun programme can be found on the Academy platform.

The UWW Academy can be found at https://academy.uww.org/.