No wrestler has an Olympic journey quite like Coleman Scott.

Six of the seven men’s freestyle weight classes qualified for the London Olympics before the 2012 Olympic Trials in Iowa City on April 21-22. The unqualified weight was weight was 60 kg. 

Shawn Bunch (2009 World Teamer) and Reece Humphrey (2011 World Teamer) sat out of the tournament so they could potentially qualify the weight for the United States. Bunch eventually qualified the United States to compete by placing third at the World Olympic Games Qualifying Tournament in Taiyuan, China on April 27. 

Scott was at the Olympic Trials knowing he'd be third on the ladder if he won. He notched two victories in the mini-tournament before downing Logan Steiber twice in the best-of-three finals. 

“It’s kind of a tough pill,” Scott said. “You go to the Olympic Trials knowing there’s no possible way of making the team. We weren’t qualified so Shawn was over in China and Reece was the previous World team member and a little banged up so he was sitting out. 

“You still have Mike Zadick and Logan Stieber and Matt Valenti. It’s still a tough weight but you can’t be an Olympian at the end of the day. You aren’t even at the top of the ladder because two guys aren’t in the weight class that have a later wrestle-off and you don’t know where it is or when it is.

“I was pissed off because of the situation. I wasn’t pissed off at anybody but pissed off that I spent my entire life to become an Olympian and you weren’t going to hear them say that during the weekend while everyone else was. It was an odd weekend to stay focused but I had a good team around me that was honest with me to make sure I was on the right track.”

Coleman Scott (blue) and Logan Stieber shared a moment at the 2012 Olympic Trials in Iowa City

The Next Step With An Atrocious Rule Set

It was an odd situation all the way around. Scott was cheering for Bunch to win his third-place match at a qualifying tournament knowing he needed to defeat him to make the team. 

The next step was defeating Humphrey and Bunch during a Beat the Streets exhibition in Times Square on June 7. Scott was on the bottom of the ladder so he’d have to defeat Humphrey in a one-match wrestle-off and Bunch in a best-of-three series. 

All three had to navigate the worst rule set in wrestling history. Each wrestler was required to win two of three periods, and a scoreless period resulted in a leg clinch where the offensive wrestler was decided by a random ball draw.

It was atrocious. 

“I always tell everybody that I came through the most significant time in my life in wrestling with the worst rule set,” Scott said. “It was so boring. It’s not like we wanted to wrestle that way, it’s sort of what you had to do. It was terrible. I won matches with the clinch and I lost matches. We can’t change any of the rules but you have to abide by them and figure out how to be the best at them. It sucked. None of us like them.”

An Olympian At Last

The former Oklahoma State star defeated Humphrey 1-0,0-1,1-0 for the right to face Bunch. Scott won the first match 1-0,0-1,7-0 and Bunch took the second 1-1, 1-0, 1-0 to force a third.

Anticipation was high but the action was not. Neither wrestler scored in the first period, forcing the dreaded ball draw. Bunch randomly selected blue, meaning Scott started with Bunch’s leg. He drove Bunch out of bounds for a point to take the first period. 

Scott took a shot with 1:20 left in the second that was initially ruled a three-point move. Bunch’s corner challenged thinking he may have scored points on the exchange. Upon further review, Scott received five points, which ended a period under that rule set. 

The final verdict sent Scott into a frenzy. He was finally an Olympian. 

“I was very confident,” Scott said “I wasn’t worried about the call. As you can tell from my reaction, I didn’t expect a five. I knew it wasn’t going to go against me. That was nice to take it off and not defend for the next minute. You have a bunch of family and friends there and it was a cool experience to be in the middle of Times Square. I’d assume that I was one of the only ones to make the team outside in Times Square in the middle of summer.” 

Watch the deciding match between Scott and Bunch in Times Square

The 2012 London Olympics

Scott wrestled well at the Olympics, winning his first two matches before losing in the semifinals. Fighting back was difficult, but he had reasons to regroup to win bronze.

“I had 97 people there supporting me,” Scott said. “Everything I was doing was more for them and their sake and wanting to give back. Everybody put their lives on hold for me so I was doing something to give back to them a little bit.”

Wrestling held its collective breath in the months after the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee threatened to drop wrestling on February 12, 2013. The ball draw era would soon be over, but so would Scott’s Olympic weight.

“When they adjusted the weights, 60 kg was left out,” Scott said. “I remember the feeling that wrestling was back and when they announced the weights it’s like, ‘Oh no, what am I going to do?’ Those were odd times we lived in for wrestling.”

2012 Olympic Trials — April 21-22

W — Martin Berberyan 4-0, 2-1
W — Matt Valenti 1-0,0-1,7-0
W — Logan Stieber 3-0,1-0
W — Logan Stieber 2-0,0-1,2-0

2012 Final Olympic Trials — June 7, 2012

W — Reece Humphrey 1-0,0-1,1-0
W — Shawn Bunch 1-0, 0-1, 7-0
L — Shawn Bunch 1-1, 1-0, 1-0
W — Shawn Bunch 1-0, 5-0

2012 Olympic Games (Bronze) — August 6, 2012

W — Lee Seung-chul (KOR) 3-0,3-0
W — Malkhaz Zarkua (GEO) 1-0,7-0 (Fall)
L — Toghrul Asgarov (AZE) 1-0,4-0
W — Kenichi Yumoto (JPN) 1-0,0-3,3-1