How many NCAA Titles has Spencer Lee won? All about the 2x U.S. National Champion's college career as he is set to compete at Paris Olympics

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Jul 04, 2024 04:18 GMT

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Spencer Lee returned to the international arena in style. After winning the Pan American Championships, his first international tournament in eight years, the 25-year-old wrestler from Denver, Colorado, surprised everybody by defeating former world champion and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Thomas Gilman to make the cut for the Paris Olympics 2024.

With that, Lee, who once represented the Hawkeye Wrestling Club at the University of Iowa in the NCAA Division I Championships, is all set to represent the USA for the first time at the Olympics.

Spencer Lee has won the NCAA Division I Championships thrice, from 2018 to 2021. He has also registered victories at the Big Ten Championships from 2020 to 2023 before he switched to senior freestyle wrestling.

If not for the recurring knee injuries, Lee would have made his Olympic debut much before Paris 2024. However, he has put those setbacks aside to stake his claim for the Paris Olympics.

Who can challenge Spencer Lee at the Paris Olympics 2024?

Rei Higuchi, one of the main competitors of Spencer Lee at the Paris Olympics 2024 [Image Source: Getty]

For now, it looks like Lee will have an easy ride to the podium at the Paris Olympics, at least on paper. However, that may not be true. Spencer Lee will have to overcome the might of a couple of wrestlers if he really wants to stand on top of the Olympic podium.

One of the wrestlers is Stevan Micic, who has the dual nationality of USA and Serbia. He is the current world champion in the men's 57 kg freestyle category, having won the gold medal at the World Championships last year.

Another challenger to Spencer Lee can be Rei Higuchi. He had won the silver medal in the 57 kg category at Rio Olympics in 2016, and had lost to Stevan Micic in the finals of the same category at the World Championships last year. Consistency has been the key for Higuchi, and he would like nothing better than to change the color of his Olympic medal from silver to gold.

Lee has an Indian challenger for the Olympic gold medal as well. While Ravi Kumar Dahiya [who won the silver medal in Tokyo] won't be around this time, his replacement Aman Sehrawat is no pushover. The 20- year-old wrestler from Jhajjar, Haryana, had won the gold medal at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships at Pontevedra in 2022, becoming one of the very few Indians to have tasted this success. If Lee has to win the Olympic gold, he has to overcome these wrestlers at any cost.