The Rio Olympics are weeks away, but that’s too long for wrestler Jordan Burroughs. He is counting the minutes, as in, 24. That’s how many minutes in Rio likely separate Burroughs and his dream of a second Olympic gold medal.
“So this one here says, ‘Dream it, do it.’ So that’s one of the models I like to live by. So once you have a dream, it’s not just enough to dream about doing something or enough to set goals. Once you set goals, you have to actually create small, little significant consistencies to reach those goals,” Burroughs said. “So once I make a dream of something, I want to accomplish it. I don’t want to just have a dream and never attain it. I want to do those things. So, dream it, do it.”
The wrestler has already won three world championships and that Olympic gold medal. His goal is to be known in the future as the all-time greatest U.S. wrestler. Burroughs trains in Lincoln, Nebraska, where there are few distractions.
“I never feel like I’m going to make it when I’m in mid-air. I’m going to clip it. We train for hours and hours a day just for a 6-minute match. So you think about all the hours I put in for the Olympic Games. I’ll probably wrestle four matches. And that’s four times six is 24 minutes. So I’ve trained 5,000 hours for 24 minutes,” he said. “The fruits of your labor come from preparation. They come from the work, the commitments, the sacrifice. And it’s necessary. A lot of guys want what I want, and essentially, there’s only one spot at the top of the podium.”
The Opening Ceremony for the Rio Olympic Games can be seen August 5 on News Channel 8. News Channel 8’s Paul Ryan will be in Rio with live reports during the Olympics, which run from Aug. 5 – 21.
