Tokyo Olympics

Team USA Wrestling: Adam Coon, Jesse Porter Fall Short in Bid to Qualify for Olympics

Jordan Oliver lost in the semifinals in Bulgaria, just one win shy of qualifying for Tokyo

Team USA had an opportunity to qualify three additional wrestlers for this year’s Tokyo Olympics, but all three Americans fell just short of reaching that significant milestone at the final qualifying tournament in Bulgaria last week.

Adam Coon, a native of Fowlerville, Michigan, was hoping to qualify in the 130-kilogram division of the Men’s Greco-Roman tournament. Unfortunately for Coon, he was bounced from the tournament in the quarterfinals, losing to Mykola Kuchmii of Poland, and he fell short of reaching the Tokyo Olympic roster.

Jesse Porter, a graduate student at Northern Michigan University, was aiming to secure a spot in the 77-kilogram division of the Men’s Greco-Roman tournament, but he lost early in the qualifying tournament, falling to Turkey’s Faith Cenzig in the second round.

Finally, Jordan Oliver, competing in the 65-kilogram freestyle event, came painfully close to punching his ticket to Tokyo, but lost in the semifinals to Poland’s Magomedmurad Gadzhiev. If Oliver had won that match, he would have been heading to the Olympics, as the top two finishers in each event secured their spots in the Olympic Games.

Even still, the Midwest is well-represented at the Tokyo Olympics. A total of eight athletes with Midwestern ties, including reigning women’s world champions Tamyra Mensah-Stock and Jacarra Winchester, are set to head to Tokyo for this summer’s Games.

In all, the United States qualified wrestlers in 15 of the 18 weight classes in the Men’s and Women’s Freestyle and Men’s Greco-Roman competitions.

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