Kamal Bey named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week
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by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
Photo: Kamal Bey celebrates his victory at the Junior World Championships by running around the mat with the American flag. Photo by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling.
Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) has been selected as TheMat.com Athlete of the Week on August 7, 2017.
The budding American superstar Bey electrified the world at the Junior World Championships held in Tampere, Finland last week. He blitzed the 74 kg/163 lbs. field with one spectacular throw after another to claim America’s first Greco-Roman gold medal at this event since Garrett Lowney did so in 1999.
Bey recorded five wins throughout the competition, three of which came by technical fall. His key victory on his road to the finals came in the quarterfinals, where he ousted 2016 Cadet World silver medalist Nasir Hasanov of Azerbaijan, 7-4. Bey solidified his spot in the 74 kg title bout with a thrilling 19-7 technical fall over Sweden’s Per Albin Olofsson in the semis.
The championship match was one littered with highlight-reel moves that had fans in attendance, as well as those tuned in around the globe, thirsting for more. Bey held nothing back against Kyrgyzstan’s Akzhol Makhmudov, who won he Cadet World Championships last year and is this year’s Junior Asian champion. When the final buzzer sounded, it was Bey emerging the winner, 16-11.
This was Bey’s second attempt at the Junior World Championships. Last year, he finished in eighth place after coming up short in the quarterfinals.
Bey has been on quite a run this season, picking up Senior-level gold medals at the Bill Farrell International and Dave Schultz Memorial International, on top of a bronze medal at the Grand Prix of Zagreb. He also secured gold at the Austria Open in the Junior division. Domestically, he finished as runner-up at the U.S. World Team Trials and was the U.S. Senior Nationals champion.
He was a six-time All-American at the USA Wrestling Cadet and Junior Nationals held in Fargo, N.D., qualifying for the finals on five occasions, and winning the Junior Greco-Roman crown in 2015.
Bey was an Illinois high school state champion for powerhouse program Oak Park-River Forest prior to making the move out the to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. to focus strictly on Greco-Roman.
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 and weekly and career accomplishments to Richard Immel at rimmel@usawrestling.org.
Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) has been selected as TheMat.com Athlete of the Week on August 7, 2017.
The budding American superstar Bey electrified the world at the Junior World Championships held in Tampere, Finland last week. He blitzed the 74 kg/163 lbs. field with one spectacular throw after another to claim America’s first Greco-Roman gold medal at this event since Garrett Lowney did so in 1999.
Bey recorded five wins throughout the competition, three of which came by technical fall. His key victory on his road to the finals came in the quarterfinals, where he ousted 2016 Cadet World silver medalist Nasir Hasanov of Azerbaijan, 7-4. Bey solidified his spot in the 74 kg title bout with a thrilling 19-7 technical fall over Sweden’s Per Albin Olofsson in the semis.
The championship match was one littered with highlight-reel moves that had fans in attendance, as well as those tuned in around the globe, thirsting for more. Bey held nothing back against Kyrgyzstan’s Akzhol Makhmudov, who won he Cadet World Championships last year and is this year’s Junior Asian champion. When the final buzzer sounded, it was Bey emerging the winner, 16-11.
This was Bey’s second attempt at the Junior World Championships. Last year, he finished in eighth place after coming up short in the quarterfinals.
Bey has been on quite a run this season, picking up Senior-level gold medals at the Bill Farrell International and Dave Schultz Memorial International, on top of a bronze medal at the Grand Prix of Zagreb. He also secured gold at the Austria Open in the Junior division. Domestically, he finished as runner-up at the U.S. World Team Trials and was the U.S. Senior Nationals champion.
He was a six-time All-American at the USA Wrestling Cadet and Junior Nationals held in Fargo, N.D., qualifying for the finals on five occasions, and winning the Junior Greco-Roman crown in 2015.
Bey was an Illinois high school state champion for powerhouse program Oak Park-River Forest prior to making the move out the to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. to focus strictly on Greco-Roman.
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 and weekly and career accomplishments to Richard Immel at rimmel@usawrestling.org.
