Burroughs named USOC Male Athlete of Month for September and Gray takes third in women's voting

<< Back to Articles
USOC ()
10/09/2013


World champion wrestler Jordan Burroughs (Lincoln, Neb./Sunkist Kids) was named USOC Male Athlete of the Month for September, the United States Olympic Committee announced today.

Burroughs won the gold medal in men’s freestyle 74 kg. division at the 2013 World Championships, held Sept. 16-22 in Budapest, Hungary. He outscored five opponents by a combined 34-3 total and earned a 4-0 win over Iran’s Ezzatollah Akbarizarinkolaei in the final, less than a month after breaking his ankle. The victory extended his senior-level winning streak to 65-0, dating back to 2011. The gold-medal run with his broken ankle is considered one of the greatest achievements in wrestling history

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 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.

Paratriathlete Aaron Scheidies (Seattle, Wash.) finished runner-up, while cycling’s Connor Fields(Henderson, Nev.) claimed third.

Women’s freestyle star Adeline Gray (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC/TMWC) placed third in the voting for the Female Athlete of the Month. 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.

Paratriathlete Megan Fisher placed first after winning her third world championship title, and tennis star  Serena Williams placed second.

Fisher won her third world championship title in the TRI-5 division at the 2013 ITU Paratriathlon World Championships, held Sept. 13 in London. Fisher completed the 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike, 5K run course in 1:26:27, finishing more than 90 seconds ahead of the field. The win marked her second world title in September. She also won the road race in the C4 division at the 2013 Para-cycling Road World Championships.

The U.S. women’s eight rowing team won its eighth-consecutive world title at the 2013 World Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea to win Team of the Month honors. The U.S. finished 200 meters ahead of the field on the 2,000-meter course, crossing the finish line in 6:02.14 – nearly five seconds ahead of second-place Romania. The winning crew, which was reconfigured days before competition due to an injured rower, consisted of Katelin Snyder (Detroit, Mich.), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.), Vicky Opitz (Middleton, Wis.), Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.), Grace Luczak (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Lauren Schmetterling (Moorestown, N.J.), Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), Kerry Simmonds (San Diego, Calif.) and Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.).

The U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team finished second in the team competition, while the U.S. 18U National Baseball Teamrounded 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.	Jordan Burroughs, Wrestling
2.	Aaron Scheidies, Paratriathlon
3.	Connor Fields, Cycling

FEMALE
1.	Megan Fisher, Paratriathlon
2.	Serena Williams, Tennis
3.	Adeline Gray, Wrestling

TEAM
1.	U.S. Women’s Eight, Rowing
2.	U.S. Women’s National Team, Volleyball
3.	U.S. 18U National Team, Baseball