Jordan Burroughs

Burroughs is from Sicklerville, New Jersey.[1]

In a 2013 interview, when Burroughs was asked when he started wrestling, he explained:

I started at five. I brought home a flyer one day from elementary school. No one in my family had ever wrestled. My teammates became friends and I got more into it. I was super tiny growing up, a late bloomer in terms of physical development, but I didn't have to be big to excel.[2]

Burroughs competed for University of Nebraska, where he was a three-time All American, and two-time undefeated national champion in NCAA Division I wrestling.[3]

In his first year, Burroughs qualified for the NCAA Division I national tournament at 149 pounds, which is reserved for the top 33 wrestlers in the country. In his second year, Burroughs earned a third-place national finish at 149 pounds. In his third year, Burroughs became an undefeated national champion at 157 pounds. In his fourth year, Burroughs suffered an injury, and was unable to complete his college season. Following that year, Burroughs repeated as an undefeated national champion at 165 pounds.[3]

After his final year, Burroughs won the Hodge Trophy, awarded each year by WIN Magazine to the nation's most dominant college wrestler.[4] Burroughs finished his college career with a 128–20 overall record, for the fifth-most wins in Nebraska history.[3]

Burroughs won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He also won gold medals at the world championships in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017, and he won bronze medals at the world championships in 2014 and 2018.

When Burroughs won a gold medal in 2011, he did so immediately after completing his final NCAA Division I wrestling season, making him only the fourth wrestler ever to win an NCAA Division I title and a world title in the same year.[5]

In addition, Burroughs's medal-winning performances were complicated by injuries in both 2013 and 2014. In 2013, he broke his ankle just four weeks before the tournament started, and he competed with five screws and a plate attached to his ankle.[6] And in 2014, he sprained his medial collateral ligament in his opening match against Augusto Midana of Guinea-Bissau. Nevertheless, he continued to compete.[7]

In 2016, Burroughs placed ninth at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Unlike previous years, including years in which he was injured, he did not earn a medal. In an interview shortly afterwards, Burroughs reflected on his performance:

I felt good, my weight cut was good. That's the hardest part of this. I live my lifestyle the right way. I don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't go out and party. I'm a family man. I take care of business, I train hard . . . At some point I'll find out why, what I did wrong, learn a lesson from this.[8]

Burroughs is a Christian. Burroughs has spoken about his faith saying, "A gold medal is always going to leave you empty. ... There's no other thing in life that's more fulfilling than a relationship with Jesus Christ. Contentment is one of the biggest things I've learned, knowing that regardless of where you are in life, it's all about being content with God's provision."[9]

Burroughs is married and has three children.

• List of World and Olympic Champions in men's freestyle wrestling
• United States results in men's freestyle wrestling