Iowa
How a trip to Japan got Iowa wrestling’s Spencer Lee ready for the Olympics
How Spencer Lee says he is feeling ahead of Olympics
How Spencer Lee says he is feeling ahead of Olympics, how he’s fitting in the new wrestling room at Iowa
IOWA CITY — There’s an alternate timeline of Spencer Lee’s wrestling career that could have ultimately played out.
Following a stunning loss in the 2023 NCAA semifinal to Purdue’s Matt Ramos to stop him from becoming a four-time collegiate champion, there was a case to be made that Lee had left everything out on the mat he could. Three NCAA titles, two Dan Hodge Trophies, a Cadet World title and a pair of Junior World titles had cost him him ACLs and deteriorated his knees to a point where Lee wondered whether he had anything left in the tank.
Lee has never been one for excuses. His “excuses are for wusses” quote following winning a title with no ACLs in his knees became a tagline for the Hawkeye wrestling program. But even he wondered if it was maybe time to step away.
Following that loss in March, Lee finally committed to taking his long-desired trip to Japan as an escape from it all.
“I just needed to not think about wrestling,” Lee said during a press conference Thursday.
Lee was a longtime admirer of Japanese culture. Not only for its dominant wrestling, but Japanese culture in its entirety. In Japan, he stayed in Tokyo while visiting Kyoto, Osaka and other major towns along the way.
“I really enjoyed the peacefulness,” Lee said. “Just to walk around and have a lot of time to think.”
More: Wrestling mailbag: Is Iowa wrestling falling behind in recruiting? Who to watch at Fargo
While he was wanting to avoid wrestling, he still made sure to meet up with an old friend in Takuto Otoguro, an Olympic gold medalist in 2021. The two met and became friends in the 2014 World Championships and stayed in touch throughout their careers.
When Lee spoke with Otoguro, Otoguro mentioned how hard it was prepare for another Olympics. Now that he had reached the pinnacle, what comes next was a big question. When Otoguro began training again after some time away, he told Lee he still loved it when they were in Japan, so he would try once again.
When Lee returned from his wrestling hiatus, he felt refueled, which is exactly what Iowa coach Tom Brands was hoping for. When Lee floated the idea to him, Brands and the staff “spurred” him to take some time to make the heart grow fonder.
“You’re fanning the flames,” Brands said. “Making him burn hot inside.”
Lee would then go on to perhaps look the best he has in some time, rolling through Senior Nationals to qualify for the Olympic Trials in December 2023, defeating the United States’ best at the Trials and then qualifying the 57-kilogram weight class for the US in Istanbul and going undefeated in that run.
Across the sea, Lee’s friend Otoguro failed to qualify for the Olympics himself, but told Lee he would be seeing him soon, making Lee realize the bigger picture of why it made sense to continue on.
“He messaged me and told me that he would be on the team in 2028,” Lee said. “For me it was like, ‘I get it.’ Just because you reached that pinnacle, it doesn’t mean you’re done with your potential.”
Spencer Lee on Olympics: ‘It would be wrong to say that I’m not representing Iowa’
Wrestler Spencer Lee meets with media ahead of his upcoming appearance in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
More: Iowa wrestling leads nation in attendance for 17th straight season, Penn State ranks second
Today’s version of Lee is a revival of what Lee was prior to all those knee injuries, before the stunning loss in his senior season. His time away in a country he longed to visit one day helped him realize there was still another level he was capable of reaching if he could find a way.
Now, Lee heads to his mother’s home country of Paris. He’s been practicing his French with the France wrestling delegation in Colorado to impress his mother and family who all were born and raised in France, all while working on his stellar par terre offense that helped him roll through the qualifying process. In total across Senior Nationals, the Olympic Trials and the Last Chance qualifier, Lee wrestled in 11 matches, outscored his opponents 107-25 with five technical falls and a pin in that time.
Ultimately, Brands’ prodding of Lee to take some time away paid off big time for all parties, but they are turning toward the next step of this process to try to win gold. A former gold medalist himself in 1996, he’s not trying to push Lee to emulate what he did, but rather to exceed what he accomplished in Atlanta 28 years ago.
Lee will be looking to Drake Ayala, Pat Lugo and Brandon Sorensen to help as training partners. At this point, current and former Hawkeyes training with the Olympians has become a tradition, like Lee did as a teenager with Daniel Dennis furing his Olympics run in 2016.
For Ayala, it’s a massive opportunity to build upon his successful sophomore campaign when he reached the NCAA finals. Having dealt with injuries of his own the past two seasons, he’s getting a shining example of what it will take to reach his pinnacle.
“He left a little undone as well,” Brands said. “This is part of that for him but there’s also an unselfish part of that as well. He’s the right guy along with Lugo and Sorensen to go with Spencer because of their relationship.”
Now the “zero hour” is upon Lee and the Hawkeye Wrestling Club, a term Brands borrowed from Dan Gable as they prepare to try to get Iowa’s sixth gold medal from the Olympics. Brands says he has no need or desire to place pressure on Lee ahead of the Olympics, but Lee’s urgency to get out and reach the pinnacle is at an all-time high in his career.
“You’re talking about a guy who’s a super high-octane competitor, you’re talking about a guy who gets up for the best events that are in front of him and here we are,” Brands said. “It’s time to perform.”
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23
Iowa
Vote: Who Should be Iowa’s High School Athlete of the Week? (4/19/2026)
Here are the candidates for High School on SI’s Iowa high school athlete of the week for April 13-18. Read through the nominees and cast your vote.
Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 26. The winner will be announced in the following week’s poll. Here are this week’s nominees:
Taylor Roose, Pella boys track and field
Roose competed in three events at the Norwalk Invitational, winning all three in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump.
Daxon Kiesau, Urbandale boys track and field
Kiesau swept the throwing events at the Norwalk Invitational, taking first place in the shot put and the discus.
Alex Burger, Southeast Valley boys track and field
Competing at home, Burger dominated, earning four gold medals. He won the 400-meter hurdles and the long jump while running on the winning 4×200-meter relay and shuttle hurdle relay.
Kolby Hodnefield, Clear Lake boys track and field
Hodenfield, a defending state champion, broke the meet, venue and school record in the 200 and the 400 at the Clear Lake Invitational. He added victories as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Both relays also set meet records.
Easton Moon, North Polk boys tennis
Moon has started off his senior season on the courts unbeaten, winning all four matches while dropping just one game in 44 played.
Ava Lohrbach, Gilbert girls golf
One of the top golfers in the state, Lohrbach has had a hot start, firing a 35 in her nine-hole debut and a 72 for her 18-hole opener.
Nathan Manske, Algona boys golf
An elite quarterback and basketball player, Manske is showing his golfing skills this spring, coming out with a state-low 30 in a nine-hole event.
Ella Hein, Tipton girls track and field
Hein set school records in the 400-meter run and long jump at the Tiger/Tigerette Relays while also locking in the Blue Standard and qualifying for the Drake Relays. She won the long jump (18-6) and was second in the 400.
Maeve Bowen-Burt, Iowa City High girls track and field
The sophomore helped the Little Hawks land three Drake Relays events on the last night of qualifying, advancing in the 400 hurdles, along with the sprint medley and 4×400 relays.
About Our Athlete of the Week Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.
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Iowa
Houston icon George Foreman laid to rest in Iowa, drawn by a peaceful 1988 visit
The late boxing great George Foreman lies buried in a cemetery in the northwestern corner of Iowa – a place he has no connection to outside of a lone visit to the region nearly 40 years ago.
Foreman died March 21, 2025, at the age of 76 in Houston and was buried in Logan Park Cemetery at Sioux City, Iowa, a month later, city officials confirmed. Foreman’s family returned Thursday to his burial site, holding a news conference with Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott to reveal Foreman’s burial place, marked by a large monument that bears an image of him as a teen following his Olympic gold medal boxing win.
The family explained in a statement released by Sioux City officials that he had visited the Iowa city in 1988, and often recalled the sense of peace he experienced there.
After traveling to the city on April 17 last year to bury Foreman, his family said they immediately understood the region’s appeal.
“Our father lived a life of purpose, faith and gratitude,” the family said in a statement released by Sioux City officials. “To see him laid to rest in a place that brought him peace means everything to us.”
Scott joined the family at Foreman’s monument that lies just a few miles north of the Missouri River in an upper Midwest city of nearly 87,000 people. The cemetery overlooks the scenic Loess Hills, created by windblown silt deposits that reach up to 200 feet high (about 61 meters) and line the river along the Iowa border for 200 miles (322 kilometers).
“Their story is a reminder of how one place can stay with someone for a lifetime,” Scott said.
A native Texan, Foreman rose to fame when he made the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team, winning gold in Mexico City. He became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1973 by defeating the great Joe Frazier, only to lose the title a year later to Muhammad Ali in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”
A full 20 years later in 1994, Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at 45, defeating Michael Moorer in an epic upset.
Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.
He then moved on to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor, becoming known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing.
A biographical movie based on Foreman’s life was released in 2023.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Iowa
GOP governor candidate Zach Lahn pitches Iowa-first platform at Dubuque town hall
DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) — About 50 Iowans braved the threat of severe storms to hear from Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn at his town hall in Dubuque Friday night.
Lahn, a farmer and businessman, said his campaign is about solving the long-term systemic issues facing Iowans.
One priority is addressing what Lahn calls a cancer crisis in Iowa, as the state has the second-highest cancer rate in the country. Solving the crisis means ensuring Iowans have access to clean, nitrate-free drinking water, working with farmers to reduce agricultural runoff.
“Iowans are just ready for something that they should be able to count on, like clean drinking water,” Lahn said. “We have ways to clean up the drinking water in Iowa that isn’t on the backs of farmers, but is working alongside with them because they’re drinking the water too, and they want to do what’s right.”
Lahn also wants to stop Iowa’s “brain drain,” as more of Iowa’s college graduates left the state for opportunities elsewhere.
“Don’t leave! Give me some time! I’m going to fight to keep you here,” Lahn said. “I was one of these kids. I thought I had to leave the state to find something better. We have to prioritize Iowa’s incentive dollars to make sure they’re going to grow Iowa businesses that are going to be here for the long haul, so our kids have places to work.”
Running a distinct campaign feels challenging this election, as Lahn is one of five GOP candidates who want to be Iowa’s next governor, facing U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, former Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman.
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand is the only Democrat running for the state’s top office.
Lahn said he stands out by promising Iowa will be for Iowans, pledging to ban the use of eminent domain for private gain and tax out-of-state landowners and data centers at higher rates to lower property taxes.
“It always goes back to follow the money, so when it comes to not being a weak-kneed Republican today, I believe the paramount piece of that is answering only to the citizens of Iowa, not to special interests to pad their bottom line, but what’s best for the people of Iowa,” Lahn said.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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