PARIS — When Elkhorn’s Payton Jacobson won the U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling Olympic Trials at 87 kg in April, he had taken a giant step to making a lifelong dream come true.
Now, Jacobson is in Paris preparing to compete in the Olympic games.
Jacobson began his high school career wrestling for the Elks at Elkhorn Area High School, but when he tried Greco-Roman, he was hooked.
So after his sophomore year, Jacobson transferred to Catholic Central in Burlington to train in Greco-Roman.
From there, he went to Northern Michigan University to take part in the school’s Greco-Roman training program, according to his biography on Olympics.com.
“Not a lot of guys do it. That’s not the most popular thing to do. But if you want to become an Olympian in Greco, that’s what you do. You go win medals. You leave folkstyle early, you go straight to Greco,” he said.
Since dedicating himself to Greco-Roman, Jacobson has competed for the U.S. at the U23 and U20 world championships.
Olympic qualifying matches in wrestling begin Aug. 5.
