NEW YORK, July 29, 2013 – The Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling (CPOW) in conjunction with USA Wrestling and FILA are bringing together the old and the new in their series of Google+ Hangouts On Air with Rulon Gardner and Kyle Dake this Thursday, August 1st at 7pm ET.  They will be discussing the importance of the Keep Olympic Wrestling movement, their wrestling stories and taking questions directly from fans. Fans can tweet questions using the #DakeRulonHangout hashtag.

Dake is one of the hottest names in wrestling after becoming the first wrestler in NCAA history to win an NCAA title in four different weight classes.  The Cornell grad was named Sports Illustrated’s College Athlete of the Year in 2013 after he joined Cael Sanderson and Pat Smith as the only four-time NCAA champions in wrestling history.  He is one of the top contenders to make the US Olympic squad in 2016.

Gardner is a two-time Olympic medalist who orchestrated one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney when he defeated Russia’s Alexander Karelin for the Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at 130kg.  Karelin was previously undefeated in 13 years of international competition.

Fans can RSVP to the event on the Keep Olympic Wrestling Google+ Page and watch it live on the Keep Olympic Wrestling YouTube Channel and TheMat.com.  Dake and Gardner are the latest of several Olympic wrestlers and leaders who will participate in weekly Google+ Hangouts On Air leading up to the International Olympic Committee’s final vote in September.  Some of the other wrestling personalities who will participate in the weekly hangouts include, FILA President Nenad Lalovic, FILA representative and Olympic gold medalist Daniel Igali, Executive Director of USA Wrestling Rich Bender, CPOW chairman Bill Scherr, celebrities and more. 

ABOUT CPOW
The Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling (CPOW) was developed by USA Wrestling, whose mission is to insure that wrestling remains as a core sport of the Olympic Games. CPOW features many highly-respected leaders within the American wrestling, chaired by Bill Scherr of Glenview, Ill., a World champion and Olympic medalist in freestyle wrestling and a leader in the Olympic family.

The official website is keepolympicwrestling.com. You can find the official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/officialkeepwrestlingintheolympics. The official Twitter location is @wrestlingvision.

FILA, the international governing body for wrestling can be found at its official website at http://www.fila-official.com and they are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/fila.official and on Twitter @FILA_Official.