Gable Steveson training for 2024 Olympics, says WWE debut is coming
Just over a year ago, Gable Steveson was the biggest name in amateur wrestling. He had just wrapped up his college career with the Minnesota Gophers by winning his second NCAA National Championship and he was billed as a future attraction in World Wrestling Entertainment, hanging out with Paul "Triple H" Levesque and appearing at WrestleMania 38.
But Steveson has other goals in mind before he steps into the square circle for his first official match, as he revealed in an interview with the Associated Press that he's training for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
"The itch and fire will never go away," Steveson said. "And I feel like if you ask any competitor old or young, I think it's always there. But some people just don't have the bodies to do it because they're a little older. But I think [with] me just turning 23, I still had that extra fire and I want to see what I could do. I wanted to test my limits. And so I stayed ready just in case the time came where I came back."
Steveson said his decision to train for the 2024 Olympics came after winning an Olympic gold medal at heavyweight at the 2021 Tokyo Games. With crowds limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Steveson believes he didn't get the full Olympic experience and now is looking to perform his signature backflip in front of a full audience.
"I need to have that Paris experience in front of a packed house," Steveson said. "I need to have them see what it's like to see Gable Steveson in person. Having been in Tokoyo and having no fans – it was okay because I still won an Olympic gold. But I want to have that experience of having my family in the front row. They need to see it live."
Steveson took his first steps to qualify for the Paris games last April when he dominated his four matches at the U.S. Open by a combined score of 44-1. He took another step this weekend as he earned a spot on the U.S. world championship team by defeating Mason Parris 6-2 and 5-0 to sweep a best-of-three series,
Steveson will now represent the United States along with fellow Gopher alum Pat Smith at the 2023 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia this September, but that doesn't mean his WWE career is on hold.
Steveson has been training at the WWE's performance center in Orlando. Florida. and has made several appearances on the promotion's programming including a spot with fellow gold medalist and WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle last December.
While he has not had his first official match with WWE, other amateur wrestlers such as Angle (30 years old) and fellow Gophers alum Brock Lesnar (25 years old) made their professional wrestling debut much later than Steveson.
"I am still doing my thing," Steveson said. "I have changed my diet, my body appearance. I wanted to be the best thing ever so when I did go on TV, it was going to be a sight that nobody has seen before. My time is coming and it's coming sooner than a lot of people think."
Could Steveson be a two-time gold medalist by the time he goes on TV? Or will his debut come as a surprise while he's training for the Olympics? That remains to be seen. But the one thing we do know about the Apple Valley native is that his future remains bright.
