Dremiel Byers

Dremiel Byers (blue) in action against Jalmar Sjöberg at the 2008 Olympic Summer Games .

Dremiel D. Byers (born September 11, 1974 in Newark , New Jersey ) is an American wrestler . He was world champion in 2002 in super heavyweight (up to 120 kg body weight) in the Greco-Roman style.

Career

Dremiel Byers grew up in Kings Mountain, NC , and studied football and wrestling in high school. Although he didn't take the wrestling seriously. After high school, he attended North Carolina A&T College, where he then competed in some wrestling championships at the regional level. There he was struck by Steve Fraser , who was then coach of the US national team of wrestlers in the Greco-Roman style , who prompted him to join the US Army in 1996 and participate in a World Class Athlete program because of his excellent physical condition for a heavyweight wrestler the Army at Fort Benning could participate. Dremiel Byers is now a staff sergeant in the US Army.

This training had its first success as early as 1997, when he became super heavyweight champion in the US Army that year. He also won this title in 1999. In 1999 he was also the first American super heavyweight champion. His international career began in the same year. He finished 2nd at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg in the super heavyweight division behind Héctor Milián from Cuba . He was then used at the World Cup in Athens in 2000 . In Athens he won and lost two fights each and came in 6th place.

From 2000 to 2004 Dremiel Byers fought regularly against Rulon Gardner for supremacy in the super heavyweight division in the United States. The fight for this supremacy was carried out fairly, but since only one of the two wrestlers could take part in the international championships, it was fought very hard. In 2000, Dremiel Byers was US champion, but lost in the Olympic elimination against Rulon Gardner, who then started in Sydney and, as is known, dethroned the Russian wrestling king Alexander Karelin there .

2001 Dremiel Byers lost to Rulon Gardner both in the US Championship and in the elimination for the World Championship against Rulon Gardner. In 2002, however, Dremiel Byers prevailed both in the USA championship and in the World Cup qualification and then represented the USA at the World Cup in Moscow . There he showed himself from his best side and became world champion in Greco-Roman style in the super heavyweight division with five wins. In the decisive fight he defeated Mihály Deák Bárdos from Hungary .

As a US champion in 2003, Dremiel Byers started at the Pan American Championship that year in Guatemala City . He won there before Mijaín López Núñez from Cuba . He was not used at the 2003 World Cup.

In 2004 he fought against Rulon Gardner for the USA championship and for the right to start at the Olympic Games in Athens . How dogged this fight was can be seen from the fact that both decisions were carried out in the best of five system . At the USA Championship, Dremiel Byers won 3-2 and at the US Olympic elimination, Rulon Gardner won 3-2. This was the second time that Dremiel Byers missed the start at the Olympic Games.

After Rulon Gardner's resignation after the 2004 Olympic Games, Dremiel Byers was again the American super heavyweight champion in 2005, 2006 and 2008, only in 2007 he had to be content with 3rd place. At the World Cup in Budapest in 2005 he was eliminated after his second fight, in which he was defeated by Georgi Tsurtsumia from Kazakhstan , and only came in 13th place.

In 2006, Dremiel Byers took second place behind Mijaín López Núñez at the Pan American Championship in Rio de Janeiro , but only came up at the World Cup in Guangzhou / China after defeating Vladimir Guralski from Israel and losing to İsmail Güzel from Turkey the 9th rank. At the Pan American Games in 2007, which were played again in Rio de Janeiro, he lost again in the final against Mijaín López Núñez . At the 2007 World Cup in Baku , he managed to win a medal again. He won the bronze medal there with four wins after losing in the semifinals to the 2004 Olympic champion Chassan Barojew from Russia.

In 2008 Dremiel Byers finally qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing. He won his first two fights against Oleksandr Tschernezkyj from Ukraine and Liu Deli from China, but lost in the quarterfinals against Jalmar Sjöberg from Sweden . Since Sjöberg was eliminated in the semifinals, Dremiel Byers got no chance to fight for a medal. He came in 7th place.

