 DURHAM, N.C. – Konrad Dudziak, a wrestler here at Duke, has taken this school year off to focus, train, and compete for a spot on the United States Olympic Team. The 211.5 pound Dudziak will compete in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials this weekend June 13-15 in Las Vegas. If victorious in the matches this weekend, Dudziak will face the No. 1 ranked wrestler in America in a best-of-three series to represent the U.S. in Beijing this summer. Dudziak will be returning to Duke this fall as a redshirt-junior. He will be a top candidate to become the first All-America or National Champion in program history.
GoDuke.com recently caught up with Dudziak, a native of Poland, to discuss the upcoming Olympic Trials.
GoDuke.com: You decided to take this year off from Duke. Was that a tough decision to make?
Konrad Dudziak: “No, not really, not this year. I had been taking time off since my sophomore year, so I took half my sophomore year off, half my junior year off and then this whole year. It really wasn’t a tough decision; it was hard at times because I had never been able to come back to Duke and my graduating class, and I haven’t seen them in the last two years. I kind of regret that but it really wasn’t a tough decision.”
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