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

The wrestling nominees for the award are 2013 World champion Jordan Burroughs for the men’s award and World bronze medalist Adeline Gray for the women’s award.

Vote for Jordan Burroughs and Adeline Gray

Both of the wrestling nominees won their medals at the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary in September. It was the third straight year that Burroughs has won a gold medal at the World and Olympic level. For Gray, it was her third straight year with a World Championships medal.

Fans are encouraged to vote and re-tweet the poll links.
 
The fan vote accounts for 10% of the voting for the award. LET’S WIN THE FAN VOTE. The voting ends soon, so vote now.

SportsMan of the Month for September 2013
Sport: Freestyle wrestling
Athlete: Jordan Burroughs
Position: 74 kg/163 lbs. in freestyle wrestling

Burroughs won a gold medal at 74 kg/163 lbs. in men’s freestyle at the 2013 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary, September 18. It was his third straight World or Olympic gold medal, to go along with a 2011 World title and 2012 Olympic title. Burroughs ran his career record on the Senior level to an amazing 65-0, a streak which began in the spring of 2011. 

This gold-medal run is considered one of the greatest achievements in wrestling history, as he won less than a month after breaking his ankle in training. He had a plate and five screws in his ankle. Burroughs broke his ankle Aug. 22, had surgery the next day and said he didn’t resume live wrestling a few days before the event.

He outscored his five opponents by a combined 34-3 total. He opened with 9-2 technical fall over Gamid Dzhalilov of Tajikistan, 7-0, then defeated Narsingh Yadav of India by technical fall, 7-0. In the quarterfinals, he beat past World medalist Jabrayil Hassanov of Azerbaijan by technical fall, 7-0. His semifinal victory was over Ali Shabanau of Belarus by disqualification in 5:19. Burroughs kept his composure in earning a solid 4-0 win over Iran’s Ezzatollah Akbarizarinkolaei in the finals.

Burroughs became only the second American wrestler to win three straight World or Olympic gold medals, joining John Smith who ran off six straight golds from 1987-1992.

SportsWoman of the Month for September 2013
Sport: Women’s Freestyle Wrestling
Athlete: Adeline Gray
Position: 72 kg/158.5 lbs. in women’s freestyle

Gray won a bronze medal in women’s freestyle at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. at the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary, September 20. It was her third straight medal at the World Championships, to go along with a bronze medal in 2011 and a gold medal in 2012. Gray moved up a weight class this year to compete at 72 kg.

Gray opened with a quick pin of Andrea Alaya Gutierrez of Colombia in 1:01. In the second round, she dropped a 2-9 technical fall to Fengliu Zhang of China. When Zhang reached the finals, Gray was pulled back into the repechage rounds. Her first repechage bout was an impressive 2-1 win over past World silver medalist and Olympic bronze medalist Guzel Manyurova of Kazakhstan. Gray registered a convincing 8-2 win over Turkey’s Yasemin Adar in her bronze match.

Gray is a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete.