Jordan Burroughs, a six-time world wrestling champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist, is well aware that 2024 is his last shot at standing atop the Olympic podium for Team USA.
Burroughs has had a historic wrestling career already, becoming the most decorated US wrestler in history with seven global gold medals, his latest being from the 2022 World Wrestling Championships.
“Wrestling has given me everything that I wasn’t growing up,” Burroughs said. “I wasn’t confident. I wasn’t big and strong. I wasn’t ferocious and tenacious. So when you talk about hunger, it’s deeper than just the desire to win; it’s a desire to be more than just who I am .”
Burroughs, who won the gold for the 74kg weight class in London in 2012, failed to medal in 2016 and did not make the Olympic team for Tokyo. But he says his hunger to wrestle, improve and compete has pushed him to where he is now: a recent world champion with a shot at returning to the Olympics one last time.
“There’s always a goal for me that I’ve set for myself year after year, that every time I come back I find a different way to keep myself motivated,” Burroughs said. “I want another Olympic gold, no question. I got one more chance at this.”