Michigan Wrestling: Olympic Bronze Medalist Myles Amine Will Return
Myles Amine made Michigan wrestling history when he won a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling this summer at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first in the program's storied 99 years to earn a medal.
But he's not done yet.
Amine announced Thursday night that he'd return to compete one final year with the Wolverines, his seventh on the team.
In his first six years, Amine became the school's eighth four-time All-American in the sport, after redshirting as a true freshman, taking an Olympic redshirt in 2019-20 and then taking advantage of the free year of eligibility that all winter athletes received last season from the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last season, Amine placed third nationally at 197 pounds, his third time coming away from the NCAA Championships with a bronze medal, after he placed fourth as a redshirt freshman at 174 pounds.
Amine is expected to drop a weight class this winter to 184 pounds, after trying to stay as big as possible for the Olympics, where he competed at 86 kg, roughly 189.6 pounds. That clears the way for All-American Princeton transfer Pat Brucki, who placed fourth at NCAAs in 2019 as a sophomore, to take over at 197.
Amine noted in an interview with The Wolverine this summer that at one point he wasn't even sure if he would continue wrestling after the Olympic cycle ended.
Now, he isn't satisfied with his Olympic bronze.
"I would definitely say it’s among the best moments," he said. "I don’t know if I could name it the top moment, but it’s definitely in my top five. Especially just being at the Olympic Games, it transcends wrestling to what a lot of people consider the pinnacle of sport.
"I knew that there was the wrestling world watching, but there was the rest of the world watching too. It obviously ranks among the highest of my achievements, but I don’t want to put it at the top, I want to say my best achievement is the next one.
"I want to stay hungry. I think I still got a lot more in me, so I want to strive for more."
Amine isn't going for more history by simply becoming the program's first-ever five-time All-American, something many won't get the opportunity to accomplish … he wants to win the team's 23rd individual NCAA Championship.
And the sport's grand finale tournament next year, Michigan's 100th in the sport, will be happening in Amine's hometown of Detroit. It's almost as if the planets aligned too perfectly for Amine to not return for one more season in maize and blue, and build off his standout performance in Tokyo.
"That’s an incredible honor for me. We’re a program with a rich tradition, and we’ve had a lot of international success in the past," he said of becoming Michigan's first Olympic freestyle medalist.
"… That’s pretty dang cool to be amongst a lot of the Michigan greats. To write my name in the history books, that’s the reason why I continue to strive to be the best I can and work so hard, for moments like that.
"[The goal is to] just continue to write my name in the history books."
One more year at Michigan will give Amine plenty of opportunities to do just that.
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