Jordan Burroughs is set to wrestle in the 74kg men's freestyle bracket at 2024 Olympic Team Trials as the number one seed. This will be the fourth Olympic Team Trials. That is a pretty big deal, historic even, and I try to put it all in perspective in this blog.  

2012 Olympic gold medalist and six-time UWW World Champ Jordan Burroughs has stated in the not-too-recnt past that he is retiring after 2024 'no matter what'. 

Now, that statement was made in 2022, and it also technically leaves the door open for a run at a 79kg gold at the non-Olympic weight World Championships scheduled for late October, however, it still suggests that the 2024 Trials will probably be one of the last times we get to see Jordan compete in a freestyle tournament. 

That is certainly a big deal and could make for a very emotional viewing for many American wrestling fans. 

And while I'll save the eulogy for when Burroughs officially leaves his shoes on the mat, I will take the time to explain why this tournament will be different from team trials of the past. 

Onen simple way to do that is to provide a rundown of all this previous trials. Below is list of every world or Olympic team trials that Burroughs participated in, start in 2011, the year earned his second NCAA title and won the Hodge.  

Of note: Burroughs' record in the best 2 of 3 finals is listed after his opponent, so 2-0 means two matches to none. Additionally, throughout Burrough's post-collegiate career, winning a medal at the Worlds or Olympics earned you a bye to the trials finals (later known as Final X). When there was no returning medalist at a weight, winning the US Open earned you that bye. 

Burrough's Team Trials History:

• 2011: Beats Nick Marable in US Open finals; Beats Andrew Howe 2-0 in the WTT finals; Wins gold at 2011 Worlds. 
• 2012: Has a bye to OTT finals; Beats Andrew Howe 2-0 in OTT finals; Wins gold at 2012 Olympics.
• 2013: Has a bye to the WTT finals; Beats Kyle Dake 2-0 in WTT finals; Wins gold at 2013 Worlds.
• 2014: Has a bye to the WTT finals; Beats David Taylor 2-0 in WTT finals; Wins bronze at 2014 Worlds.
• 2015: Has a bye to the WTT finals; Beats Kyle Dake 2-0 in WTT finals; Wins gold at 2015 Worlds.
• 2016: Has a bye to the OTT finals; Beats Andrew How 2-0 in the OTT finals; Does not place at the 2016 Olympics.
• 2017: Beats Kyle Dake in US Open finals; Beats Kyle Dake 2-1 in the WTT finals; Wins gold at the 2017 Worlds.
• 2018: Has a bye to WTT finals (now Final X); Beats Isaiah Martinez 2-0 in Final X; Wins bronze at the 2018 Worlds.
• 2019: Has a bye to Final X; Beats Isaiah Martinez 2-1 in Final X; Wins bronze at the 2019 Worlds
• 2020: Olympics and OTT postponed until 2011 due to covid. 
• 2021 Has a bye to OTT finals; Loses to Kyle Dake 2-0 at OTT finals; Moves up to 79kg; Beats Alex Dieringer 2-0 at WTT finals; Wins gold at 2021 Worlds.
• 2022: Has a bye to the WTT finals; Beats Chance Marsteller 2-1 in the WTT finals; wins gold at the 2022 Worlds.
• 2023: Has a bye to the WTT finals; Loses to Chance Marsteller 2-1 in WTT finals.
• 2024: Enters the OTT #1 seed at 74kg; Kyle Dake has a bye to the OTT finals.

One other thing to note is that before Final X (so everything before 2018), if you won the World or Olympic Team Trials challenge tournament you would wrestle-off for the team spot either the same day or the next, against an opponent who had been sitting out with a bye. After Final X, that best 2 of 3 wrestle-off moved to a month or so after the challenge tournament finals. 

So what makes 2024 different than years past?

The Age Factor

One of the more obvious differences between these Trials and those of the past is Burroughs' age. Jordan Burroughs is 35, which will make him the oldest competitor in the bracket. If Burroughs makes the Olympic team, he will be 36 and one of the oldest competitors in Paris in any sport. 

According to some cursory research on the topic, the average age for an athlete in their prime is around 25-28. I'm happy for that statement to be corrected, amended, or qualified for specific circumstances, but there is no denying that Burroughs will have the advantages of experience but not youth on his side this weekend. Time is on an inexorable march and none of us are immune to its effects. 

The Challenge Bracket Factor

Burroughs has only had to wrestle through the challenge bracket once before, in the 2021 World Team Trials. That was a crazy year due to covid condensing two years of events into one.

