Do you like "wras-tlin?

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Did you know that there are something like 39 individual events that take place in the Summer Olympics. If we break that down into gender divisions it becomes pretty clear that there is a lot of sports to watch in a short amount of time.

I've often kind of wondered why some sports take place at the beginning of the games and others get pushed towards the end. If I had to guess, it probably has to do with there being a limited amount of space and them needing to use certain venues for different things.

It still begs the question why.

Why does track and field not take place until the second week of the games? Why is wrestling and weight lifting tucked away at the very end of the games? I think those are fair questions and without doing a bit of digging, I will probably never know the answer.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really impact my life that much, so I kind of don't care when they take place. It's just the fact that they do take place.

I can't say the last time I watched an actual wrestling match, but I plan on tuning in this year. I remember when I was a young kid in elementary school one of my friends invited me to come to a Saturday morning wrestling camp at the school.

I think I went one or two times and decided it wasn't for me. That friend went on to qualify for states in our later years.

Instead, I spent the rest of my Saturday's at home watching that fake WWF stuff that used to be on in those days.

Fast forward to today, and as I said, I have a much bigger reason to be watching the Olympic wrestling matches. My brother in law's brother in law (did you follow that? So his sisters husband) is the head of the US Olympic wrestling team.

His name is Joe Russell and if you were involved in actual wrestling back in the day, you are probably familiar with the name. If you aren't, you can watch this video to learn more:

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Direct Link

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I've had the chance to meet Joe a few times when he was on recruiting trips and at family functions. He is a really cool guy and I am happy to see that he is now doing his dream job by directing the US Olympic team. After my wife and I left Colorado, my brother in law and his family got to take a tour of the US Olympic training facility out in Colorado. They said it was amazing and when we visited with them this past weekend they told us all about the things and people they saw.

It sounded like a really cool experience. They even got to have lunch with Tony Dungy, former coach of the Indianapolis Colts who along with Peyton Manning took them to a Superbowl victory in 2006.

Pretty cool right?

I don't know whether or not Joe will be getting any camera time at the Olympics. Knowing him he would probably prefer to just stay in the background, but I will be keeping my eyes out just in case!

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Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced

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