Burroughs is third in USOC Male Athlete of the Month vote for May 2013

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U.S. Olympic Committee ()
06/08/2013


Olympic and World champion Jordan Burroughs (Lincoln, Neb./Sunkist Kids) placed third in the voting for the U.S. Olympic Committee Male Athlete of the Month for May, 2013.

Burroughs won his match in two major wrestling competitions held in the United States as part of World Wrestling Month in May.

In the Rumble On the Rails, held in Grand Central Terminal in New York City on May 15, Burroughs defeated Saba Khubetzhty of Russia, 1-1, 5-0, 7-3. This event was conducted under the old rules of international wrestling.

In United 4 Wrestling, held in the LA Sports Coliseum in Los Angeles on May 19, Burroughs scored an impressive 14-3 technical fall win over Khubetzhty, using the new rules of international wrestling which had been approved just the day before at the FILA Congress in Moscow, Russia.

Burroughs was the only U.S. wrestler to win matches in both New York and Los Angeles for the USA.

Burroughs extended his undefeated streak on the Senior level to 54 straight matches. He was a 2012 Olympic champion and 2011 World champion.

He placed behind Male Athlete of the Month Josh Kennison, a paralympic long jumper, and runner-up Tyson Gay, a track-and-field athlete.

USOC PRESS RELEASE
Triathlete Gwen Jorgensen, Paralympic long jumper Josh Kennison, U.S. Women's National Water Polo Team earn U.S. Olympic Committee's May honors

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Top performances throughout May earned triathlete Gwen Jorgensen (St. Paul, Minn.) and Paralympic long jumper Josh Kennison (South Paris, Maine) Athlete of the Month recognition, while the U.S. Women's National Water Polo Team received Team of the Month honors, the United States Olympic Committee announced today.

Just three weeks after a historic win in San Diego, Jorgensen raced her way to another gold medal and the world No. 1 ranking at the 2013 International Triathlon Union World Triathlon Series Yokahama, held May 10. Jorgensen clocked a time of 1:57:05 on the 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike, 10K run course en route to her second straight ITU World Triathlon Series win. Jorgensen is the first American to top the ITU World Triathlon Series standings since it began in 2009, and the first U.S. woman to claim the top spot in the triathlon world rankings in nearly a decade.

Facing more than a dozen top Paralympic competitors in the world, Kennison broke the world record in the men's long jump (F43) with a distance of 5.54 meters at the 2013 Desert Challenge Games, held May 18 in Mesa, Ariz. With a new world record in hand, Kennison's closest competition was 40 centimeters behind his mark. The previous world record was 5.29 meters, set by Kennison at the 2012 U.S. Paralympic Trials for Track & Field. 

The 2012 Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. Women's National Water Polo Team opened its reign as champion by capturing first place at the International Swimming Federation (FINA) World League Preliminaries, held May 24-27 in Los Alamitos, Calif. Team USA did not drop a single match - defeating Brazil twice by convincing scores of 10-0 and 11-1. The U.S continued its success in the water with two victories against rival Canada, 11-7 and 8-7, to finish with an impressive 4-0 record.

Tennis' Serena Williams (Saginaw, Mich.) and show jumping's Christine McCrea (East Windsor, Conn.) earned second and third place in the female vote. On the men's side, track & field's Tyson Gay (Lexington, K.Y.) finished runner-up, while wrestling's Jordan Burroughs (Sicklerville, N.J.) claimed third. The volleyball pair of Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) finished second in the team competition, while the sibling tennis duo Bob Bryan (Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.) and Mike Bryan (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) rounded out the voting in third.

Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per discipline. A voting panel selects the winners from the pool of nominees with online fan voting via Twitter accounting for 10 percent of the total vote.

MALE
1.  Josh Kennison, Paralympic Track & Field
2.  Tyson Gay, Track & Field
3.  Jordan Burroughs, Wrestling

FEMALE
1.  Gwen Jorgensen, Triathlon
2.  Serena Williams, Tennis
3.  Christine McCrea, Show Jumping

TEAM
1.  U.S. Women's National Team, Water Polo
2.  Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson, Beach Volleyball 
3.  Bob and Mike Bryan, Tennis