Iowa City named finalist to host 2012 Olympic Trials for wrestling

USA Wrestling has announced Tuesday that Iowa City is one of three finalists to host the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for wrestling and weightlifting. Iowa City was joined by Council Bluffs and Columbus, Ohio, as three sites selected from bids presented by seven cities, including Greensboro, N.C., Hampton, Va., Oklahoma City and Pontiac, Mich.

The bid is a joint effort between the University of Iowa athletics department and Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. The plan is to host the Olympic team trials for wrestling and weightlifting at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on April 20-21, 2012. 

“Based upon the quality of the bids received, it was decided to invite the bid leaders from these three cities to provide additional information on their plans to host the event,” USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender said in a release on themat.com. “We are grateful for the seven cities which submitted bids, and thank them for their commitment to our sports and the Olympic movement. Each of the cities showed they are capable of hosting a successful event. Ultimately, we are very confident that we will select a great partner to host the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.”

Representatives from each of the finalists have been invited to the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., to make an "in-person" presentation to secure the bid on Jan. 12 or 13, 2011.

According to the release on USA Wrestling's website, one of the other cities could be added to the group of finalists if they can change the proposed dates to host in a prompt manner. A requirement to the host proposal is for the event to be held April 20-21.

Iowa is considered a hotbed for wrestling. The tournament to determine the country's lineup to face world competition is a perfect for Iowa City.

"I think its great," former Hawkeye All-American and Lisbon native Ryan Morningstar said. "Fans at Iowa are great and they'd have a good tournament. As far as the environment, it would be awesome."

A group of USA Wrestling staff and athletes, USA Weightlifting staff and a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee will consider the final presentations and they will attempt to make an announcement on the winning bid by Jan. 17, 2011.

The 2012 Olympic Trials promises to have a lot of local interest with a number of competitors vying for spots. Former two-time Hawkeye national champion and three-time NCAA finalist Brent Metcalf and current Iowa assistant coach Mike Zadick were on the 2010 U.S. World Team that competed in Russia.

Metcalf, Zadick, Morningstar and former University of Northern Iowa two-time All-American and Anamosa native Moza Fay, who is currently working out at the USOTC, are among those training for the 2012 Olympics. Other former Hawkeyes likely to contend for Olympic spots include Phil Keddy, Dan Erekson and Daniel Dennis.

"I think there would be a lot of fans there," Morningstar said. "This is what people live for and this is wrestling at the highest level in their backyard and people are going to go to it."

It is almost literally in Morningstar's backyard. He won three state titles as a Lisbon prep before sporting the black-and-gold Iowa singlet.

"I think it would be really good for me because growing up 20 miles away I'm obviously going to have a support system," Morningstar said. "It would be great wrestling in front of hometown fans again."

The event includes Greco-Roman, men's freestyle, women's freestyle and men's and women's weightlifting U.S. team qualifying. The U.S. athletes will attempt to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.