Adeline Gray named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week
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by Richard Immel USA Wrestling
| Adeline Gray (USA) on the awards podium at the Olympic Test Event in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Robbert Wijtman, CSC Photography. |
Adeline Gray (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) has been selected as TheMat.com Athlete of the Week on Feb. 2, 2016.
The three-time World champion navigated a tough 75 kg/165 lbs. field, littered with top-level talent, to claim gold at the Olympic Test Event held at the 2016 Olympic Games wrestling venue in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on Sunday.
On her road to the finals, Gray battled her last two World Championships finals opponents, Aline Da Silva Ferreira of Brazil and Zhou Qian of China. In the opening round, Gray topped Da Silva Ferreira of Brazil by a slim 2-0 margin. She followed with a 17-7 technical fall victory over Qian in the semifinals.
In the gold medal match, Gray squared off against long-time rival Erica Wiebe of Canada. It was Gray earning the win, 7-4.
Prior to competing in Rio, Gray spent the month of December in India competing in the India Professional Wrestling League. As captain for Team Mumbai, she posted a perfect 7-0 record and led her team to the India PWL championship.
Gray has now won 35 straight matches dating back to July of 2014. She is a five-time World medalist, claiming World title’s in 2012, 2014 and 2015 on top of two World bronze medals in 2011 and 2013.
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 USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week please send the athlete’s name, wrestling program and weekly and career accomplishments to Richard Immel at rimmel@usawrestling.org.
