Daniel Dennis (born September 24, 1986) is an American former
freestyle
Freestyle may refer to:
Brands
* Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe
* Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile
* Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine
* ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker
* Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...
and
folkstyle wrestler, who competed for the United States at 57 KG in the
2016 Olympics
)
, nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams)
, athletes = 11,238
, events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines)
, opening = 5 August 2016
, closing = 21 August 2016
, opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer
, cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...
.
High school career
Dennis was a two-time
Illinois state runner-up for
Grant Community High School in
Fox Lake, Illinois.
College career
He wrestled
collegiately for the
Iowa Hawkeyes
The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...
, where he was a two-time
All-American, including a national runner-up finish in 2010. In the 2010 NCAA finals match, Dennis gave up four points with under five seconds left to the
University of Minnesota's Jayson Ness to lose the match. After his NCAA finals loss, Dennis checked out for a few years, living out of his truck and later a trailer, traveling around the
Western United States while wrestling and coaching sporadically. He eventually became a coach at
Windsor High School in
California.
Senior level career
Dennis would eventually make a return to wrestling, where he made two USA national teams (top 3 at the World Team Trials), at 61 kg in 2015 and 57 kg in 2016. He won the
2016 US Olympic Team Trials at 57 KG and competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Dennis lost his first match 11-0 to
Vladimir Dubov
Vladimir Dubov ( bg, Владимир Дубов) (born 20 February 1988) is a freestyle wrestler from Bulgaria. He competes in the 60 kg division and won the silver medal in the same division at the 2013 European Wrestling Championships. H ...
and was eliminated after Dubov didn't reach the finals.
He has also won the University Nationals Freestyle championship, the Grand Prix of Spain, and is a two-time Northern Plains regional champion.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennis, Daniel
American male sport wrestlers
Living people
1986 births
Olympic wrestlers for the United States
Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics