2024 Olympic Team Trials
It's the best. And the worst.
When I wrote the piece about December’s Senior Nationals, I said:
There’s still hope. Dreams aren’t crushed.
That happens later.
Well, the OTT is that later. Dreams most certainly get crushed.
For some, it will mark the last moments of their competitive careers as an athlete. J’den Cox, for example, left his shoes on the mat, the international sign of retirement in wrestling.
For others, it will be a shocking end to an optimistic, promising year, high hopes dashed in a matter of minutes.
Conversely, for some it’s the crowning achievement of their lives, whether they win or not. Just making it.
It’s exceptionally rare for someone to accomplish even qualifying for the OTT. It can be one of those capstone items that people list on their resumes as they build careers as coaches. HS State Champ. 100 career wins in college. Qualified for the Olympic Team Trials. It can be a huge deal. It’s not easy to get your foot in that particular door.1
As of March, there were 254,318 athletes registered with USA Wrestling during this annual cycle, setting an all-time record. In all, 183 wrestlers weighed in at the Olympic Team Trials. That’s 0.07%.
Not 7%. Seven hundredths of 1%. Miniscule.
Further, those 183 were competing for just 18 spots, six in each of the three styles - Women's Freestyle, Men's Freestyle, and Men's Greco-Roman.
The US has qualified 13 of those 18 for the Olympics through the previous qualifying events, so for 13 of these 18 champions, they are now on the Olympic team. For the remaining five, they must go to Istanbul, Türkiye in two weeks for the Last Chance World Olympic Qualifier. There, the top three competitors at each weight earn the remaining Olympic qualification licenses.2
In short, 13 people made their dreams come true, five are in this momentary state of Olympic purgatory, and 165 left in various states of want. Some were glad for the experience on their road to bigger and better things. Some were happy with their effort and grateful for the opportunity. Some had their hopes and dreams smashed into a fine powder. (Hopefully they have good support systems and find ways to cope.)
The kind of effort it requires to even qualify for *this* tournament is extraordinary. Truly, it takes a supernatural combination of innate talent, abnormal work ethic and focus, personal and professional sacrifice, good fortune against injury, and sheer luck to avoid circumstances beyond your control from intervening in your best-laid plans.
And even then it may not be enough — *probably* won't be enough. Remember the numbers: Champions: 18; Non-Champions: 165.
If you’re keeping track, that’s another decimal point: 0.007%. Only seven thousandths of 1% win the Olympic Team Trials.
Oof.
That's a lot of reconciling to be done.
Here are some photos of the highs and lows, the atmosphere and community, and the great spectacle that is wrestling.
Elation or devastation is more about performance relative to expectation than some absolute target. One wrestler’s overperformance at making the quarterfinals is another’s catastrophe if that’s as far as they go. It can be difficult to feel accomplished by just being there if you’ve won it three times in a row and expect to win it a fourth. It can also be the greatest achievement of your life if your previous successes were at lower levels and you never thought you’d come that far.
Update: Two more did indeed qualify in Istanbul; a third was granted a spot after no Russian athlete was approved for the license allocated to their national governing body. The Russian and Belarussian participation is a whole ‘nother story.