The most surprising member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team, 18-year-old
Jake Deitchler makes his Olympic and major international senior
tournament debut in Beijing. He pulled off the biggest upset of the
2008 U.S. Olympic wrestling trials by winning the 66kg/145.5 lbs
division. Deitchler defeated 32-year-old Faruk Sahin in the final, but
his most shocking victory came in the semifinals, when he dispatched
24-year-old rising star, Harry Lester, a two-time Worlds bronze
medalist. Deitchler will become only the third high school wrestler
to compete on an Olympic team, according to USA Wrestling. Greco-Roman
wrestler Mike Farina qualified in 1976 and freestyle wrestler Jimmy
Carr qualified in 1972. That Deitchler won Trials, however, is not all
that surprising considering he was the runner-up at the 2008 U.S.
Nationals, his first senior U.S. championships.
