Wrestling News: Four-time world wrestling champion Jordan Burroughs has set sight on Paris 2024 Olympics when he will 36 years of age. The American wrestler has won the multiple world titles and is the 2012 Olympic gold medallist. In a blog post, he revealed that the Tokyo Olympics will be his last hurrah as he intends to fight in Paris.
“Over the last three months I’ve had a considerable amount of time to think about my future”, Burroughs wrote. “Is it my time? Should I walk away? Will this Olympic cycle be the last for me? Should I leave my shoes on the mat and move on to the next season of life? The answer is simple – not yet.”
Burroughs already has one Olympic gold, won at London 2012, but failed to medal at Rio 2016. He went to the University of Nebraska, where he won two national collegiate titles, and has been training there for 14 years.
However, after the covid-19 delayed Tokyo 2020 Games, he plans to move back to the Pennsylvania Regional Training Center.
“I’m going home,” he wrote, referencing the fact he will be just 23 miles from his hometown of Sicklerville, New Jersey. “I’m a true believer that the greatest work I will ever do will not be on the wrestling mat. An athlete’s legacy extends far beyond what they’re able to accomplish on the field of play. I have the ability and the voice to empower and lead the young men and women of the next generation, and I want to do that in the same place that I began. There’s no place like home. Now let’s go win some more gold.”
In addition to four world titles, Burroughs has won three World Championship bronze medals and three Pan American Games golds.
One of those world titles was won in Paris and only one American, John Smith, has won the more combined world and Olympic freestyle wrestling titles than Burroughs.
