IRTC Sending Wrestlers to the Pan Am Games

There are four IRTC or IRTC-adjacent wrestlers who will represent the United States at the Pan Am Games starting on November 1, 2023. Note that this also happens to be NATIONAL SINGLET DAY so be sure to watch Zane Richards, who'll be wrestling that day, in your favorite singlet. 

The Pan Am Games happen every four years, the year before the Olympics. They are different from the Pan Am Championships which happen every year. This is not an Olympic qualifier. That will happen during the Pan Am Championships in March 2024. 

There are 41 countries that can be represented at the Games, although not all of them send competitors when it comes to wrestling. The number of wrestlers is also whittled down because there is a qualification process, which provides slots for wrestlers at each weight depending on how their home country did in the last few Pan Am Championships. 

There will only be the six Olympic weights contested in each of the disciplines. Luckily for the IRTC, all of their athletes are at one of those weights. 

WHAT:  PAN AM GAMES

WHEN:  November 1 - November 4 (for wrestling)

WHERE:  Santiago, Chile

TV/STREAMING:  panamsportschannel.org (create free account here to watch live)

WARNING:  The times listed below are from USA Wrestling, but that organization failed to note whether they reflected Eastern Time, local time or some other time zone. I assumed it was Eastern Time. But I checked the official site, and they list the start at 10:00 am local time. Please note that local time in Santiago, Chile is one hour ahead of Eastern Time and two hours ahead of Central Time. (See the handy screengrab below, which also shows the ticket price). 

ZANE RICHARDS:  November 1 @ 9:00 am (Eastern) @ 4:00 pm for Finals

KAMAL BEY:  November 3 @ 9:00 am (Eastern) @ 4:00 pm for Finals

ZAC BRAUNAGEL/JOE RAU:  November 4 @ 9:00 am (Eastern) @ 4:00 pm for Finals

MISCELLANEOUS

There was a qualification process to get into these Pan Am Games. It depended upon how the 41 countries did in previous Pan Am Championships. The United States qualified 17 male and female weights, while Cuba qualified 18. Canada only managed 10, but Mexico received 12 invitations. 

Venezuela qualified a whopping 16, while Colombia, Brazil, Dominican Republic and Chile (the host nation) also recorded double digits. Nine countries qualified two or fewer. 

We signed up for the streaming just to make sure it was working and watched a few seconds of the opening ceremony. It was pretty sweet:

That is an Incan temple, something the IRTC folks will want to experience. 

The USA is sending a star-studded crew that includes many from the World Team, including Olympic medalists Kyle Snyder and Helen Maroulis. The entire Greco team is from the World Team, although it is whittled down to six weights. Additionally, Kennedy Blades will bring more ILLINOIS power to Santiago in the Women's 76 kg weight.

Joe "The Raustler" Rau is a two-time Pan Am Championships Gold Medal winner. He also qualified the weight for the Olympics at one of those championships. Kamal Bey has a silver medal from the Pan Am Championships in 2019, as well as a gold from 2022. In 2019, Zac Braunagel won a freestyle gold at the Junior Pan Am Championships along with his twin brother, Danny. 

Finally, these Pan Am Games are introducing new sports, including Break Dancing, if you can believe that. But even more far-fetched--but true--is that there will be two demonstration sports that will involve videogames. The two eSports offered will be DOTA 2 and e-Football. It may be tough sledding for the American gamers because Peru won the last world championship in DOTA 2, while Brazil finished with a silver in e-Football.