Larry Jamill Kelly (born October 25, 1977) is an American

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 ...

wrestler. He represented the United States at the

2004 Summer Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

where he earned a silver medal. He is currently a part of the

University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

Wrestling coaching staff as well as being the head coach for the Tar Heel Wrestling Club RTC in

Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada * Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...

Early life

Kelly was born in

Atwater, California Atwater is a city on California State Route 99, State Route 99 in Merced County, California, Merced County, California, United States. Atwater is west-northwest of Merced, California, Merced, at an elevation of . The population as of the 2020 Uni ...

, where he attended

Atwater High School Atwater High School is a secondary school in Atwater, California, United States. It is a part of the Merced Union High School District. AHS competes as a member of the Central California League of the Sac-Joaquin Section. Notable alumni *Jamill ...

and placed fourth in the state wrestling tournament as a senior. He spent one year at

Lassen Community College Lassen Community College is a Public college, public community college in Susanville, California. It is a part of the California Community Colleges System. The college is located in Susanville in the high mountain lake country of northeastern Ca ...

then transferred to

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

where he became a three time letter winner.

2004 Olympics

Though he never won a state high school tournament or a national title in college, Kelly did win the 2004 USA Nationals and the US Olympic trials at 66 kg (145.5 lbs) to represent the US in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. After winning both pool matches 3-0, he defeated eventual bronze medalist

Makhach Murtazaliev Makhach Dalgatovich Murtazaliev (russian: Махач Далгатович Муртазалиев; born 4 June 1984 in Kedy, Dagestan, Russia) is an Avar born-Russian Olympic wrestler who won the bronze medal for Russia at the 2004 Summer Olympi ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in the semifinal, 3-1. In the Gold Medal match, Kelly faced

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Elbrus Tedeyev Elbrus Tedeyev (born December 5, 1974, in Nogir, Prigorodny District, North Ossetian ASSR, Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian wrestler and Olympic champion; he became a citizen of Ukraine in 1993. He won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in A ...

. Tedeyev would win the gold 3-1 leaving Kelly with the silver.

Coaching career

The photo is from Kelly's coaching career: Up until August 2010 he was the head coach of Dallas Dynamite Wrestling Club in Dallas, Texas. In 2015, he became a guest wrestling coach for

Daniel Cormier Daniel Ryan Cormier (; born March 20, 1979) is an American former professional mixed martial artist, amateur wrestler, and current commentator for the UFC. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Ch ...

Luke Rockhold Luke Skyler Rockhold (born October 17, 1984) is an American retired mixed martial artist. He is best known for his time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he competed in the Light Heavyweight and Middleweight division. ...

and

Cain Velasquez Caín Ramirez Velasquez (born July 28, 1982) is an American professional wrestler and retired mixed martial artist, currently appearing for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). He is widely known for his time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, ...

, all from the

American Kickboxing Academy The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) is a martial arts gym based in San Jose, California. It is one of the pioneering schools of mixed martial arts (MMA). In 2014, AKA opened the ''AKA Thailand'' gym in Phuket, Thailand. Prominent trainers inc ...

. Kelly has coached at Cal Poly and NC State University, and was an Associate Head Wrestling Coach at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Kelly coached at Arizona State University from May 2018 until March 2020. In October 2020, Kelly was named as an assistant coach at UNC-Chapel Hill.

References

* 1977 births Living people Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics American male sport wrestlers People from Atwater, California Pan American Games medalists in wrestling Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Wrestlers at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 20th-century American people 21st-century American people {{US-wrestling-bio-stub