LONDON, England – One U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers who will compete in the 2012 Olympic Games has weighed in and received his draw for his competition on Tuesday, August 7: Justin Lester (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs.

“I like his draw. There are no easy matches here. He made weight. It’s always tough for him to make weight. He did a nice job today. He will recover tonight and will be ready to go,” said National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser.

Lester drew the No. 1 spot, and will face Tsutomu Fujimura of Japan in his opening match. Fujimura was second in the 2012 Asian Olympic Qualifier and was third in the 2010 Asian Games.

Should Lester win, he will face the winner of the match between Tamas Lorincz of Hungary and Frank Staebler of Germany. Lorincz has been fifth in the world three times. Staebler was fifth at the 2011 World Championships, and won the 2012 European Championships. 

Because he is in the upper bracket, Lester would need to win three matches to qualify for the finals. A possible semifinal opponent is two-time World silver medalist Manuchar Tskhadaia of Georgia, who defeated Lester at the 2011 World Championships semifinals. Lester beat Tskhadaia in the Curby Cup in May.

“He is one of our all-time champions. He is very skilled, very talented and one of the best competitors I have been around. His training has been going well, especially the last month or so. He is ready to wrestle,” said Fraser.

This will be the final day of competition in Greco-Roman at the 2012 London Olympics. There will also be competition at 96 kg/211.5 pounds. The United States did not qualify to compete in the Olympics at that weight class.

Lester will be competing in his first Olympic Games. He is a two-time World bronze medalist (2006 and 2007). He was fifth at the 2011 World Championships, and also competed on the 2005 and 2009 U.S. World Teams. He boasts four U.S. Open national titles.

A native of Akron, Ohio, he won four state high school titles for Cuyuhoga Valley Christian Academy. He attended Iowa State, before he transferred to Northern Michigan University, where he was a member of the U.S. Olympic Education Center Greco-Roman program there. After he graduated from NMU, Lester joined the U.S. Army, where he joined the Army World Class Athlete Program.

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