Samuel Henson

Samuel "Sammie" Henson (born January 1, 1971 in St. Louis , Michigan ) is a retired American wrestler . He became world champion in 1998 and won a silver medal in the free style flyweight at the 2000 Olympic Games .

Career

Sammie Henson began wrestling with brothers Chuck and Kevin at Francis Howell High School in St. Charles , Michigan, in 1978 . His first trainers were Roger Hodapp and Judd Hofmann. At the beginning of his career he was still active in the two styles of free style and Greco-Roman style. As a high school wrestler, he made three Greco-Roman championships in Michigan. His college years began with a degree in economics from the University of Missouri in Columbia , Massachusetts , Massachusetts . His wrestling coach there were Wes Roper and Gil Sanchez. He later continued his studies at Clenson University in Clenson , South Carolina . He graduated there in 1995. In 1993 he also became a member of the Sunkist Kids WC wrestling club in Stillwater , Arizona .

In 1987, 1988 and 1990, Sammie Henson was American junior champion, in 1989 he finished 2nd, in the Greco-Roman style in flyweight. In 1993 and 1994 he won the American Student Championship (NCAA Champion) in free style. He was American senior champion in 1990 in the Greco-Roman style and in 1998, 2000 and 2005 in the free style, each in flyweight.

He appeared on the international wrestling mat for the first time in 1988, when he participated in the Junior World Championship (Cadets) in Wolfurt / Austria in the Greco-Roman style, but could not place in the front field. In 1990 he finished 3rd at the Pan American Championships in Colorado Springs in Greco-Roman style and came 2nd at the same championship in 1993 in free style. In the next few years he was mostly in the shadow of Zeke Jones in the United States , so that he could only appear again in 1998 on the international wrestling stage. This year he finished second at the Goodwill Games in New York behind Behnam Tayebi Kermani from Iran . In the same year he took part in a world championship for the first time and immediately won the world championship title in Tehran in the free style, the style on which he concentrated from then on. He defeated Wassili Zeiher from Germany with 6: 4 points, Amiran Kartanow from Greece with 5: 4 points, Maulen Mamirow from Kazakhstan with 3: 1 points, Chechenol Mongusch from Russia with 4: 3 points and Namig Abdullajew from Azerbaijan with 3: 1 point, all close points wins, but they show that he was always able to prevail in encounters that were almost even.

In 1999, Sammie Henson failed in the US World Championship elimination (Trials) to Eric Akin . In 2000 he won the US Olympic Trials before Eric Akin and was therefore a participant in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney . There he won the flyweight over Moon Myung-seok, South Korea (10: 0 points), Chikara Tanabe , Japan (9: 1 points), Oleksandr Sacharuk , Ukraine (8: 4 points) and Herman Kantojeu , Belarus (3: 0) Points, but had to admit defeat by 3: 4 points in the final against Namig Abdullajew. He won the silver medal with it .

In the next three years he hardly appeared in wrestling. In 2004 he took part in the US championship again and finished second behind Stephen Abas . He also failed at the US Olympic Tials because of Stephen Abas. In 2005 he won both the US championship title and the World Championship trials before this wrestler. At the 2005 World Cup in Budapest , however, he disappointed. He won his first fight there against Vitas Schumakow from Lithuania , but lost his next fight against Selimchan Kurejew from Russia and only ended up in 14th place.

In 2006, Sammie Henson took part in a world championship for the last time and won in Guangzhou in bantamweight with victories over René Montero , Cuba (2: 1 rounds, 8: 2 points), Francisco Javier Sanches Parra, Spain (2: 0 rounds, 9th : 0 points), Taghi Dadashi , Iran (2: 0 rounds, 5: 0 points), a defeat against Radoslaw Velikow (0: 2 rounds, 0:11 points) and a win over Atscham Achilow , Uzbekistan (2: 0 rounds , 4: 1 points) another World Cup bronze medal .

