Ike Okoli (born March 23, 1988) from Cayce, South Carolina[1] is a beach wrestler who is a 3x U.S. Beach Wrestling Nationals/ World Team Trials champion at +90 kg. Winning in 2013[2][3] 2014 and 2015[4][5] At the 2014 FILA (now known as the UWW or United World Wrestling) Beach World Championships in Katerini, Greece where he earn the bronze medal as a member of the USA World Beach Team with a record of 4 - 1. Okoli was the only world beach medalist of the U.S. delegation in 2014 after suffering travel delays due to inclement weather.[6]

Ike Okoli
Personal information
Born (1988-03-23) March 23, 1988 (age 36)
Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Sport
SportWrestling
EventBeach wrestling
College teamUniversity of South Carolina
Medal record
Men's Beach wrestling
Representing the  United States
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Katerini +90 kg
Pan American Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Cartagena de Indias +90kg
National Championships
Gold medal – first place 2013 Carolina Beach +90kg
Gold medal – first place 2014 Carolina Beach +90kg
Gold medal – first place 2015 Carolina Beach +90kg
Silver medal – second place 2016 Carolina Beach +90kg
Silver medal – second place 2017 Carolina Beach +90kg

In 2015, Okoli won gold in the first UWW Pan American Beach Wrestling Championship, where he beat an opponent from Colombia in a best-of three series. Okoli won in two straight matches by 3-0 margins, he was the only U.S. athlete entered in the competition, which featured athletes from Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and the United States.[7] Okoli is of Nigerian descent.

Okoli wrestled at Brookland-Cayce High School in Cayce, South Carolina.[8] He later became a 2x NCWA All American for the University of South Carolina.[9][10] In 2013, Okoli help South Carolina to a 2nd-place finish behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the NCWA Division II National Team Standings[11]

Prior to South Carolina, Okoli played football for Mount Union University for one season.[12]

References

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  1. ^ U.S. Army Cadet Command (ROTC) - Posts | Facebook Retrieved 2018-06-23.
  2. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Ike Okoli wins 2013 Beach Nationals. YouTube.
  3. ^ Immel, Richard. "14 wrestlers qualify for Worlds". USA Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 22, 2014.
  4. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Ike Okoli, 2015 Beach Nationals champion at Unlimited. YouTube.
  5. ^ Abbott, Gary. "World medalist Okoli repeats as Beach Nationals champion with record field at Carolina Beach, N.C." Archived from the original on June 9, 2015.
  6. ^ Davidson, Rusty. "Ike Okoli of the USA wins bronze medal as Greece dominates Beach Worlds". USA Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015.
  7. ^ Abbott, Gary. "Okoli wins gold at first Pan American Beach Championships held in Colombia". Archived from the original on October 24, 2015.
  8. ^ "South Carolina College/U.S./World Wrestling Records".
  9. ^ "2012 NCWA Championships" (JPG). Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  10. ^ Farrell, Scott (March 13, 2013). "NCWA National Championship Notes & Preview". The Open Mat.
  11. ^ Farrell, Scott. "Cal Baptist wins second NCWA title in three years". InterMat Wrestling.
  12. ^ "2007-08 Mount Union Football Roster - Mount Union". athletics.mountunion.edu. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015.