Olympics: Burroughs endures rough day with no medal

RIO DE JANEIRO – One defeat was devastating.

A second several hours later was incomprehensible for Jordan Burroughs.

MORE COVERAGE: South Jersey athletes in Rio

The burden of both was nearly unbearable.

“It’s been 10 years, maybe longer,” Burroughs said between tears and sniffles. “I don’t remember the last time I lost twice in the same day.”

He did on Friday at the Olympic Games, first ending his quest to repeat as a gold medalist and then his bid for bronze in swift, stunning fashion at the Cariocas 2 Arena.

Wrestling at 74 kilograms, Burroughs fell 3-2 in the quarterfinals to Russia’s Aniuar Geduev in a match many felt could have been a final. The blind draw lined them up early.

That relegated Burroughs to the repechage round, where he could still wrestle back for bronze.

But he was dominated 11-1 by Bekzod Abdurakhmonov of Uzbekistan, a former Clarion University wrestler, ending his Olympics.

It was over that fast, and during a revealing 12-minute post-match session with the media, Burroughs hid neither his emotions nor his self-criticism.

“This was supposed to be my year,” he said. “This was supposed to be my breakthrough performance that cemented me as a legend in this sport and it almost retracted my position in the sport. It hurts. It hurts a lot.

“I felt ready. That’s the hardest part about this. I lived my life the right way.”

In addition to winning the 2012 Olympic title, Burroughs, a 28-year-old Winslow Township (N.J.) High graduate, was world champ in 2011, 2013 and 2015. He did settle for bronze in 2014.

Before that, he was a New Jersey state high school champ and two-time NCAA titlist at the University of Nebraska. He still resides in Lincoln with his wife, Lauren, and son Beacon, whose sacrifices on his behalf he felt he had not honored by losing.

“Tough day,” Burroughs said, drenched in sweat, his singlet pulled to his waist, choking back tears. “I had a lot of expectations coming here. I wanted to win and was capable of winning. Sometimes things don’t go according to plan. I’m a man of faith and something good will come out of this. It’s difficult. I lost a lot of things today, but my integrity and my character remain.”

In his narrow 3-2 loss to Geduev, Burroughs could simply blame missed execution – the failure to finish a shot or get a turn.

But in being drubbed by Abdurakhmonov, Burroughs repeatedly allowed his opponent to get in deep on a single leg and take him down.

“I’m not as good as I thought I was,” he said.

Burroughs’ aspirations went beyond wanting to win. He sought to become, he said, “the face of wrestling,” helping to lift the profile of his gritty sport.

Instead, he felt as if he’d failed.

“The preparation going into this, it took a lot out of me, it really did,” he said. “I had so many expectations, things I wanted to do here, the records I wanted to set, precedents that I wanted to be a part of, and now I just feel a lot of disappointment, embarrassment, disgrace.

“But I let myself down most. I love the sport of wrestling because it’s a testament of your will and what you’re capable of and what you can do as a man. And as nervous and afraid as I was coming into this tournament, I knew that I was equally as confident and prepared. And so now, I just face it. I face the fans, the criticism, the backlash, the trolls. I’ve always made my goals public. It’s hard being a failure to your public.”

He seemed determined to find out and bounce back with vigor.

“I’m hoping I can go back and re-evaluate my career, my abilities, what I did wrong today and I’ve got a lot to work on,” he said.

“You know, there’s not a lot of defining moments for a young individual in life and this was going to be ultimately a catalyst for propelling me for where I wanted to be. My life, it’s altered.”

Kevin Tresolini writes for The News Journal (Wilmington, Del.).