Michael Smith
By Michael Smith
If you ask Blue Springs graduate Dom Bradley when most amateur wrestlers retire, its around age 28 or 29.
But even at 32 years old, Bradley isn’t giving up on his dream of wrestling in the Olympics. He will compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials starting this Friday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Bradley aims to win the freestyle 125-kilogram weight division and qualify for the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics as he goes into the Trials as the four-seed in his weight class.
He’s competed at the Olympic Trials three times before, with his best finish coming in 2016 when he took third. But Bradley said he feels he is in the best shape of his life and is ready for the Trails.
“I feel really good right now,” Bradley said. “I really don’t know when I’m going to retire. I am a heavyweight so I am really not cutting weight. Greatest thing about this sport is that it’s hard but you learn something new every day. That’s what makes it fun.
“It doesn’t feel like a job or something that’s strenuous for me.”
So what makes him continue to want to wrestle?
