U.S. Olympic wrestling trials at Penn State postponed amid coronavirus pandemic
A day after the NCAA decided to cancel all winter championships — including next weekend’s NCAA Wrestling Championships — amid the coronavirus pandemic, the wrestling world got some more news.
The 2020 U.S. Olympic wrestling trials set for April 4-5 at the Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State’s campus has been postponed, USA Wrestling announced in a Friday release.
“Due to the ever-changing impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), and out of concern for the health and well-being of athletes, fans, staff and the community, USA Wrestling, Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics, the Bryce Jordan Center and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have collectively decided to postpone the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Wrestling, scheduled for April 4–5 at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa.,” the release said.
With Penn State suspending in-person classes through April 3, and even football’s Blue-White Game canceled, the decision seemed almost inevitable. But the good news for wrestling fans is that USA Wrestling, Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics, the Bryce Jordan Center and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said they’re working with local officials and health experts to reschedule the event.
While almost every major sports event — March Madness, the Masters, the Boston Marathon — has been either canceled or postponed, the 2020 Summer Olympics are still set to take place July 24- Aug. 9 in Tokyo.
Just this weekend, members the U.S. men’s and women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling teams — including former Penn State greats Zain Retherford and David Taylor — are in Ottawa, Canada, competing to qualify their weight classes for the Summer Games at the Pan American Olympic Qualifier.
“Being able to come back and make my first Olympic team in State College, representing the United States at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, that’s exciting to me,” Taylor told the Centre Daily Times in August. “I’m definitely looking forward to it.”
Both Retherford and Taylor, along with fellow former Nittany Lions, Bo Nickal, Nick Nevills and Jason Nolf, and junior Nick Lee, all earned opportunities to compete for a spot on the 2020 Olympic team.
Others, such as seniors Mark Hall and Vincenzo Joseph, had planned to qualify at the Last chance Olympic Qualifier, which was scheduled to take place at Millersville University March 27-28.
That event has also been postponed, according to USA Wrestling. A specific date and location has not yet been announced, but it will no longer be held at Millersville.
USA Wrestling has been working with its Coronavirus Advisory Committee, comprised of medical experts, to monitor the situation on a daily basis and make decisions based on that rapidly changing information.
“Our first priority is the health and safety of the athletes and our members, and we’re using all possible precautions for keeping our athletes safe,” USA Wrestling spokesman Gary Abbott told the CDT Tuesday.
According to a Thursday release, USA Wrestling said it considers the qualifying and final trials events as “essential to selecting the U.S. Olympic team,” and will work to conduct them in a way that puts the health and safety of those involved first, while still meeting its organization’s responsibilities.
This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 5:46 PM.
