ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — For Michigan wrestlers Myles Amine and Stevan Micic, their dreams of Olympic glory were paused for a year, but now, they are both putting the finishing touches on their skills as they get set to honor their heritage for San Marino and Serbia respectively.
“It’s really cool that I had the opportunity to stay close to my heritage and my culture, because that’s meant a lot to me growing up, being able to compete for them has been a gift,” Serbian representative Stevan Micic said.
“Just the way the Olympic federation has treated me over in San Marino, the people have really embraced me every time I go there, it’s been a dream come true really,” San Marino representative Myles Amine added.
Both have had distinguished careers for the Wolverines, but the freestyle nature of international competition, along with the pride and sense of nationalism that go with it, are things they’ve been embracing as they’ve trained like never before to get ready for the chance of a lifetime.
“Traditionally Michigan has embraced and celebrated the Olympic sports and the Olympic games, which is why it attracts to many high level athletes, for all the Olympic sports, it’s really the pinnacle of the sport,” Michigan wrestling coach Sean Bormet said.
Michigan wrestling has plenty of success on the international stage but only one Olympic gold medal to show for it, that was Steve Fraser back in 1984, but these guys have taken advantage of the extra year to prepare themselves to try to accomplish that same feat.
“Miles and Stevan, going from a postponed Olympics, these guys have dug in, they’ve worked really hard over this past year, they’re better now than they were last year,” Bormet added.
“To win a medal is like a dream come true, but gold is really what I set my sights on,” Micic said.
“It would be surreal for sure, I’ve thought about that moment since I was a kid, to have an Olympic gold medal around my neck, San Marino has never had an Olympic medalist, so to be the first Olympic medalist just kind of adds a cherry on top of the cake,” Amine added.
