Bruce Baumgartner after being voted in as USA Wrestling's president at the USA Wrestling Board of Directors meeting Bruce Baumgartner, four-time Olympic medalist as a Team USA freestyle wrestler, has been voted president of USA Wrestling.
The organization announced the decision in a tweet this weekend: "The @USAWrestling Board of Directors meeting concludes & Bruce Baumgartner voted in as new President of USAW!" https://twitter.com/USAWrestling
The vote, conducted during a weekend meeting of the USA Wrestling Board of Directors in Colorado Springs, was unanimous, according to the Terre Haute (Indiana) Tribune-Star.
Baumgartner was in Colorado Springs for the send-off of the USA Wrestling team, leaving for the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Titusville (Pennsylvania) Herald reported that the Edinboro University athletic director lit the cauldron at the wrestler's training center, as part of the countdown to the Olympics.
Baumgartner, 55, earned medals at four consecutive Olympics -- gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, silver in Seoul in 1988, gold in Barcelona in 1992, and bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics -- all in men's freestyle competition at superheavyweight at 130 kilograms/286 pounds. The New Jersey native was a nine-time medalist at the World Championships, winning three gold, three silver and three bronze medals. Baumgartner also brought home a total of four medals from the Pan American Games, including three gold and one bronze.
For his accomplishments in international competition, Baumgartner was named the recipient of the 1995 Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete, and carried the flag for the U.S. team during the Opening Ceremonies for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Prior to making his presence known in freestyle, Baumgartner wrestled for the now-defunct mat program at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. He was a three-time NCAA finalist for the Sycamores, concluding his collegiate career by winning the heavyweight title at the 1982 NCAAs. His collegiate record was 134-12 with 73 falls.
In 1998, Baumgartner was inducted into the Indiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame. He was welcomed into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma in 2002 and the International Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2008, Baumgartner was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
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