UPDATED: Bracken wins Gold; Gardner the Silver at the 2001 Pitlasinski Tournament
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Heather Van Peursem (USA Wrestling)
08/14/2001
Kevin Bracken Defeats two-time Olympic Champion to Win Gold; Rulon Gardner Takes the Silver Medal at the 2001 Pitlasinski Tournament Aug. 12 in Warsaw, Poland 2000 Olympian Kevin Bracken (Colorado Springs, Colo./NYAC) defeated two-time Olympic Champion Armen Nazarian of Bulgaria to win the 2001 Pitlasinski Tournament at 63 kg Aug. 12. Nazarian usually competes at 58 kg. 2000 Olympic Champion Rulon Gardner (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) won the silver medal at 130 kg, losing a 3-0 dec. to Mikally Deak Bardos of Hungary in the gold-medal match. Gardner won by a technical fall, a pin and a decision on his way to the final match. Keith Sieracki (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) finished in seventh place at 76 kg, losing in the quarterfinals by a technical fall to David Manukian of Ukraine, 10-0. He won his pool with decisions over Artur Michalkiewicz of Poland and Alberto Recuero of Spain. Others competing for the United States were not able to make it out of their pools. 1996 Olympic silver medalist Brandon Paulson (Golden Valley, Minn./Minnesota Storm) finished with a 1-1 record at 54 kg, while 2000 Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland (Oregon City, Ore./Sunkist Kids) finished with a 1-1 record at 85 kg. Lindland's one loss was to the eventual winner Ara Abrahamian of Sweden. 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Garrett Lowney (Appleton, Wis./Minnesota Storm) finished his pool with a 1-1 record, but did not advance. He scored a 3-0 decision over Ioannis Savvas of Greece and then lost a 3-0 decision to Marek Sitnik of Poland. Marcel Cooper (Woodbridge, Va./U.S. Marine Corps) also finished with a 1-1 record at 69 kg but was unable to advance out of his pool. The team was led by National Greco-Roman coach Steve Fraser of Colorado Springs, Colo, 2001 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team head coach Joe DeMeo of Niskayuna, N.Y. and 2001 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team assistant coach Andy Seras of Sandy Hook, Conn.