Jacob Deitchler (born December 1, 1989) is an American former wrestler who competed for the United States

Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), or classic wrestling (Euro-English) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been i ...

team at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. Deitchler, from Ramsey, Minnesota, is a former

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

wrestler and became the third wrestler in American history to go directly from high school and earn a spot on an Olympic Team.

Competitive career

Deitchler began wrestling in first grade in Coon Rapids,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and moved to

Anoka, Minnesota Anoka ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 17,142 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Anoka is the "Halloween Capital of the World" because it hosted one of the first Hal ...

to wrestle in the sixth grade. This eventually lead to meeting his mentor and coach, Anoka High School alumnus Brandon Paulson. While at Anoka, Deitchler was a three-time

state wrestling champion. He stunned the Greco-Roman wrestling community in the U.S. in 2008, when he won an Olympic berth in the 145.5-pound weight class, becoming the first high school wrestler in 32 years to make the U.S. Olympic team in his sport.Rachel Blount (January 5, 2012
"Concussions force U's Deitchler to end wrestling career"
''Star Tribune''. In the Beijing Olympics, Deitchler lost both his matches in the 66 kg weight class, the first to the eventual silver medalist

Kanatbek Begaliev Kanatbek Kubatovich Begaliev (born 14 February 1984 in Talas, Kyrgyz SSR) is a Kyrgyz wrestler who won the silver medal in the Men's Greco-Roman 66 kg at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. After Athens 2004 where he was at 11t ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

and then to Armen Vardanyan of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, who later received the bronze medal. He finished the Olympics in 12th place in his weight class. Deitchler left the Minnesota Golden Gopher wrestling team to train at the Olympic Training Center to pursue international competition in 2008–2009, but returned to the Gophers for the 2009–2010 season, finishing 8–2 in open meets. In January 2010, Deitchler was suspended by the NCAA for the rest of the 2009–2010 for taking $4,000 in prize money while wrestling internationally following the Olympics."InterMat Wrestling – Deitchler ruled ineligible for 2009–10 season"
''InterMat''. January 8, 2010 He then took the entire 2010–2011 season off after experiencing continued concussion symptoms. After starting the 2011–2012 season ranked as high as 8th nationally in the 157-pound weight class, on January 4, 2012 Deitchler announced he was retiring from competitive wrestling due to lingering effects from concussions. After receiving his first concussion when he was seven in a dirt bike accident, Deitchler estimates that he had suffered 10 to 12 concussions over the next 15 years and was advised by his physician to immediately stop wrestling after experiencing headaches and fogginess following his last dual meet match on November 20, 2011. He would continue to help with coaching young wrestlers alongside Brandon Paulson and former Gophers wrestler Chad Erikson.

Personal life

Dietchler lives in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

of St. Michael, Minnesota with his wife.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deitchler, Jake 1989 births Living people American male sport wrestlers Minnesota Golden Gophers wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for the United States Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from North Dakota People from Anoka, Minnesota Anoka High School alumni 21st-century American sportsmen