Jiu-Jitsu World champion Autumn Gordon now a Junior national champion wrestler, with Olympic aspirations

Autumn Gordon makes a low-level attack during the Women’s Junior and Cadet Developmental Training Camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Photo by Richard Immel.

VIDEO: Autumn Gordon interview at USOTC


How can Autumn Gordon, who has only wrestled two-and-a-half years so far, already be a Junior Folkstyle National champion, a qualifier for the Senior World Team Trials and an athlete invited to attend elite training camps at the U.S. Olympic Training Center?


Autumn Gordon might be fairly new to wrestling, but she has been an athlete for her entire life. A very successful athlete. In fact, she has already been a World champion athlete.


“I did gymnastics when I was from 5-8 years old. I was supposed to be on the National Team, but it cost too much money, so I quit and started doing swimming. I did swimming for a little bit, then switched to volleyball and basketball, but I wasn’t made out for that because I was so short. I really wanted to get into law enforcement, so I thought I needed the martial arts, so I started doing Jiu-Jitsu,” said Gordon.


The physical and competitive nature of Jiu-Jitsu clicked immediately with Gordon, who quickly set high goals for herself in her new sport.


“I am really competitive as a person, so as soon as I got into it, I am pretty sure within a month, I looked at my dad and said ‘I want to win a World championship.’ My dad said OK, you need to get in the gym. He would take me to practice six times a week when I was 12. I never really saw it as a chore or a commitment. I saw it as play time, something I loved to do. My dad was always there for me and my Jiu-Jitsu,” said Gordon.


Her desire to win that World title in Jiu-Jitsu brought her into the wrestling room at Lancaster High School in Ohio.


“I wanted to win a World Championships in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with the IBJJF and I was 15. I noticed that all these girls from Brazil were playing guard and not doing any takedowns. The thing is, the people who did takedowns almost always won because they got the first two points. I told my dad I wanted to do wrestling. I went to a Catholic school and tried to do wrestling there, but they said I was a girl and couldn’t wrestle. In the middle of the semester, I switched schools to a public school and started wrestling. I did wrestling to compliment my Jiu-Jitsu,” said Gordon.


Gordon reached her goal, winning the World title at her age level (blue belt) and weight class at the Jiu-Jitsu World Championships. And she soon realized she was also good at wrestling, and might have a future in that sport also.


“My junior year I was the first girl in D-I in Ohio to go to districts. After that, I thought maybe I could go far in wrestling. It gave me a lot of confidence in myself. In D-I, for girls in Ohio, is very, very tough. I was at the 106 weight class, and most of the guys tried to cut to 106 if they can. You got some studs in there. I realized if I can get to districts at a boys level, maybe I can get to the national level for girls,” she said.


Gordon had a lot of help making the transition to wrestling, which in her mind was truly a team effort.


“My head coach, Dugan Bentley, accepted me the moment I walked in the door. The coach before him, Jon Spires, who had to retire as the coach because he took a new job offer, he was the one who got me into Lancaster. He said that I wanted to wrestle, I could switch schools here. He also helped me with freestyle. My friend Tom Good, he taught me my favorite takedown, which is now my bread-and-butter move. Adam DiSabato has helped me so much. They all accepted me and all added a little bit. Dugan helped me with my front-headlocks, Tom helped me with my arm drags, Spires helped me with my throws and my gutwrenches. Adam helped me with my high crotch and my positioning. All have added to my game,” she said.


In her first major USA Wrestling tournament last spring, Gordon placed second at the 2016 USA Wrestling Girls Junior Folkstyle Nationals, losing to Macey Kilty of Wisconsin in the finals, 7-1 at 112 pounds.


“My first time, it was like, let’s see how I can do at this. I think I can go far, I think I could place in the top eight. Then I just kept winning. Then it was, maybe I can go for first. I had Macey Kilty. Macey is a monster, she is so good. We had a good match and I ended up being second. Right after that, I looked at my dad, and said, ‘I need to get first next year.’ That was my ultimate goal throughout the season, just to get better and better for the nationals this season, which I ended up winning,” she said.


Gordon didn’t win a silver medal at her first major national event by accident. It has a lot to do with how she trains and how she competes.


“The biggest thing I see in Autumn, when we are at practice, she is 100% zeroed in, 100% focused on what every clinician and every coach is saying to her. She is listening to it, and looking for that feedback. And she is focused on every rep. Some kids will go to practice and get 100 reps in. Autumn will get 100 excellent reps in. For every single rep, she is making sure her muscle memory is solid and everything is as clean and as technical as possible. Not a lot of people in this world have that, at all age levels. For her to have that at a younger age is a huge asset that will get her really far in the sport,” said Assistant National Women’s Coach Emma Randall.


