Kendall Cross
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| Full name | Kendall Duane Cross | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | February 24, 1968 (age 55) Hardin, Montana, U.S. |
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| Home town | Mustang, Oklahoma, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Kendall Duane Cross (born February 24, 1968) is an American freestyle wrestler, wrestling coach and Olympic gold medalist. He won the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he wrestled in the 57 kilogram (125.5 pounds) weight class. He defeated Guivi Sissaouri of Canada 5–3 in the final match. Cross also competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics where he placed sixth (he defeated the Olympic champion and the two-time world champion Alejandro Puerto of Cuba 10–6 in the 6-th match)
Early career
In high school, Cross wrestled for Mustang High School in Mustang, Oklahoma where he won a state title. He wrestled collegiately for Oklahoma State University where he was a three time All-American and won the NCAA Championship in 1989. Kendall graduated from OSU with a major in political science and economics.
Highlight achievements
- Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, inducted 2002
- Three time US National Champion
- Outstanding Freestyle Wrestler at the U. S. Nationals, 1992 and 1995
- 1997 USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year
- Espoir National and Espoir World Cup Champion, 1988
- Bronze medal at Junior World Championships, 1986
- World Cup Champion, 1997
- Olympic Champion, 1996
Coaching
After college he served as an assistant coach at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, NC while training for the Olympics. He also served as a coach for the Sunkist Kids and the Dave Schultz Wrestling Clubs. Kendall went on to become an assistant coach at Harvard University and worked at Merrill Lynch in Boston. While in Boston, he founded the Kendall Cross Gold Medal Wrestling Club, which developed young athletes. Then After Moving to Dallas, helped coach at Dallas Dynamite, with other Olympians Brandon Slay and Jamill Kelly. In addition to help Head coach at Dallas Dynamite (Brandon and Jamill both coach for the US National team currently) with former Oklahoma wrestler, Melvin Lofton, he also coaches at Trinity Christian Academy high school wrestling team.
Family
Kendall has two children, Kennedy and London Cross, and currently resides in New York City.