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AU Head Wrestling Coach Mark Cody to Help Prepare Olympic Team for Athens Games
Cody to lead one team practice and several individual practices at Olympic training camp

June 17, 2004

American University Head Wrestling Coach Mark Cody will lead one team and several individual practices at the Olympic training camp in Colorado Springs, Colo.

WASHINGTON - American University Head Wrestling Coach Mark Cody will watch the Olympics in August, but for him it will be a little bit different- three of his former wrestlers from his tenure at Oklahoma State University and Nebraska will be competing for the Gold, including Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion Rulon Gardner.

Cody, who coached Gardner for six years, will spend time before the Games helping the 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist and 2001 World Champion train, as he oversees an Olympic Team practice and several individual practices in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Joining Cody in Colorado will be first-time Olympian Brad Vering. Vering, who excelled under Cody’s tutelage at Nebraska, by capturing a NCAA individual championship title, will look to take home his first Gold in Athens. Also in his first trip to the Games, Daniel Cormier, a wrestler who studied under Cody at Oklahoma State, will compete in the 96 kg/211.5 lbs. freestyle.
In addition to coaching at American, Cody is a member of the US National Coaching Staff and his club team, the Gator Wresting Club, recently won the Olympic trials in Las Vegas, Nev.

Since taking helm of the American University wrestling program in 2002, Cody has taken enormous strides to re-invigorate the program. Bringing in nationally-ranked wrestler Daniel Waters in 2003 and Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov, one of the nations top-recruits for the 2004-05 season, the Eagles program will continue to grow into one of the most competitive wrestling schools in the country.