The end of Smith's competitive career by no means signified the conclusion of his involvement in and contribution to the sport of amateur wrestling. Moreover, he was the 1991 FILA Outstanding Wrestler of the Year and won the 1992 Amateur Athletic Foundation World Trophy, an accolade given to the best athlete in a given geographical region, the first North American wrestler ever to receive that award. Sullivan Award, given by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) to the nation's top amateur athlete, the first wrestler ever to win that award. Wrestler in the world, by the Federation Internationale Des Luttes Associees (FILA), the organization that governs international wrestling.

In 1990 he was presented the 'Master of Technique' award, which honors the best technical In addition to repeated national and Pan American freestyle championships, Smith earned several prestigious individual awards. That 1992 triumph also represented an unprecedented sixth straight world title (the Olympic competition counts as the world-championship event for the years in which it is held) a truly remarkable demonstration of sustained competitive excellence. He was the first wrestler from the United States in eighty years to win two Olympic championships. The next four years brought Smith a staggering number of accomplishments and honors, culminating in his second Olympic gold medal at the Barcelona Games of 1992. Moreover, during those two years at Oklahoma State he won a gold medal at the Pan American Games his first world freestyle championship, the second of what were to be five national freestyle championships and-most significant of all-the gold medal in the 136.5-pound class at the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. in education in 1988, he completed his intercollegiate career with an overall record of 154–7–2. Graduating from Oklahoma State with a B.S.

His season-opening collegiate bout that year was his last defeat at OSU there followed over his two remaining seasons a string of ninety consecutive victories, two Big Eight Conference and NCAA individual championships, and his designation as Outstanding Wrestler at the 1987 national tournament. In the 1986–1987 season, Smith began a competitive run that remains unequaled. Not yet twenty-one years old, Smith defeated European champion Khazer Isaev, one of the Soviet Union's best wrestlers.ĭuring his intercollegiate hiatus, Smith refined his skills and developed a 'philosophy of motion' that featured an unorthodox style characterized by quickness down low. Still, Smith was anything but inactive as a wrestler, and during this year achieved the first of many conspicuous successes in the freestyle wrestling community by winning his first national title in that competitive context and by taking home a gold medal from the Goodwill Games in Moscow. That success notwithstanding, he sat out the 1985–1986 college season as a 'redshirt,' a college athlete who is kept out of varsity competition for a year in order to extend eligibility. Ten years later, at the end of his incredible athletic career, Del City High School named its gymnasium the John Smith Field House and honored its distinguished alumnus with the unveiling of a life-size sculpture.įollowing in his older brother Lee Roy's footsteps, Smith went to OSU, where-wrestling at 126 and then 134 pounds-he achieved considerable success in his first two years of intercollegiate competition, attaining a second-place finish and All-America honors at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament in his sophomore season. Smith's success began at the local high school, where he achieved 105 wins against only 5 losses and won individual state 4A championships in his last two seasons (1982–1983). For a period of six years, from 1986 to 1992, Smith dominated the sport at an international level to an unprecedented extent. Although Lee Roy, Pat, and Mark Smith each amassed considerable credentials in terms of victories and championships, their brother John-the second son in a family of twelve children-is clearly one of the greatest wrestlers ever to compete. Sons of Lee Roy Smith, director of data processing at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, and Madalene Smith, an obstetrics nurse, they grew up in the town of Del City, not far from Oklahoma City, and each of them wrestled for Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Stillwater. Smith is one of four brothers who have made significant marks in the world of amateur wrestling.

9 August 1965 in Del City, Oklahoma), wrestler who achieved international domination of the sport during a career that featured six consecutive world championships and two Olympic gold medals, and was also a successful coach at Oklahoma State University.

John smith actor