Greco-Roman wrestler Kamal Bey comes to Colorado in pursuit of Olympic glory

Aliaksandr Kikinou and Kamal Bey wrestle in the Greco-Roman 77 kg weight class during the 2024 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pennsylvania on April 20, 2024. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

As a high school senior, Kamal Bey was the undisputed king of suburban Chicago boxing.

Kamal earned a reputation as one of the area's best Greco-Roman wrestlers, brutally defeating opponents en route to state championships and regional glory, but his father, Kareem, wanted more from his son.

Another state title may have further cemented Kamal as a local star, but Kareem remained unshakeable confidence his son's talents would span the globe wearing the red, white and blue.

He wanted the whole world to know his son's name.

“I wasn't thinking about college. I was thinking about the Olympics,” Kareem said.

So in August 2015, Kamal and his family decided it was time for the then-17-year-old to leave home, move to Colorado, trade in his Chrysler 200 convertible for a truck and train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in hopes that one day he'd be able to represent his country.

Nine years later, Kareem grew emotional as he tried to put into words the emotion of seeing his son have a chance to achieve his dream: Kamal is one of 16 wrestlers who will represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics, which begins July 26.

He was awarded an Olympic berth due to an opening for an individual neutral athlete from Russia and Belarus, and will compete in the Greco-Roman 77 kg tournament.

“As a parent, you want things for your child and you do your best to make them happen,” Kareem, 64, said over the phone, his voice trembling. “(Kamal) has worked hard. He deserves this.”

“He strives to be the best.”

One of four brothers living 13 miles west of Chicago's downtown Loop, Kamal was an energetic 4-year-old who would bounce around the house, and Kareem thought it would be a good idea to channel that energy into wrestling.

“One day my dad came to pick me up from school and I woke up (from a nap) outside the gym,” Kamal said.

Kamal played several sports, including soccer and baseball, but he became fascinated with Greco-Roman wrestling, which is a sport in which you have to throw your opponent to the mat using only your upper body, which is very challenging and intriguing.

“You throw people. It's fun,” he said.

Kareem, who worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 35 years, recalled his first bout with Kamal, when he put the boy in a headlock, using a technique Kareem had demonstrated to him before the match. Kamal then wrestled for a local club called the Harvey Twisters, before going on to Oak Park-River Forest High School, where he was the USAW Greco-Roman wrestling champion and the Illinois state folkstyle wrestling champion.

When Kamal was given the opportunity to train at the Olympic Training Center, he couldn't pass it up, Kareem said, talking about fellow Illinois native and former Olympic wrestler TC Dantzler, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Kamal, who lives with him in Colorado Springs.

Kamal lived with Dantzler and his family while completing his education at Pine Creek High School, training at OTC.

“A state championship is nothing,” said Dantzler, who has known Kamal since they were 8 years old. “We were aiming for world titles and Olympic medals. I watched Kamal travel the world, compete against the best and train at a high level.”

Kamal made the most of his move to Colorado.

He won the U.S. Senior Greco-Roman Championship in 2016. The following year he won the Junior World Championship and was runner-up at the U.S. Open, eventually winning the tournament in 2018 and 2019. Last year he won gold at the Pan American Games.

“He strives to be the best,” said Greco-Roman national coach Herb House, himself a native of Oak Park, Ill. “He's so explosive that when he wrestles overseas, everybody takes notice.”

When Kamal isn't wrestling on the international stage, he's cooking for the masses. Driven by his desire to become an even better wrestler, Kamal joined the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program wrestling team in 2021 and became a culinary expert.

Based at Fort Carson, Kamal starts his day at 3 a.m., preparing breakfast and lunch before training. He cooks a variety of meals from recipes provided by the Army. Having grown up watching his father make chicken wings and burgers on the grill, even in the harsh Illinois winters, Kamal loves to cook.

“He came over and cooked meals for me,” House said. “He's a great cook.”

“I can do that too.”

On Monday, at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum, Kamal signed autographs for fans who had traveled to Colorado Springs to catch a glimpse of the wrestlers representing the U.S. in Paris. Seated to his left was House, who Kamal considers a father figure and has watched over him since he was 10 years old and wrestling in Illinois.

At one point, it was unclear whether Kamal would compete in Paris. He accepted a one-year sanction for failing to properly file and maintain his whereabouts information, which cost him the opportunity to compete in Tokyo, which was postponed to 2021 because of the pandemic. He got a chance for revenge this year, winning the Greco-Roman 77-kilogram title at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Pennsylvania State University in April, but lost to Hungary's Zoltan Levai in an Olympic qualifying playoff to determine the final spot at his weight.

Kamal's Olympic dreams remained in limbo until late June when Russian wrestler Sergei Kutuzov was not included on the International Olympic Committee's list of eligible athletes, clearing the way for Kamal.

“It was a bit of a relief,” he said. “Time was running out and I had a lot of anxiety about whether I would be able to go to the Olympics, with my family and friends trying to buy tickets.”