Joel Adams selected as USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week

Joel Adams (Omaha, Neb./The Best Wrestler) has been selected as USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week on Aug. 5, 2022.

Last week, Adams became the 20th Greco-Roman wrestler in USA Wrestling history to earn a U17 World gold medal as he rolled through the 65 kg bracket without surrendering a single point.

Adams opened with an 8-0 tech fall over Takaku Suzuki of Japan before cruising past Saya Brunner of Switzerland, 10-0. In the quarterfinals, the American overpowered U15 European runner-up Aleksandre Rusitashvili from Georgia, 6-0, to guarantee himself a medal match. In the semis, Adams shut down Ukraine’s Petro Shafranskiy, 6-0, punching his ticket to the finals.

For gold, Adams faced Iran’s Ahoura Bouveiri, who took seventh at the 2022 U17 Asian Championships. Adams rattled off three takedowns en route to a 6-0 victory and a World title.

With the win, Adams became the first U17 World champ in Greco-Roman since Cohlton Schultz in 2017.

Each week USA Wrestling will select an Athlete of the Week based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling from youth programs through the senior level.

To nominate a wrestler for this honor please send the athlete's name, wrestling program, weekly accomplishments and career accolades to USA Wrestling Manager of Communications and Social Media Taylor Gregorio at tgregorio@usawrestling.org.