On Saturday, for the first time since winning an Olympic gold medal at Athens 2004, Cael Sanderson took part in a competitive wrestling tournament. He won three-straight matches and did not surrender a point en route to winning a title at the Northeast Regionals.
Last weekend, Sanderson won his first NCAA championship as the head coach of Penn State. During his collegiate days at Iowa State, he went 159-0 and captures four-straight NCAA titles. After college, Sanderson wrestled internationally and defeated South Korea’s Moon Eui-Jae to win an Olympic gold medal.
Sanderson defeated Richard Perry (8-0, 6-0) in the first round. He then bested Travis Taylor (7-0, 6-0) in the semifinals and finished up with a victory over Jack Jensen (6-0, 6-0) in the championship match.
Despite his success, Sanderson is not planning a full-time return to action. Before the tournament he informed TheMat.com that this was “just for fun. Some guys on the team told me if we win Big Ten’s, I had to wrestle here. So here I am.”
For full results of the Northeast Regional, which serves as a qualifier for the 2011 U.S. World Team Trails, check out TheMat.com.
Cael Sanderson vs. Moon Eui-Jae
Is he competing in the Olympics!?!?!?!?!
NM finished reading. After the opening paragraph I got all excited, dammit.
haha Zero percent chance
I wish someone could get into his head, and make him want to be looked at as the greatest wrestler in the world for any country. Because if he won a gold medal next year I think he would have an argument for it. I guess he really doesn’t have any desire for that though.