International success

(all competitions in Greco-Roman style, OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, super heavyweight, up to 130 kg until 2001, heavyweight, since 2002 up to 120 kg body weight)

year	space	competition	Weight class
1999	2.	Pan American Games in Winnipeg	Super heavy	behind Héctor Milián , Cuba and in front of Rafael Barreno Martinez, Venezuela
1999	6th	World Cup in Athens	Super heavy	after a defeat against Mihály Deák Bárdos , Hungary , victories over Ioan Ticala, Romania and Anastasios Sofianidis, Greece and a defeat against Sergej Mureiko , Bulgaria
2001	1.	World Cup in Levallois / France	Super heavy	before Alexej Tarabarin, Russia and Hisham Abdelwahab Abdelmoamen, Egypt
2002	2.	Pan American Championships in Maracaibo	Heavy	behind Mijaín López Núñez , Cuba and in front of Guillermo Talavera, Venezuela
2002	1.	World Cup in Moscow	Heavy	with victories over Song Jidong, China , Dimitri Debelka , Belarus , Juri Ewseitschik , Israel , Xenofon Koutsioubas , Greece and Mihály Deak Bardos
2003	1.	Pan American Championships in Guatemala City	Heavy	before Mijaín López Núñez and Edward Diaz, Venezuela
2005	1.	Polish Grand Prix in Wałbrzych	Heavy	before Marek Mukulski, Poland, Sergej Pawlow, Ukraine and Nico Schmidt , Germany
2005	1.	"Dave Schultz" Memorial in Colorado Springs	Heavy	before Russ Davis, USA , Petar Bogajewski, Bulgaria and Khoren Papojan, USA
2005	13.	World Cup in Budapest	Heavy	with a win over Rocco Daniele Ficara, Italy and a loss against Georgi Tsurtsumia , Kazakhstan
2005	1.	CISM Military World Cup in Vilnius	Heavy	before Marek Mikulski, O. Petrenko, Ukraine and Mindaugas Mizgaitis , Lithuania
2006	2.	Pan American Championships in Rio de Janeiro	Heavy	behind Mijaín López Núñez and in front of Ari Michael Taub, Canada
2006	9.	World Cup in Guangzhou / China	Heavy	with a victory over Vladimir Guralski, Israel and a defeat against İsmail Güzel , Turkey
2007	2.	World Cup in Antalya	Heavy	behind Oleksandr Tschernezkyj and in front of Ismail Güzel
2007	2.	Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro	Heavy	behind Mijaín López Núñez and in front of Ari Michael Taub
2007	3.	World Cup in Baku	Heavy	with victories over Radomir Petkovic, Serbia , Iwan Iwanow, Bulgaria and Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Greece, a defeat against Chassan Barojew , Russia and a victory over Yannick Szczepaniak , France
2008	2.	World Cup in Szombathely	Heavy	behind Mihály Deak Bardos and in front of Masoud Hashemzadeh, Iran
2008	2.	Hungarian Grand Prix in Szombathely	Heavy	behind Riza Kayalp, Turkey and in front of Siarhei Artjuchin, Belarus and Bashir Babjanzadeh, Iran
2008	7th	OS in Beijing	Heavy	with victories over Oleksandr Tschernezkyj and Liu Deli, China and one defeat against Jalmar Sjöberg , Sweden
2010	1.	"David Schultz" Memorial in Colorado Springs	Heavy	before Brandon Rupp, USA, Deli Liu, China a. Dharmender Dalal, India
2010	1.	Granma Cup in Havana	Heavy	in front of Ramon Garcia, Dom. Rep., Nico Schmidt , Germany a. Rocco Ficara, Italy

American championships

1997, 5th place, 1998, 4th place, 1999, 1st place, 2000, 4th place, 2001, 2nd place, 2002, 1st place, 2003, 1st place, 2004, 1st place, 2005, 1st place, 2006, 1st place, 2007, 3rd place, 2008, 1st place

US Army Championship

1997, 1st place, 1999, 1st place, 2000, 1st place, 2003, 1st place, 2004, 1st place, 2005, 1st place, 2006, 1st place

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer from 1998 to 2008,
• Website "wrestlingteam.teamusa.org"

Web links

• Profile of Dremiel Byers at the Institute for Applied Exercise Science