American Wrestler Jordan Burroughs Captures Gold Medal at 2012 Olympics

Some called him cocky, but Jordan Burroughs called it confidence with his Twitter handle simply titled ‘All I See Is Gold’.

It was a prognostication that came true on Friday as Burroughs captured the gold medal at the 2012 Olympic games.

The former Nebraska All-American and NCAA champion was the odds on favorite to win the gold medal at 74kg (163lbs), but still had to go through some very tough competition to secure the win in London.

Burroughs bested Puerto Rican Francisco Daniel Soler Tanco before moving on to defeat Canadian Matthew Gentry to reach the semifinals.

The New Jersey native then faced old rival Denis Tsargush in the semifinals, a rematch of a 2011 World Championship finals bout that Burroughs won. Despite a surge from the Russian in early going, Burroughs battled back to get a takedown to win the match in the end.

That set the finals up as Burroughs took on Iran’s Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi in the gold medal match.

Burroughs’ lightning fast counters made all the difference in the match as he bided his time until the Iranian made a mistake, and he quickly pounced to snag two takedowns. The second takedown secured Burroughs’ place as the gold medal winner, and immediately after the victory he jumped in the air to celebrate.

Following the win, Burroughs ran into the crowd, feverishly looking to find his supporters and parents in the mass of people in London.

As the medal ceremony began, Burroughs was all smiles as he leapt to the stage to have the gold medal put around his neck. He sang along to the Star-Spangled Banner before holding up his gold medal in victory.

Burroughs will celebrate this win and as he has stated in a past interview with MMAWeekly.com, he plans on seeking another gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil before making his transition to mixed martial arts in 2017.

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