Bruce Baumgartner

Bruce Baumgartner

Baumgartner in 2022
Personal information
Full name	Bruce Robert Baumgartner
Born	November 2, 1960 (1960-11-02) (age 64) Haledon, New Jersey, U.S.
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	130 kg (287 lb)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Wrestling
Event(s)	Freestyle and Folkstyle
College team	Indiana State
Club	New York Athletic Club
Team	USA
Medal record Men's freestyle wrestling Representing the United States Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles +100 kg 1992 Barcelona 130 kg 1988 Seoul 130 kg 1996 Atlanta 130 kg World Championships 1986 Budapest 130 kg 1993 Toronto 130 kg 1995 Atlanta 130 kg 1989 Martigny 130 kg 1990 Tokyo 130 kg 1994 Istanbul 130 kg 1983 Kiev +100 kg 1985 Budapest 130 kg 1987 Clermont-Ferrand 130 kg Goodwill Games 1986 Moscow +100 kg Summer Universiade 1981 Bucharest +100 kg Pan American Games 1987 Indianapolis 130 kg 1991 Havana 130 kg 1995 Mar de Plata 130 kg 1983 Caracas 130 kg Pan American Championships 1987 Indianapolis 130 kg 1988 Mexico City 130 kg 1989 Colorado Springs 130 kg Collegiate Wrestling Representing the Indiana State Sycamores NCAA Division I Championships 1982 Ames Heavyweight 1981 Princeton Heavyweight 1980 Corvallis Heavyweight

Bruce Robert Baumgartner (born November 2, 1960) is an American former freestyle wrestler. He is the current assistant vice president for university advancement and former athletic director at the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania near Erie, Pennsylvania and current President of USA Wrestling.

Baumgartner is among the best American wrestlers of all time; his five World/Olympic titles place him behind only Jordan Burroughs, John Smith, and Adeline Gray. Between 1983 and 1996, Baumgartner won 13 World or Olympic medals, the most World and Olympic medals among American wrestlers.

Life and career

Baumgartner was born in Haledon, New Jersey. He is one of the most accomplished American wrestlers of all time, winning 4 Olympic medals (2-Gold, 1-Silver, 1-Bronze), 9 World Championship medals (3-Gold, 3-Silver, 3-Bronze) and 4 Pan-American medals (3-Gold, 1-Silver,); he has also won 12 World Cup medals (7-Gold, 5-Silver), an NCAA title (and 2 Runner-Up finishes), 4 Olympic Festival titles, 2 AAU National titles and a Junior National title.

During high school, Baumgartner excelled on the wrestling team, going 23–0, but was defeated in the NJ State Championship match. During the off-season he threw shot put and discus on the track team, setting several records in the shot put. Baumgartner is a four-time Olympian and owns four Olympic Medals: two gold, one silver and one bronze. He holds a Bachelor's degree in education from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, IN where he competed collegiately for 4 years. He frequently worked out alongside Kurt Thomas, an Olympic Gymnast. During his collegiate career he finished runner-up at Nationals his sophomore and junior years, and was the 1982 NCAA National Champion his senior year completing an undefeated season of 44–0. His collegiate record was 134–12 with 73 falls. In 1995, he was presented the James E. Sullivan Award by the Amateur Athletic Union as the outstanding amateur athlete in the U.S. He was sponsored through the New York Athletic Club. Baumgartner attended Manchester Regional High School in Haledon, New Jersey.

Baumgartner ranked as one of the top super-heavyweight freestyle wrestlers for more than a decade. Winning his first World Championship medal, a bronze, in 1983; he won the World Championship in Los Angeles. He confirmed his status with the Communist Bloc (Eastern European) wrestlers by winning in 1986, clinching his first of his three world titles.

In his second Olympic final in Seoul, he took silver, behind Georgian David Gobejishvili. Four years later, in 1992, he won the rematch in Barcelona, en route to a second Olympic gold. After winning world titles in 1993 and 1995, Baumgartner was favored to win his third gold in Atlanta, but a loss to Russian Andrey Shumilin left him with a bronze medal.

Championships

In addition to his World (3) and Olympic titles (2), Baumgartner amassed three golds at the Pan American Games, 17 American titles and eight World Cup wins. An NCAA National Championship, 2, NCAA Runner-Up finishes, 2 AAU National Titles and a Junior National title.

In 1998, Baumgartner was inducted into the Indiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame; in 2003, the Missouri Valley Conference named him an 'Institutional Great' and inducted him into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame. In 2008, Baumgartner was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in 2002 and the International Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame (FILA) in 2003.

See also

• List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists

External links

• Bruce Baumgartner at the International Wrestling Database
• Bruce Baumgartner at the Team USA Hall of Fame (archive October 3, 2023)
• Bruce Baumgartner at Olympics.com
• Bruce Baumgartner at Olympedia
• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived December 26, 2019)
• Edinboro profile at the Wayback Machine (archived January 30, 2016)