Of all the great things Gordon Wolf experienced during three weeks in Israel for the Maccabiah Games, one thing really stood out.
“The Mediterranean Sea was a lot saltier than I expected,” he said.
The overall experience was sweet, however, as Wolf earned a silver medal in the 86-kilogram (189 pound) weight class in his first international wrestling competition. It gives him a nice push into his redshirt junior season at Lehigh University.
“Any time you have an opportunity to go to international competition and spend a lot of time at a different country I think it’s a really positive thing,” Lehigh coach Pat Santoro said. “And the fact he had a lot of success out there at a weight class or two above what he usually wrestles, it’s a good showing. We’re excited for him, we’re happy for him. I think it’s something he can build off of. It gives him a lot of momentum.”
Wolf, a 2014 Lawrence High School grad who reached the NCAA Tournament as a freshman at Lehigh, said his main goal this year is to gain a starting berth after an injury-plagued sophomore campaign. If he does start, the goal is to become an All-American.
He certainly did all of America proud with his effort in Tel-Aviv, medaling against a different style of wrestling in a higher weight class. He wrestled at 174 as a freshman and 165 as a sophomore. Because he did not feel like cutting weight to qualify at 163 in the Maccabiah games, and because the next weight class up was 189, Wolf decided to wrestle up and weighed in at 180.
‘International wrestling is a lot different. I would say they’re a little more explosive.’
He medaled in the freestyle division but was disqualified in the Greco Roman division for using a double leg move, which is against the rules.
“International wrestling is a lot different,” Wolf said. “I would say they’re a little more explosive. They don’t like to rip you up and their hand fighting isn’t super intense. But once you get into a certain position they’re going to go really hard.”
The Maccabiah Games are held every four years and open to Jewish athletes from around the world, as well as all residents of Israel, no matter their religion. This year’s games took place July 4-18, and a record 10,000 athletes from 80 countries competed in 43 sports. That made the Maccabiah games the third largest competition in the world behind the Olympics and FIFA World Cup.
Wolf said he was never aware of the Maccabiah Games until his mom, Marcia, approached him about the qualifiers in Philadelphia. Turns out, she found out about the games a while ago.
“We were first made aware of the opportunity by the Lehigh wrestling coaching staff and asked their opinion, and if they recommend and support the idea, and they said yes,” Marcia said. “We talked about Maccabi when Gordon was maybe 10 years old, wondering how do kids go and get selected. It’s always attractive to travel and compete at a national or international level.”
After winning for much of the finals in the eliminations, Wolf got pinned and finished second. “But,” he said, “the coach said to me later ‘Hey, you’re still a really good wrestler, since we can enter three kids in a weight class, we want you to come.’”
It wasn’t that simple, however, as Wolf needed to raise $5,000 for the trip.
The two biggest donors were part of Gordon’s past and present. Mark McLaughlin, Wolf’s first coach and the medical director of Princeton Brain and Spine, has long been one of his mentors. McLaughlin encouraged Wolf to choose Lehigh and provided some big financial assistance for the Maccabiah Games.
Also making a big impact was the Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club—the alumni/supporter arm of the Mountain Hawks’ wrestling program.
Wolf and the U.S. team arrived in Israel in late June and for the first six days just toured the country, seeing such sites as the Dead Sea, Jerusalem and the Western Wall. Wolf was fairly candid when asked if it helped him get more in touch with his religion.
“It was pretty cool, but to be honest, I’m not that religious,” he said. “We just celebrate the high holidays. I wouldn’t say it was touching my religion whatsoever, but I would say it brought me closer to a group of people who believe in the same thing.”
Once the competition started, Wolf was in a weight class that only included Russians, Israelis and Americans. He opened the round of 16 with a pin, and won his next two bouts by technical fall. But in the finals, he was T-falled by Israel’s David Radchenko, 11-0.
“It’s not that he was a lot better than me, he was just bigger in every attack I had,” Wolf said. “I don’t think I went 100 percent on all the attacks. I think I tried to feel him out first, but feeling someone out who’s that big and actually pretty good, you can’t really do that.”
‘He could be an All-American absolutely, there’s no question.’
As much as she would have liked to watch her son wrestle, Marcia stayed behind to allow Wolf the time to experience life abroad on his own.
“I wanted Gordon to have his own time, and not worry or think about me, just focus on wrestling and making friends and exploring new places,” she said. “I was excited and hopeful, as always. I only worry about him getting hurt, here or there, and he was in good hands with doctors and coaches there. Of course, I was super excited for Gordon to be on the team, to get there, to a medal, make new friends. It’s all good, and an awesome opportunity given to very few.”
Upon hearing how his wrestler fared, Santoro could not have been happier with the results and what they could mean for his future at Lehigh.
“I can’t speak about the competition, I didn’t see it so I don’t know the guys that competed,” the coach said. “I just know if you can win or place high on the mat it’s a good thing. And he was 86 kilos, that’s above his natural weight. Those are positives. Any time you can compete on a different soil and have some success, that kind of shows a little resilience. I think it was an overall great experience. Wrestling and life wise. It was a great opportunity and he took full advantage of it.”
What made Wolf’s performance more impressive is that he still was not wrestling at full strength coming off his collegiate campaign.
“Right after the season ended, my knee was still messed up, so I was giving it some time,” he said. “The week before trials, I was like ‘All right I should probably get some workouts in, so I can last six minutes on the mat.’ I wrestled two or three practices, hurt my other knee pretty bad. I hyper extended it, and couldn’t shoot at all at the trials. I had to do everything from a front head or when someone shot on me.”
And yet he gutted it out and now looks forward to his junior campaign. As a redshirt freshman, Wolf went 14-10, won the Franklin and Marshall Open and took fifth in EIWA Tournament, which qualified him for the NCAAs at 174. He went 1-2 in the event at Madison Square Garden.
Last season he dropped to 165 and went 9-4 but, after his knee injury, could not regain his starting position at year’s end.
This year, he plans on going out for either 165 or 184, depending on what several of his teammates decide.
“He’s never out of the mix, that’s for sure,” Santoro said. “He’s just a good wrestler. Once we get everybody back we’re going to certify them and at that point we’ll let them figure out where they’re going to be the guy. We’ve got a lot of pretty good wrestlers. He knows what he’s training for; which is good. We’re hoping that these guys are training to be some of the best in the country, not just in our room. But the room’s pretty good in his weight class. Usually those guys figure things out.”
The coach added that having success against a different style of wrestling in the Maccabiah Games should help Wolf be even better prepared this year.
“International wrestling is not his strength and he went out there and did really well,” Santoro said. “It showed he can make adjustments. At the end of the day, wrestling’s wrestling. But when you’re wrestling a different style, if you can have success at that, it’s a positive. He could be an All-American absolutely, there’s no question.”
Just keep him away from that Mediterranean salt water.
Gordon Wolf (center) traveled to Israel to wrestle for Team U.S.A. in the Maccabiah Games last month. He earned a silver medal.,
