Watch Jordan Burroughs host the Team USA Awards show on NBC, Sunday, Dec. 22 at 2:00 p.m. ET
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Photos by Getty Images, courtesy of the USOPC.
Top photo: Jordan Burroughs interviews Oksana Masters.
Photo 2: Jordan Burroughs takes the stage.
Photo 3: Jordan Burroughs with Rico Roman.
Everybody knows that Jordan Burroughs is one of the greatest athletes on earth, an Olympic champion and four-time World champion in wrestling, one of the most demanding sports there is.
This Sunday, the world gets to see Jordan in a different role completely, serving as the host of the nationally-televised 2019 #TeamUSAAwards, Best of the Year presented by Dow.
It’s not like Jordan is getting his first broadcast experience on a small stage somewhere. This awards show, which recognizes the greatest athletes in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic community, will be aired on NBC, Sunday, December 22 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. This is a big-time show on a major network, filmed in Los Angeles, one of the entertainment centers of the world.
Like every other challenge in his life, Jordan took this new experience head-on.
“I consider myself an introvert. I am relatively shy. Being in this role that I have been in this last decade as a goodwill ambassador for the sport of wrestling, has kind of thrust me into a position where I had to break out of my shell and try to do new things. I always look at it in this perspective. The worst I can do is for someone to say no, or I can fail and can get better at it. I am driven enough that I want to experience all that my success and hard work has afforded me,” he said.
This wasn’t something that Burroughs went looking for, or ever thought might happen for him. Something about how he has handled himself in the last 10 years as an elite international athlete in the public eye made sense to those putting together the show.
“Someone from the USOPC who recommended me for this position as the host of the Team USA Awards. I have been to the Team USA Awards. I have never been a Master of Ceremonies at any event, unless I hosted a barbeque or party at my own house. This was a very unique position for me to be in, but it was really cool, and it was really special,” said Burroughs.
Burroughs understands the importance of training and technique, and there is an awful lot of that in the television industry as well. The skill set needed, and the demands of this role, were different than what he has done in the past.
“It was fun. It was a mixture of emotions. It was recorded in-house but there was a live audience. If there was a mistake I made, it was ‘Cut. Take it back from the top.’ I had to learn to take instruction from the producer on set. I had a lot of people and a lot of moving parts. I had a producer in my ear piece, talking to me all the time. I had to read things from the teleprompter. I had no cards. I had athletes I had to get rehearsed on, what their success levels they had, who they were, where they were from and try to create genuine conversations in the middle of a show,” said Burroughs.
Jordan Burroughs has made for himself a great athletic career, mixing in hard work, skill and self-confidence with a lazer-sharp focus on the task at hand. Jordan wanted to do this show, not only for himself, but also for the sport of wrestling.
“I felt a big sense of pride, not only for myself but also for the wrestling community, because we don’t get opportunities to do this often. When they offered me the role, I was ‘100%, absolutely.’ I am going to do what I can to make sure that I give the best show and not let you guys down. It worked out well. It is something I think I can definitely see myself doing moving forward. I am thankful that in my first opportunity, I was able to do a pretty good job at it and probably really open up some eyes and possibly some more doors in the future,” he said.
The word on the street within the Olympic family is that Jordan Burroughs did a wonderful job as host of the Team USA Awards. He will be able to see the product of his efforts when the show is aired on Sunday.
“It was a little scary, but ultimately, when I finished up, I was proud of myself for keeping it together. I think anyone who was there realizes how difficult this job is to do. You gain a lot of respect for actors and actresses after being in that position. It was cool, not stressful at all. When I finished up, I was like ‘Man, that was pretty awesome. I am ready for Hollywood now,’” he said.
Could there be future television gigs for Jordan Burroughs, now that he has jumped into the deep end of the pool and hosted his first major network show?
“I think it will open up opportunities for me. There were sponsors in the house. There were USOPC administration and staff there. It could open up doors in the future, where I could do some things that are really cool. It shows that I am versatile. Hopefully some good will come from it,” he said.
Burroughs is a past winner of the USOPC Male Olympic Athlete of the Year, earning the award in 2015. Other wrestlers who have won Team USA Awards include John Smith (1990), Rulon Gardner (2000) and Kyle Snyder (2017) as Male Olympic Athletes of the Year, as well as Bill Zadick (2017) as Olympic Coach of the Year.
Burroughs will not be the only wrestler included in the Team USA Awards show this year. Five-time World champion Adeline Gray was one of the finalists for the Female Olympic Athlete of the Year.
If you find yourself near a TV on Sunday, consider watching Jordan Burroughs do his thing as an awards show host, and get to know some amazing Olympic and Paralympic athletes who represented Team USA this past year in many remarkable ways.
Top photo: Jordan Burroughs interviews Oksana Masters.
Photo 2: Jordan Burroughs takes the stage.
Photo 3: Jordan Burroughs with Rico Roman.
Everybody knows that Jordan Burroughs is one of the greatest athletes on earth, an Olympic champion and four-time World champion in wrestling, one of the most demanding sports there is.
This Sunday, the world gets to see Jordan in a different role completely, serving as the host of the nationally-televised 2019 #TeamUSAAwards, Best of the Year presented by Dow.
It’s not like Jordan is getting his first broadcast experience on a small stage somewhere. This awards show, which recognizes the greatest athletes in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic community, will be aired on NBC, Sunday, December 22 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. This is a big-time show on a major network, filmed in Los Angeles, one of the entertainment centers of the world.
Like every other challenge in his life, Jordan took this new experience head-on.
“I consider myself an introvert. I am relatively shy. Being in this role that I have been in this last decade as a goodwill ambassador for the sport of wrestling, has kind of thrust me into a position where I had to break out of my shell and try to do new things. I always look at it in this perspective. The worst I can do is for someone to say no, or I can fail and can get better at it. I am driven enough that I want to experience all that my success and hard work has afforded me,” he said.
This wasn’t something that Burroughs went looking for, or ever thought might happen for him. Something about how he has handled himself in the last 10 years as an elite international athlete in the public eye made sense to those putting together the show.
“Someone from the USOPC who recommended me for this position as the host of the Team USA Awards. I have been to the Team USA Awards. I have never been a Master of Ceremonies at any event, unless I hosted a barbeque or party at my own house. This was a very unique position for me to be in, but it was really cool, and it was really special,” said Burroughs.
Burroughs understands the importance of training and technique, and there is an awful lot of that in the television industry as well. The skill set needed, and the demands of this role, were different than what he has done in the past.
“It was fun. It was a mixture of emotions. It was recorded in-house but there was a live audience. If there was a mistake I made, it was ‘Cut. Take it back from the top.’ I had to learn to take instruction from the producer on set. I had a lot of people and a lot of moving parts. I had a producer in my ear piece, talking to me all the time. I had to read things from the teleprompter. I had no cards. I had athletes I had to get rehearsed on, what their success levels they had, who they were, where they were from and try to create genuine conversations in the middle of a show,” said Burroughs.
Jordan Burroughs has made for himself a great athletic career, mixing in hard work, skill and self-confidence with a lazer-sharp focus on the task at hand. Jordan wanted to do this show, not only for himself, but also for the sport of wrestling.
“I felt a big sense of pride, not only for myself but also for the wrestling community, because we don’t get opportunities to do this often. When they offered me the role, I was ‘100%, absolutely.’ I am going to do what I can to make sure that I give the best show and not let you guys down. It worked out well. It is something I think I can definitely see myself doing moving forward. I am thankful that in my first opportunity, I was able to do a pretty good job at it and probably really open up some eyes and possibly some more doors in the future,” he said.
The word on the street within the Olympic family is that Jordan Burroughs did a wonderful job as host of the Team USA Awards. He will be able to see the product of his efforts when the show is aired on Sunday.
“It was a little scary, but ultimately, when I finished up, I was proud of myself for keeping it together. I think anyone who was there realizes how difficult this job is to do. You gain a lot of respect for actors and actresses after being in that position. It was cool, not stressful at all. When I finished up, I was like ‘Man, that was pretty awesome. I am ready for Hollywood now,’” he said.
Could there be future television gigs for Jordan Burroughs, now that he has jumped into the deep end of the pool and hosted his first major network show?
“I think it will open up opportunities for me. There were sponsors in the house. There were USOPC administration and staff there. It could open up doors in the future, where I could do some things that are really cool. It shows that I am versatile. Hopefully some good will come from it,” he said.
Burroughs is a past winner of the USOPC Male Olympic Athlete of the Year, earning the award in 2015. Other wrestlers who have won Team USA Awards include John Smith (1990), Rulon Gardner (2000) and Kyle Snyder (2017) as Male Olympic Athletes of the Year, as well as Bill Zadick (2017) as Olympic Coach of the Year.
Burroughs will not be the only wrestler included in the Team USA Awards show this year. Five-time World champion Adeline Gray was one of the finalists for the Female Olympic Athlete of the Year.
If you find yourself near a TV on Sunday, consider watching Jordan Burroughs do his thing as an awards show host, and get to know some amazing Olympic and Paralympic athletes who represented Team USA this past year in many remarkable ways.
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