Ike Okoli (born March 23, 1988) from Cayce, South Carolina[1] is a beach wrestler who is a 3x U.S. Beach Wrestling Nationals/ World Team Trials champion at +90 kg. Winning in 2013[2][3] 2014 and 2015[4][5] At the 2014 FILA (now known as the UWW or United World Wrestling) Beach World Championships in Katerini, Greece where he earn the bronze medal as a member of the USA World Beach Team with a record of 4 - 1. Okoli was the only world beach medalist of the U.S. delegation in 2014 after suffering travel delays due to inclement weather.[6]
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| Born | March 23, 1988 Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Beach wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | University of South Carolina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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In 2015, Okoli won gold in the first UWW Pan American Beach Wrestling Championship, where he beat an opponent from Colombia in a best-of three series. Okoli won in two straight matches by 3-0 margins, he was the only U.S. athlete entered in the competition, which featured athletes from Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and the United States.[7] Okoli is of Nigerian descent.
Okoli wrestled at Brookland-Cayce High School in Cayce, South Carolina.[8] He later became a 2x NCWA All American for the University of South Carolina.[9][10] In 2013, Okoli help South Carolina to a 2nd-place finish behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the NCWA Division II National Team Standings[11]
Prior to South Carolina, Okoli played football for Mount Union University for one season.[12]
References
edit- ^ U.S. Army Cadet Command (ROTC) - Posts | Facebook Retrieved 2018-06-23.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Ike Okoli wins 2013 Beach Nationals. YouTube.
- ^ Immel, Richard. "14 wrestlers qualify for Worlds". USA Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 22, 2014.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Ike Okoli, 2015 Beach Nationals champion at Unlimited. YouTube.
- ^ Abbott, Gary. "World medalist Okoli repeats as Beach Nationals champion with record field at Carolina Beach, N.C." Archived from the original on June 9, 2015.
- ^ Davidson, Rusty. "Ike Okoli of the USA wins bronze medal as Greece dominates Beach Worlds". USA Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015.
- ^ Abbott, Gary. "Okoli wins gold at first Pan American Beach Championships held in Colombia". Archived from the original on October 24, 2015.
- ^ "South Carolina College/U.S./World Wrestling Records".
- ^ "2012 NCWA Championships" (JPG). Retrieved June 2, 2024.
- ^ Farrell, Scott (March 13, 2013). "NCWA National Championship Notes & Preview". The Open Mat.
- ^ Farrell, Scott. "Cal Baptist wins second NCWA title in three years". InterMat Wrestling.
- ^ "2007-08 Mount Union Football Roster - Mount Union". athletics.mountunion.edu. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015.
