The U.S. Olympic Committee has announced its Twitter voting is now open for the October Male & Female Athletes of the Month.

Vote for Tervel Dlagnev

Vote for Elena Pirozhkova

Representing USA Wrestling are men’s freestyle wrestler Tervel Dlagnev and women’s freestyle wrestler Elena Pirozhkova. Dlagnev won a gold medal at the Stepan Sarkissian International in Armenia, and had a 4-1 record at the Intercontinental Cup in Russia. Pirozhkova won a gold medal at the World University Championships in Italy, her second career World University gold medal.

Fans are encouraged to vote and re-tweet the poll links.

SportsMan of the Month for October 2010
Sport: Freestyle wrestling
Athlete: Tervel Dlagnev
Position: 120 kg/264.5 lbs. in freestyle wrestling

Dlagnev won a gold medal at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. at the Stepan Sarkissian International in Yerevan, Armenia on October 23. 

In the finals, Dlagnev defeated 2006 World bronze medalist Ruslan Basiev of Armenia, 1-0, 1-0. Dlagnev won his first two matches to qualify for the finals, pinning Kunalem of Kazakhstan by pin in the quarterfinals, then stopping Levan Seturidze of Georgia, 1-0, 1-0.

The previous weekend, Dlagnev had a 4-1 record at the Intercontinental Cup in Khasavyurt, Russia, a major dual meet tournament held October 14. Dlagnev scored victories over Anzor Boltukaev of Russia, Soslan Gogloev of the CSKA club in Russia, Jung Yei-Hyun of Korea and Pavel Varonka of Belarus. His only loss came against Giorgi Sakandelidze of Georgia. The USA placed sixth in the 11-team tournament.

Dlagnev, a 2009 World bronze medalist, trains at the Ohio Regional Training Center in Columbus, Ohio.

SportsWoman of the Month for October 2010
Sport: Women’s Freestyle Wrestling
Athlete: Elena Pirozhkova
Position: 67 kg/147.5 lbs. in women’s freestyle wrestling

Pirozhkova won a gold medal at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. at the 2010 FISU University World Championships, held in Torino, Italy, October 27.

Pirozhkova defeated Canada’s Elisabeth Williams in the gold-medal finals, 6-0, 5-0. It was her second career University World title, to go with her gold medal in 2008. She was competing up one weight class from her normal 63 kg/138.75 lbs. division.

Pirozhkova defeated Mariana Kolic of France, 1-0, 6-0 and Banzragch Oyunsuren of Mongolia, 4-1, 4-0 to reach the finals.

Pirozhkova, a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete, was a 2010 World silver medalist for the United States, and has competed on three straight U.S. World Team.