The 2020 Olympics occurred between July and August of 2021 and Tokyo medalists automatically earned spots on the 2021 World Team. So when Dake earned a silver in Tokyo and claimed his spot on the 2021 World Championship team at 74kg, Burroughs went up to 79kg. JB ran through the 2021 Trials bracket in September and then won a gold medal in Oslo in October. 

Watch Burroughs beat Alex Dieringer for the second time in a row to make the 2021 World Team:

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In 2011 and 2017 Burroughs earned a bye to the finals by winning the US Open, making 2024 the first time in a regular (i.e. not screwed up because of Covid) Olympic or World Team Trials where Burroughs will have to win the challenge tournament and then wrestle someone sitting out with a bye to earn a spot on the team. 

The Backlog Factor

Another symptom of Burroughs' longevity and success is that his competitors have to stay in the game longer as well, all while new talent keeps piling up in the challenge tournament bracket. Ever year the talent pool trying to break through and make their first world and Olympic team gets deeper, especially at 74kg, where Burroughs (and Dake) have been competing for over a decade. 

A big part of this is the competitive environment being more conducive for longer careers across the board, but it is more acute at 74kg where Burroughs (and Dake and others) have had more exceptionally long and successful careers. You rarely find a trials bracket with multiple-time NCAA champs, such as Jason Nolf and Vincenzo Jospeh for example, in the second Olympic Team Trials, especially in the past.

The Scale Factor

Like everyone in the tournament, before taking the mat Burroughs must first make weight. Jordan will be coming down to 74kg from where he had been competing since the fall of 2021 at 79k. That five kilogram difference is equal to 11 pounds. 

Burroughs is a pro and has been making weight for about three decades of competitions, however, Jordan will also have to make weight two days in a row, which cannot be completely discounted. I am not in the slightest suggesting that Burroughs will miss weight, only that such a weight cut could be a factor in how he performs. To what extent, if at all, remains to be seen. 

The Path To Burroughs' 3rd Olympic Team

Of course, Jordan must win all his bouts if he is to make is third Olympic team, a feat with few precedents, although it should be noted Kyle Snyder is the favorite to make his third team this weekend at 97kg (Bruce Baumgartner, Kenny Monday and Ben Peterson also come to mind in that regard). 

You can read more about Burroughs' bracket in the 74kg preview I wrote, though please ignore the parts about Carter Starocci, who was registered to compete at 74 but will bump up and wrestle at 86, as well as David Carr and Keegan O'Toole, who both had to withdraw from the tournament due to injuries. 

Watch every one of Jordan Burroughs' World Championship medal matches:

Burroughs' path now looks like this: 

Round of 16: bye

Quarterfinals: winner of #8 Alex Facundo vs #9 Levi Haines

Semifinals: winner of #4 Mitchell Mesenbrink vs winner of #12 Ladarion Lockett vs #5 Meyer Shapiro

Finals: winner of the half of the bracket with #2 Jason Nolf, #3 Quincy Monday & #6 Vincenzo Joseph, among others

Best 2 of 3: Kyle Dake

Youth will be served in Burroughs' first two matches, as Alex Facundo will be the oldest and he has but one NCAA postseason's worth of experience. Levi Haines has an NCAA title but has not yet medaled at an age level world championship in freestyle, unlike Meyer Shapiro and Mitchell Mesenbrink, who are both 2023 U20 gold medalists. 

Then Burroughs will likely have to get by a savvier veteran, with Jason Nolf, the 2021 Olympic Team Trails Challenge tournament finalist, the likeliest contender, though I would not look past two-time US Open runner-up Joseph nor 2023 Senior National champ Quincy Monday. Nolf has beaten Monday and Cenzo in 2023, though Monday's loss was a close 7-6. Nolf's last domestic loss was to Kyle Dake at 2023's Final X. 

All those bouts will be on Friday. Should Burroughs win the challenge tournament, he'll wrestle Dake in primetime on Saturday. 

Regardless of how it plays out, it will be, as mentioned, an emotional tournament, for Burroughs and fans alike. 12 years is a long time to be on the senior circuit. Not to mention Nebraska fans, who have been rooting for Burroughs since 2006. To put that in perspective, when Mark Manning first started recruiting Burroughs, the kids he's scouting now weren't born yet. 

A lot of history comes to an end at every Olympic Team Trials. But if will be extraordinary history that comes to an end this year if it is indeed Jordan Burroughs' last tournament. Few wrestlers, if any, have competed for as long and have meant as much to American wrestling as Jordan Burroughs. 

But again, we'll save those retirement speeches and career retrospectives for when they're needed. In the meantime, we get to witness Jordan Burroughs make history in some form or another in State College at the Olympic Team Trials.