During his active time, Sammie Henson already took on a coaching position, mostly as an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma , Penn State University, at the West Point military academy , the University of Nebraska and is now (2010) again assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	style	Result
1990	3.	Pan American Championship in Colorado Springs	To fly	GR	behind Jorge Pacheco, Cuba a . Hamilton Sanches, Venezuela
1993	2.	Pan American Championship	To fly	F.	behind Jesus Lambida, Cuba, in front of Jorge Lopez, Mexico
1997	1.	Yasar Dogu Memorial in Ankara	To fly	F.	in front of Sergelen Baatar, Mongolia a . Murat Ramazanov , Russia
1997	2.	World Cup in Stillwater	To fly	F.
1998	2.	World Cup in Stillwater	To fly	F.	behind Behnam Tayebi Kermani , Iran , in front of Leonid Tschutschunow , Russia, Wilfredo García , Cuba and Wassili Zeiher , Germany
1998	2.	Goodwill Games in New York	To fly	F.	behind Behnam Tayebi Kermani, in front of Murat Ramazanow u. Mevlana Kulac, Turkey
1998	1.	World Cup in Tehran	To fly	F.	with victories over Wassili Zeiher, Amiran Kartanow , Greece , Maulen Mamirow , Kazakhstan , Chechenol Mongush , Russia u. Namig Abdullaev , Azerbaijan
1999	2.	World Cup in Spokane	To fly	F.	behind Gholamreza Mohammadi , Iran, in front of Wilfredo Gomez u. Wassili Zeiher
1999	1.	Yasar Dogu Memorial in Ankara	To fly	F.	before Iwan Welikow Djorew , Bulgaria a. Recep Zenciri, Turkey
2000	1.	Ivan Yarigin Memorial in Krasnoyarsk	To fly	F.
2000	1.	Olympic qualification tournament in Minsk	To fly	F.	before Haibo Meng , China , Herman Kantojeu , Belarus , Nurdin Donbajew, Kyrgyzstan a . Wassili Zeiher
2000	1.	Poland Open in Warsaw	To fly	F.
2000	silver	OS in Sydney	To fly	F.	with victories over Moon Myunk-seok, South Korea, Chikara Tanabe , Japan , Oleksandr Sacharuk , Ukraine a . Herman Kantojeu u. a loss to Namig Abdullaev , Azerbaijan
2001	1.	Yasar Dogu Memorial in Ankara	To fly	F.	before Sedat Özdemir u. Mevlana Kulac, bde. Turkey
2003	1.	Dave Schultz Memorial in Colorado Springs	Bantam	F.	before Chikara Tanabe and René Montero , Cuba
2003	1.	Fila Manitoba Open in Winnipeg	Bantam	F.	before James Crowe and Jamie Mocari, bde. Canada
2005	1.	Cerro Pelado Intern. in Sancti Spíritus	Bantam	F.	before Andy Moreno Gonzales u. Yoel Roche, Cuba a. Magomed Jukayev, Russia
2005	5.	Ivan Yarigin Memorial in Krasnoyarsk	Bantam	F.	behind Aljaksandr Kantojeu u. Nasir Abdullajew, bde. Russia
2005	14th	World Cup in Budapest	Bantam	F.	after a victory over Vitas Schumakow, Lithuania a . a loss to Selimkhan Kureev , Russia
2006	3.	Golden Grand Prix in Baku	Bantam	F.	behind Dilshod Mansurov , Uzbekistan a . Radoslaw Welikow , Bulgaria, before Namig Sewdimow , Azerbaijan a. Ghenadie Tulbea , Moldova
2006	3.	World Cup in Guangzhou	Bantam	F.	with victories over René Montero, Francisco Javier Sanchez Parra, Spain a . Taghi Dadashi , Iran, a loss to Radoslaw Welikow u. a victory over Atscham Achilov , Uzbekistan

National successes

year	space	competition	Weight class	style	Result
1987	1.	US-amer. Junior Championship	up to 42 kg body weight	GR
1988	1.	US-amer. Junior Championship	up to 46 kg body weight	GR
1989	2.	US-amer. Junior Championship	up to 50 kg body weight	GR
1990	1.	US-amer. Junior Championship (Espoirs)	To fly	GR
1990	1.	American Championship	To fly	GR
1990	2.	US-amer. World Championship trials	To fly	GR
1991	5.	US-amer. Student Championship (NCAA Championships)	To fly	F.
1992	2.	US-amer. Olympic trials	To fly	F.	behind Zeke Jones
1993	1.	US-amer. Student Championship (NCAA Championships)	To fly	F.	before Chad Zaputil, Lou Rosselli et al. Erik Akin
1994	1.	US-amer. Student Championship (NCAA Championships)	To fly	F.	before Eric Akin, Bret Bringham and Kevon Roberts
1994	2.	US-amer. World Championship trials	To fly	F.	behind Zeke Jones
1995	4th	US-amer. championship	To fly	F.
1995	3.	US-amer. World Championship trials	To fly	F.	behind Zeke Jones u. Eric Akin
1997	2.	US-amer. championship	To fly	F.	behind Zeke Jones
1997	2.	US-amer. World Championship trials	To fly	F.	behind Zeke Jones
1998	4th	US-amer. championship	To fly	GR
1998	1.	US-amer. World Championship trials	To fly	F.
1999	4th	US-amer. World Championship trials	To fly	F.	Winner: Eric Akin
2000	1.	US-amer. championship	To fly	F.	before Erik Akin, Lou Rosselli a. Stephen Abas
2000	1.	US-amer. Olympic trials	To fly	F.	before Eric Akin
2004	2.	US-amer. championship	Bantam	F.	behind Stephen Abas, in front of Teagu Moore u. Matt Azevedo
2004	2.	US-amer. Olympic trials	Bantam	F.	behind Stephen Abas
2005	1.	US-amer. championship	Bantam	F.	before Matt Azevedo u. Nicholas Simmons
2005	1.	US-amer. World Championship trials	Bantam	F.	before Matt Azevedo
2006	1.	US-amer. World Championship trials	Bantam	F.

Explanations

• F = free style, GR = Greco-Roman style
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• Flyweight, until 1996 up to 52 kg, from 1997 to 2001 up to 54 kg, then abolished
• Bantam weight, since 2002 up to 55 kg body weight
• Trials = elimination tournament

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig
• U.S. and Canadian Wrestling Federation and the U.S. Student Sports Association (NCAA) websites

Web links

• Profile of Samuel Henson at the Institute for Applied Exercise Science
• Samuel Henson in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )