Pride Month profile: Jenna Burkert on her wrestling journey, her family and the future
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
As part of its diversity celebrations, USA Wrestling will create a variety of features on its people, focusing on the human interest stories of those who make our sport so rich with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. In recognition of Pride Month, we profile World medalist Jenna Burkert, who has taken a unique journey to success as an athlete and is now moving on to the next phase of her life and wrestling story.
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Jenna Burkert has lived an extraordinary life due to her involvement with wrestling, starting in the sport as a six-year old girl on Long Island, N.Y.
She left home as a young high school wrestler to live in Marquette, Mich., attend high school there and train with the elite U.S. Olympic Education Center on the campus of Northern Michigan. After graduating high school and spending one year in college at NMU, she became a U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center resident athlete in Colorado Springs, then ultimately enlisted in the U.S. Army to compete for its World Class Athlete Program. In the last few months, Burkert and her family made some major life changes, with her retiring from competition, ending her military service, and taking a coaching position at Bixby High School in Oklahoma.
Her trophy case includes numerous awards, including the ASICS Girls High School Wrestler of the Year, multiple USA Wrestling national titles, numerous age-group and Senior World Team berths, and ultimately a bronze medal at the 2021 Senior World Championships.
The Jenna Burkert journey is about much more than wrestling. It is a family story that intertwines her parents, her brother Josh (who has autism), her wife Alex, her U.S. Army brothers and sisters and many others. She opens up about the death of her mother just before a memorable performance at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Fort Worth, Texas, and her heartbreaking finals series loss to Olympic champion Helen Maroulis. She talks about the satisfaction of winning a World bronze medal in 2021, her decision to retire from competition, her growing family and much more.
Please enjoy this video interview with Jenna Burkert, conducted by Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling.
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