A loss to Hungary’s Tamas Lorincz in the quarterfinals knocked Army Spc. Justin Lester out of the gold medal hunt. But Lorincz’s win in the semifinals put the American 66-kilogram Greco-Roman star back into Olympic medal contention. Lester, part of the Army World Class Athlete Program, received a bye in the qualification round and defeated Japan’s Tsutomu Fujimura in his first London match Tuesday. The soldier won the first period of his quarterfinal match against Lorincz 2-0 before being swept 1-0, 2-0 and knocked out of the gold-medal bracket. Lorincz reached the final and will wrestle South Korea’s Hyeonwoo Kim…
Browsing: Wrestling
With opening ceremonies in London hours away, here are some last-minute links for a handful of military medal hopefuls. As competition begins, remember to check with our good friends at USA Today for all the up-to-the-minute results, military and otherwise. Herring honors daughter. As one of three team captains, Marine Sgt. Jamel Herring will lead the U.S. boxing team into competition in London. But his walk into the opening ceremonies will take a different kind of strength; as the New York Post reports, Herring’s infant daughter died exactly three years ago. Key quote: “I’ll think about her, but I also…
A dirty dozen military-themed sports links from a busy weekend (non-MMA notes after the jump): 1. Kennedy recap. Special Forces soldier Tim Kennedy lost in his second try at the Strikeforce middleweight title Saturday night in Portland, Ore., falling to Luke Rockhold via five-round unanimous decision — the same way he lost his 2010 title bout against Rolando “Jacare” Souza. Read the After Action review, with video, here. Click here for full coverage from our good friends at MMAJunkie. 2. Now what? Read Sherdog’s suggestions for Kennedy’s next fight, including what could be a make-or-break rematch with Souza. 3. From…
Rapid-fire military-sports links for a Wednesday morning: Irish invasion. Notre Dame will play Air Force at Falcon Stadium in 2013, according to this report by Frank Schwab in The (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Gazette, as school officials decided against moving the game to Sports Authority Field, home to the NFL’s Denver Broncos. Jim Trego, the school’s senior associate athletic director, told Schwab the move was designed to keep the marquee matchup, set for sometime in late September (Update: Make that Oct. 26, 2013), “in front of our home fans.” Those home fans could be busy in the coming years: Air Force…
Five quick military-sports hits for a Monday morning: 1. Who gets ‘The Count’? While the smack talk between former Marine Capt. Brian Stann and Michael “The Count” Bisping has reached impressive proportions, it’s important to remember the proposed September middleweight clash between the two is still just that — proposed. Bisping’s initial blast called out both Stann and Alan Belcher, whose 18-6 record includes a four-fight win streak dating back to mid-2009. As usual, there’s no shortage of opponents eager for a piece of the controversial Bisping, and Belcher wants to be at the front, telling our good friends at…
Seven holiday hits for your Friday military-sports-reading pleasure (click through for the non-service-academy-football notes): 1. Everybody’s bowl bound. Blogging at The (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Gazette, Frank Schwab points us to football expert Phil Steele’s preseason bowl picks, which include all three service academies. Steele slots Air Force into the first bowl game of the season, playing Washington in the New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 15. Army punches its ticket to the Dec. 27 Military Bowl in Washington, D.C., to face Boston College, and two days later, Navy heads to San Francisco to face California in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.…
From Denver to Calgary to London to Belgrade and all points in between, here’s a few quick hits spanning eight or so time zones: Oh? Canada? Air Force 2nd Lt. Spencer Armstrong’s college football career barely took off — the wideout missed five games his junior season with a hamstring injury, then broke his leg three games into his senior year, rejoining the Falcons in December for the 2008 Armed Forces Bowl (and that cool picture on the right). The Canada-born Armstrong was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League in 2009, but as with other aspiring…
Three quick hits for a Wednesday morning, from Belgrade to Brian Stann to Big East football: 1. Pre-Olympic trip. Three Olympics-bound soldiers are among the seven elite U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers headed to Europe later this week for the Gedza International tournament in Belgrade, Serbia, according to TheMat.com. Sgt. 1st Class Dremiel Byers (120 kilograms), Sgt. Spenser Mango (55 kg) and Spc. Justin Lester (66 kg), all members of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program, will make the trip; Mango and Lester will wrestle Friday, with Byers hitting the mat Saturday. At stake: A chance to fine-tune their mat game as…
Some quick Olympic updates while you attempt to schedule a therapy session after watching the latest Tim Kennedy video: 1. Hosting the secretary. It’s the setup to the oldest joke in the book: Some wrestlers, a racewalker, a bobsledder and the secretary of the Army walk into a cafeteria … No, seriously — Army Secretary John McHugh made the trip to Colorado Springs, Colo., to chat with soldier-Olympians and Paralympic athletes over lunch May 2, giving him a close-up look at competitors who’ll represent his service on the world stage this summer. Tim Hipps of the Army’s Installation Management Command…
Spc. Spenser Mango (blue) claimed an Olympic bid with a win over Max Nowry on Saturday in Iowa City in the 55-kilogram Greco-Roman final. (Getty Images photo by Matthew Stockman)
For two soldiers, it’s a return to the grandest stage in athletics. For another, it’s his first chance at his sport’s highest honor. For a fourth, all of that was just out of reach. Sgt. 1st Class Dremiel Byers and Sgt. Spenser Mango did what was expected of them over the weekend in Iowa City at the Team USA Olympic wrestling trials, winning their weight classes with 2-0 sweeps of their respective best-of-three championship finals. Byers had a bye to the 120-kilogram final and was without his highest-profile competition after Rulon Gardner decided not to weigh in, stalling his comeback…
