Dickies Arena is hosting the U.S. Olympic team trials for wrestling on Friday and Saturday. Jason Sands, director of the Fort Worth Sports Commission, said the event includes 220 wrestlers from around the country.
“This weekend’s winners will represent Team USA in Tokyo this summer,” Sands said.
“It’s a huge honor for the city to host an Olympic trial. Not a lot of cities get to do that, and we were able to do that in a five-week turnaround because of our great partnership with USA Wrestling,” Sands said.
“We got a call about five weeks ago that the venue for the Olympic trials was not going to work out. We were the first call that USA Wrestling made. I think it goes back to their experience here in 2019 when we hosted their senior nationals. They had a phenomenal experience here. They loved the city, they loved the team.”
One of the athletes competing this weekend is Tamyra Mensah-Stock of Houston. Mensah-Stock is the reigning women’s world champion in her weight class, meaning she can skip the early rounds on day one and will be on the mat for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in a best of three.
Like others, Mensah-Stock was disappointed when the 2020 games were delayed due to the pandemic. Looking back, however, she also called it a blessing in disguise.
“It actually allowed me to take a breather and just be with myself and with God. I was able to spend more time with my husband,” Mensah-Stock said. “It’s like stepping…
