Antelope Valley Boxing Academy Haines kenpo karate  American School of martial Arts Kick It Boxing for Women  ATA karate for Kids Muay Thai Kickboxing Swords Fencing Scott White's ATA  Paul Kim's Black Belt Academy  California Desperados Mounted Shooters AV Jiu-jitsu Mountain Judo Team Family Martial Arts Academy Kuk Sul Won Budoshin Ju-Jitsu

Last Updated: Tuesday, February 10, 2009  An Origin Advertising Web Portal

The Center for All Martial Arts in The Antelope Valley and Surrounding Communities

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------           

Select Your Sport

Judo     Karate     Tae Kwon Do      Shooting     Wrestling     Boxing   Self Defense     Muay Thai - Kick Boxing     Kung Fu     Kook Sul Won

Archery     Equestrian     Fencing     Pentathlon     Jiu-Jitsu     Shindenkan Budo     Supplies/Gear      Health Clubs & Gyms

Other Schools/Clubs                                              Other High Desert Activities/Locations   

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adam Wheeler Wins Bronze Medal at Beijing medalThis story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Friday, August 15, 2008.

By PAUL OBERJUERGE
Special to the Valley Press

"Lost every one of them," former Eagles coach Mike Henery recalled. "And that was on the JVs.

"Most people would have given up.

"He didn't."

Wheeler's persistence paid off on wrestling's biggest stage Thursday on a rainy night at the Beijing Olympics.

The tubby teen who went oh-for-the-season at Lancaster 12 years before, defeated Han Tae-Young of South Korea in the stuffy and crowded gymnasium at Chinese Agricultural University to win a bronze medal in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Wheeler threw Han late in the second round to clinch the match for 96 kg (211 pound) wrestlers.

His mother, Julie, sitting among 20 Wheeler family and friends who had come to Beijing just to see Adam compete, watched her son triumphantly thrust his fists into the air.

"I remember thinking,"she said later, "that my son just won an Olympic medal."

Wheeler was one of the most unlikely members of the U.S. Greco-Roman Olympic team, having upset personal nemesis Justin Ruiz at the national trials in June.

But Wheeler turned out to be the only American to win a medal in the three-day, seven-division Greco-Roman competition, allowing the U.S. to extend its streak of Summer Olympics with at least one Greco-Roman medal to seven.

"It feels great," Wheeler said. "It feels great.

"I honestly don't even remember what happened. It went that fast."

What happened is that Wheeler gained a reversal to win the first period 3-1, then went on the attack to turn the Korean on the mat with a risky move in the second period, which he also won 3-1.

"He just refused to leave the mat without that medal on his neck," said Momir Petkivoc, an assistant coach for the U.S. "We all believed in him and he believed in himself. And he just let it out and a great thing happened to him."

Wheeler's first - and probably last - Olympics culminated in one long and eventful day.

It began with a taut victory over highly-regarded Hungarian Lajos Virag, continued with a raucous comeback decision over crowd favorite Jiang Huachen of China, hit a bump in the road in a semifinal defeat to Germany's Mirko Englich and concluded, five hours later, with the victory over Han.

Wheeler's bronze is the first Olympic medal ever won by an Antelope Valley native. A neat feat for the chubby freshman whose mother concedes she "laughed at" Adam when he came home and said he was going out for the wrestling team.

Wheeler wrestled at 215 pounds all through high school as he grew into his body. He now stands a raw-boned 6-foot-3.

"Each year he would come back and he weighed the same but had a different body," Henery said. "He was just a late developer."

Wheeler became a good high school wrestler, twice winning the Golden League championship, and compiled a 44-3 record as a senior. But he never made the CIF-State meet, the stamping grounds of the prep elite.

Said Henery: "I had no idea he was gonna be this good."

Wheeler may not have, either. He joined the Coast Guard out of high school and thought he might be done with wrestling.

Then he discovered he could wrestle while in the military and joined the Navy team.

By 2003, he was working at Greco-Roman full-time, and moving up the national rankings.

Said Henery: "He was wrestling in a freestyle tournament, wrestling for the Navy, and he wrestled a guy that placed at the NCAA championships the year before. And he beat the guy. In a freestyle tournament. And he said that was the first time he knew he was gonna be a pretty good wrestler. After that, he recommitted himself."

Wheeler now lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., with his wife Marley, but he certainly hasn't forgotten where he came from.

"I just want to tell everyone in Lancaster, 'Thanks for being there for me all this time.' Everyone helped my family get here and I appreciate everything."

Area businesses and the Freebirds Wrestling Club spear-headed a fund-raising effort that came up with $6,000 to help get Julie Wheeler to Beijing.

Also in Beijing were his aunt and uncle, John and Diana Bailey, who live in Palmdale. As well as Henery and his family and a dozen friends and family of Adam's wife.

They were planning to get together with Wheeler later Thursday.

"I'll be tired," he said, "but I have 20 people here so hopefully we can get everybody together and go out to eat and just relax."

Earlier Thursday, Wheeler said the bronze-medal match "probably would be the last" of his career. He is scheduled to begin school at the Colorado Springs police academy on Aug. 27.

However, after gaining the bronze he said he "wouldn't rule out any options."

Julie Wheeler, however, believes her son will leave wrestling on this high point.

"I think he wants to get on with his life," she said. "That's my opinion. He's got a wife, they're both in school, he starts the academy and then they want to have a family.

"I think he's done all that he wanted to accomplish."

Karate Resources

Judo Uniform/Equipment Suppliers

Fog Dog Martial Arts Supplies

Pacific Rim - Uniforms, Equip., Videos

American Martial Arts Supply

Opener Traders MA Supplies

Rage Athletic Wear 

Hawaii Martial Arts Society

Many Links to ALL forms

World Wide Tae kwon Do Links

Muay Thai Kickboxing Club - All Combat Supplies

Advertise on AV Martial  Arts  - As low as 19 cents a day!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Webmaster