American wrestler Jordan Burroughs was swept 3-0, 3-2 in a best-of-three series by Kyle Dake at the Olympic trials on Saturday in the 74 kg division and will not represent the U.S. this summer at the Olympics in Tokyo.
This will mark the first time in his senior career—that spans 10 years—that he will miss any global championship. Burroughs won gold for the U.S. at the 2012 London Olympics.
This would have been the tenth straight Olympic or world championships team that Burroughs would have qualified for. Dake, a two-time world champion himself, is the first person to ever defeat the 32-year-old in the trials.
Dake had long lived in Burroughs’s shadow but still showed his appreciation after his win.
“I just thanked him, told him I appreciated him,” Dake said. “He’s pushed me to levels I didn’t know I had in myself.”
This will be the first time Dake has made the Olympic team. Overall, 15 men and women will qualify to represent the U.S. on Saturday and three more can qualify at a global qualifier in May.
This will be the first time in a long time Burroughs will be watching the U.S. compete as a fan, but he’s still optimistic this isn’t the end for him.
“The future is still bright for me, although it just might not be in Tokyo,” Burroughs said on NBCSN. “It’s not over for me.”
