Burroughs' grace in defeat shows true champion

By Jeff Passan
MLB columnist
Yahoo! Sports
RIO de JANIERO, Brazil - Before every wrestling meet, Jordan Burroughs’ wife, Lauren, writes him a note. I thought he could use another.

Dear Jordan,

I’m sorry for what happened Friday. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me, and I’ll be honest: I hadn’t watched a wrestling match in years until Friday. I came to see you. I knew your story. The 130-2 record internationally. The gold medal in London. The happy, smiling family. The hard work. You had made your country proud.

It still is. I know it doesn’t feel like it now. I saw the tears in your eyes. They wouldn’t stop. You walked up to a group of people holding recorders at the Rio Games after you lost a match 11-1. It was your second loss of the day after going years at a time without knowing defeat. I can’t fathom winning like that; I can’t begin to understand what it felt like to lose. Then you talked for 11 minutes, 27 seconds, words as raw and honest as I’ve ever heard from an athlete. It was gutting.

You didn’t skirt responsibility, didn’t blame others, didn’t trot out any of the rote excuses. You owned your terrible day. It takes someone big to do that. It takes someone bigger to do it with such eloquence and perspective. I want you to read your words because I think they’re important.

“I feel like I let my family down, my kids,” you said. “I missed a lot of important milestones in my children’s lives to pursue this sport. I didn’t see my son walk for the first time. I’ve left my wife at home with two kids for long periods of time to go to training camps, to foreign countries. She did that joyfully, not begrudgingly, because she knew on days like these I always fulfilled my end. Now I feel like I let her down. I let her down, I let my family down. This is supposed to be my year. This is supposed to be my breakthrough performance that cemented me as a legend in the sport. And it almost retracted my position in the sport. It hurts me. It hurts a lot, man. It hurts.”

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