Hawkeye Wrestling Club’s Dan Dennis met with the media following his performance at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. Dennis competed at 57 kilograms for the United States falling to 5th place finisher Vladimir Dubov 11-0 in the first round of the tournament. Dennis met with the media to discuss his tournament and his plans with the future.
In the interview on NBC Sports, Dennis started the interview off discussing his match. He states that following Dubov being warned, he may have relaxed a little too much on his feet which led to the Dubov takedown. Dennis went on to describe the experience as extremely frustrating when he felt in control on his feet before Dubov was able to “blow it open.”
The topic then moved to the future and Dennis commented on how he was looking forward to helping the wrestlers in the Iowa room.
“I’m excited to go back and start working with guys on the team. (Thomas) Gilman and (Cory) Clark specifically. (Brandon) Sorensen is another one. Having Spencer Lee here is huge. Just looking forward to seeing those guys grow. Those guys are tough as hell, all of them. I look forward to that.”
When asked whether he could see any of the wrestlers he mentioned on a World team Dennis responded, “Absolutely. Hell yeah. Gilman is one of the strongest guys I have ever met. I mean he is crazy. Clark is as good as they come, he is a scrapper, he scraps with everyone. Spencer Lee he’s established himself at a young age. It’s really cool and I absolutely look forward to seeing them. They’ll represent themselves as good as anybody.”
To close out the interview Dennis deflected questions on whether he was done competing, responding by saying that he plans on helping out with the Iowa team. He added, “I don’t know. We’ll see. Probably not.”
Regardless on whether or not Dennis is done as a competitor on the mat, a big takeaway is that the Olympian will be around the Hawkeye program looking to make the lightweights better. All three University of Iowa wrestlers mentioned by Dennis are among the best of their weight already – with all three making the NCAA finals this past March. With Dennis’s continued presence they could continue to benefit from his experience and potentially improve upon their runner-up performances.
Time will tell, but for now Dennis remains a Hawkeye.