Jake Varner, shown at last week's Olympic press conference, is considered one of the top medal contenders for the U.S. in London. John Sachs photo.

LONDON – Jake Varner had every reason to be happy.

He capped a breakthrough season by capturing a bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

But when Varner stood on the medal podium, he had more of a scowl on his face than a smile.

Varner’s goals are much bigger than bronze, and he plans to take aim at winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games on the final day of the competition on Aug. 12. Varner competes at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. in freestyle.

Introduced as a World bronze-medal winner during the Olympics freestyle press conference last week, the 26-year-old Varner quickly dismissed the idea he had won anything.

I don’t know if I would call it winning a bronze medal,” Varner said. “I don’t know if you ever win a bronze – that’s never the goal for me. I lost the gold is what happened. It wasn’t my day, and that fuels the fire even more and makes you hungrier.

“I don’t want another bronze medal. To me, third place sucks.”

Strong and powerful, the 6-foot-1 Varner has grown into a force on the Senior level. And his level of confidence has continued to grow along with his level of experience.

“When I step on the mat, I know I am going to win,” Varner said. “That’s the mentality I have. I think the other guy is kind of crazy for stepping on the mat with me.”

Varner and the U.S. team are training this week in Belarus before returning to London early next week.

"Jake had a solid three days in London, and he is ready to get a couple of solid training cycles in this week in Belarus," U.S. National Coach Zeke Jones said. "His focus is good right now and he is taking care of business."

Eight years ago, Varner’s mentor struck gold at the Olympics when Cael Sanderson captured a title in Athens, Greece.

Sanderson returned to wrestling last season at age 32 and placed fifth at 84 kg/185 lbs. at the 2011 Worlds. Sanderson trained side-by-side with Varner leading up to the Worlds.

“Once I met Cael, I knew he was going to get me to where I needed to be,” said Varner, a native of Bakersfield, Calif. “Luckily, he was right at my weight class. When I came to Iowa State, he had just won the Olympics so I took a lot of beatings from him. But I learned from those and got better. I knew he was going to be part of my dream once I signed at Iowa State. Cael’s a big part of my success. I owe a lot to him.”

Now Varner, who trains with Sanderson and the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club at Penn State, tries to duplicate what Sanderson did on the sport’s biggest stage.

“This is a big year,” said Varner, a two-time NCAA champion for Iowa State. “This is the one that everybody wants. This is the one I want. I’ve been training for this for a long time.”