Michigan State University Athletics
Former National Champion Franklin Gomez Wrestling in Olympics Sunday
8/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Former Spartan National Champion Franklin Gomez will be wrestling for Puerto Rico in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. Gomez will be in action on Sunday, August 21 in the 65 kg. weight class for Puerto Rico.
Watch Live | Sunday's Olympic Wrestling Schedule
NBCOlympics.com will have dedicated live streams for each mat in the preliminary round that starts at 7:30 a.m. ET, with expected completion by 10:15 p.m. The finals will start at 11:45 a.m. The final block will feature repechage matches, Bronze Medal Matches and Gold Medal Matches. NBCSN will have wrestling on the television on Sunday starting at 12:30 p.m.
Gomez competed in the 2012 London Olympics for Puerto Rico in the 60 kg. freestyle division. He wrestled at Michigan State from 2005-10 and was the 133-pound National Champion in 2009, a two-time Big Ten Champion (2008, 2009), and a three-time All-American (2008, 2009, 2010).
"For anybody out of our program to be able to wrestle in the pinnacle of wrestling, which is the Olympic games, I think it is great to show that you can make it to the top and be able to achieve your goals above and beyond college wrestling," Michigan State wrestling head coach Roger Chandler said. "Franklin has always had the goal of being able to compete for an Olympic Gold Medal and this is the second time he's been able to do it. I'm really looking forward to watching him compete. He's gone up in weight class since the last Olympic cycle and I think he's stronger, feels better and is many ways has matured more as a wrestler. I believe that he could definitely compete for a gold medal."
Other notable international finishes for Gomez include winning the 65 kg. freestyle weight class at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games and the 60 kg. freestyle division at the Guadalajara 2011 Pan American Games, and placing second in freestyle at 60 kg. at the 2011 World Wrestling championships. Gomez also earned the bronze medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Ontario.
Gomez will be trying to earn Puerto Rico's first-ever gold medal in any sport in the summer Olympics, in which Puerto Rico has competed in every Olympic Games since 1948, 18 in total.
In addition to trying to earn his country's first gold medal, he will also be trying to improve on his 2012 Olympic outing in London.
"He had an unfortunate situation at last Olympics in 2012 in London, where he was coming off a silver medal performance at the 2011 World Championships, and a day or two before the Olympics, he came down with the flu really bad. I'm looking forward to seeing what Franklin can do when he's at full strength," Chandler said.
As a former Spartan, Gomez provides a base of Big Ten Conference connections, as he currently trains at the Penn State Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, and will be coached by Penn State assistant coach Casey Cunningham. Gomez's training partner from the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, is Frank Molinaro, who will also be in the 65 kg. weight class, competing for the United States.