She wasn’t done last spring, also reaching the finals of the 2016 UWW Junior World Team Trials, where she was beaten in the finals in two straight matches by Brenda Reyna of Washington at 52 kg/112 lbs. If people hadn’t heard of Autumn Gordon going into last year’s USA Wrestling season, they sure knew who she was by the end of it.


Now a senior in high school, Gordon has already had a very strong USA Wrestling season. She placed sixth at the U.S. Senior Open in Las Vegas in December at 53 kg/116.5 lbs., earning her a spot in the 2017 Women’s World Team Trials in Las Vegas.


“Vegas was one of the coolest moments of my life so far. It was amazing, the atmosphere in there, the intensity, just how much everyone wanted to win. It was like no other. I came in there and wrestled with all these national and World champions. I am actually wrestling in the same event, wait, I am wrestling against her? OK. It went in my head. I am actually doing this, competing at this level. I didn’t drop weight for this, because I signed up last minute. I was the smallest in the weight class. I was happy with how I did. It was an amazing experience,” said Gordon.


She also won the 112-pound title at the 2017 USA Wrestling Junior Girls Folkstyle Nationals, defeating 2016 Cadet World bronze medalist Alleida Martinez of California in the gold-medal finals at 6-4 by scoring a sudden victory overtime takedown. Martinez was a returning champion at the Folkstyle Nationals.


“It was a lot of the mental aspect. We were banging out there, going real hard. We would score back and forth. There was a part of me that I knew I had to stay focused. We were going into overtime. It was ‘you have got to get the first takedown.’ That was all that was going through my head, to keep my mind right. If I let myself know I was tired, know that it was going overtime, that I would mentally defeat myself. I had to keep my mind great. This is it. You have to get this takedown,” she said.


Winning that Junior National Folkstyle title, exactly one year after setting that goal when she was second there, is a testament to her approach to wrestling and to life.


“She has no fear in the back of her mind. Whether she is winning or losing, she is smiling, enjoying the sport and learning, trying to make the most out of that process. For her, it’s not about getting your hand raised or winning the next event. For her, it’s ‘how can I be the best me.’ That is something that will get her to the top, also,” said Randall.


Next up is the U.S. Women’s World Team Trials in Las Vegas in April, and then the major summer age-group events.


“I want to get in the top eight, to be an All-American at the Senior level. It would really be great to get in the top three. Realistically for me, I am probably one of the smallest ones at 53 kg, because I’m not cutting weight for it. This is my third Senior-level event, because I competed at the Dave Schultz as well. A good hard realistic goal is to get into the top eight. I am going to wrestle at the age-group Trials at 51 kg and at Fargo at 112,” she said.


Gordon has signed to compete at the University of the Cumberlands to wrestle next year, where she will compete for Donnie Stephens and staff there and plans to study physical therapy. They are already discussing her training plan with the goal of competing in the 2020 Olympics.


Gordon was at the U.S. Olympic Training Center this week with the nation’s top Cadet and Junior age women wrestlers. Being at the OTC gave her a chance to visualize what could be in her future within wrestling.


“When I first got here, I was awestruck. This is where all my heroes have trained in wrestling. I was thinking, ‘I am really here. This could be my home one day.’ I want to go to the 2020 Olympics. That is my ultimate goal in wrestling. It is humbling. You look on the wall, and there are all these Olympic and World champions on that wall. I want to be like them. I want to work as hard as them,” she said.


As part of the training camp, the 60-plus young women wrestlers were put through a grueling morning session by the U.S. Marine Corps, where they went through a Marines physical fitness training challenge. Gordon took on this challenge the same way she takes on wrestling.


“Autumn won the Marine Challenge. She was 1:06 the first time through. She went early and was excited. But when people started beating her time, she wasn’t happy. She ended up being the fastest time in her group. She was not about to let anybody catch her in the second round. She cleaned up every mistake, accounted for every second and beat everybody by about 15 or 20 seconds. She’s a gamer,” said Randall.


There were many talented young athletes on the Junior level who have Olympic aspirations. With less than three years as a wrestler, Gordon is not afraid to share her goals of making an Olympic team. But is that realistic for her with such a short time in the sport?


“A lot of our Olympic medalists didn’t start until late. It is never too late if you are efficient with your time and making sure you are getting the most out of every practice. Sometimes it’s the people who work smarter. When you haven’t competed for 10 years, you are still hungry and have that passion and fire,” said Randall.


Gordon also wants to use her time in wrestling to make a difference for the next generation.


“I want to grow women’s wrestling. There are all these little girls in Ohio. They come up to me right now. I want them to have even greater opportunities than I do, like Div. I in college. They are so good and are so dedicated. What drives me even more than my self-discpline are those little girls. I want to see them succeed,” she said.