Buffalo Bills pinning their hopes on Olympic gold medal wrestler
(CNN) — The Buffalo Bills have signed Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler Gable Steveson to a contract, the team announced Friday.
The Bills listed Steveson, a gold medalist in the 125kg weight class at the Tokyo Olympics, as a defensive tackle.
“I have been fortunate to compete at the highest level of competition in my sport but am looking forward to the challenge of seeing how my wrestling skills may translate to football,” Steveson said, per ESPN.
“I am grateful to Coach (Sean) McDermott, (GM) Brandon Beane and the Buffalo Bills organization for giving me this opportunity.”
At the Olympics, the 24-year-old American became the youngest freestyle wrestler to win gold in the super heavyweight division at 21 years, two months and six days of age.
He won gold after defeating three-time world champion Geno Petriashvili of Georgia with a two-point move with less than a second remaining in their match. Afterwards, Steveson declared it “the match of the century.”
After the Tokyo Games in 2021, Steveson signed with World Wrestling Entertainment until he was released by the organization earlier this month.
He has also enjoyed a successful NCAA career, wrestling collegiately at the University of Minnesota, where he was a two-time national champion and a three-time All-American. Following so much success, Steveson has also become famous for his celebratory running flips after winning matches.
The undrafted free agent will wear number 61 for the Bills.
Steveson is not the first high-profile athlete to make the switch from another sport to the NFL this season, following in the footsteps of Welsh rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit who agreed a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs in March.
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