Brandon Douglas Slay (born October 14, 1975) is an American former

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...

. He won an Olympic gold medal for the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. Slay also helped found Dallas Dynamite wrestling club in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Slay currently is the Assistant National Freestyle Coach and National Freestyle Resident Coach for USA wrestling, stationed at the Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs.

Early life

He graduated from Tascosa High School in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...

, where he was a three-time state champion in wrestling.

College career

Slay studied business at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

and received a degree from the Wharton School of Business. He wrestled all four years at Pennsylvania, where he was a two-time national runner-up and All-American in the NCAA tournament at 167 pounds. Slay was also a four-time All-Ivy wrestler, and two-time EIWA champion. He is a member of the

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters an ...

fraternity.

2000 Olympic Games in Sydney

At the

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...

, Slay would beat defending Olympic champion Buvaisar Saitiev of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in his pool to advance to the knockout round. From there, he would win two more matches, making the gold medal match, where he lost to Alexander Leipold of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Afterwards, Leipold would test positive for the steroid

nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an endogenous androgen. It is also an anabolic steroid (AAS) which is medically used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate ...

, and the gold medal was awarded to Slay.

Personal life

Slay is a devout

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and runs Greater Gold, which does speeches and camps about

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

and wrestling. In 2016, Slay was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.Brandon Slay
''National Wrestling Hall of Fame''. Retrieved September 17, 2022.

References

Sportspeople from Amarillo, Texas Tascosa High School alumni Living people Olympic gold medalists for the United States in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2000 Summer Olympics American male sport wrestlers 1975 births Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-wrestling-bio-stub