Sieracki prepares to qualify final U.S. Greco-Roman weight class for the 2004 Olympic Games

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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
03/09/2004


Keith Sieracki (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) will attempt to qualify the final weight class, 74 kg/163 lbs., for the United States in Greco-Roman for the 2004 Olympic Games.    The Olympic qualifying event will take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, March 13-14. Only nations that have not yet qualified at each weight class may enter these Olympic qualifiers. This is the final opportunity for nations to qualify athletes for Greco-Roman in the Athens Olympic Games.    In order to qualify the weight class for the 2004 Olympic Games, wrestlers must place in the top four at their respective weight classes at this event.    Wrestlers qualifying for the Olympic Games only qualify their weight class for their nation. Olympic Team athlete selection varies by country. Positions on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams will be determined at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Wrestling in Indianapolis, Ind., May 21-23.    Sieracki was a member of the 2001 U.S. World Team. He is a four-time U.S. Nationals champion (1996, 2001-03) and a six-time Armed Forces champion (1993, 1995, 1999, 2001-03).    Sieracki won a silver medal at the 2002 CISM Military World Championships.    Coaching Sieracki in Uzbekistan will be USA Wrestling National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and U.S. Army World-Class Athlete Program wrestling coach Shon Lewis (Colorado Springs, Colo.).    Fraser led the U.S. to its best team performance ever at the 2001 World Championships with the United States taking home the third place trophy. He also led the U.S. to strong performances at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.    As an athlete, Fraser won a gold medal at 90 kg (198 lbs.) at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, becoming the first U.S. wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling.    Lewis works as the head coach of the U.S. Army team, stationed in Fort Carson, Colo. He is responsible for training the athletes in the Army's World Class Athlete Program. The team has won the U.S. Nationals Greco-Roman team title for the last three seasons.    As an athlete, Lewis competed on the 1993 and 1999 U.S. World Championships teams. He also qualified for the 1998 U.S. World Team, but was unable to participate in the World Championships that year. He was a four-time U.S. Nationals Greco-Roman champion (1993-94, 1996, 1998), and was a medalist in three U.S. Olympic Team Trials (1992, 1996, 2000).    The Olympic qualifying tournaments are phases two and three of the Olympic qualification process. Phase one was the World Championships. In Greco-Roman, the United States qualified three out of seven weight classes for the 2004 Olympic Games, which is achieved by placing in the top 10 at each weight class.    In the first Olympic qualifying tournament in Novi Sad, Serbia-Montenegro, the U.S. qualified three more Greco-Roman weight classes.    The United States has already qualified at all seven men's freestyle and all four women's freestyle weights.