Commonwealth gold for Concordian
Concordia graduate David Tremblay, BA 14, captured gold on July 30 in the men’s 61-kilogram wrestling freestyle division at the 20th Commonwealth Games.
Tremblay bested Bijneesh Bajrang of India, Vorel Etko of Scotland and Arnaud Essindi Sengui of Cameroon to claim the podium’s top rung. All three matches took place at the Scottish Exhibition Centre in host city Glasgow.
The Concordia Stinger — who trained under veteran wrestling coach Victor Zilberman and is a recipient of the PepsiCo Award For Top Athletes — adds this career highlight to competing at the London Summer Olympics in 2012. He won gold at the Pan American Olympic Games Qualifying Tournament in Florida the same year.
“Wrestling had all the criteria for me that a good athlete should have: strength, conditioning, agility and perseverance,” said Tremblay, a graduate of the leisure sciences program, in a video produced by Concordia in 2012.
The Windsor, Ont., native won the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Wrestling Championships five times, one of few student athletes to accomplish such a feat.
David Tremblay, BA 14, (far right) wins gold at the 2014 Commonwealth games. Photo: David Tremblay
Follow David Tremblay #teamtremblay
Tremblay credits his father, also named David, for getting him into the sport. Tremblay Sr. — a wrestling coach — brought his son to tournaments as a teenager.
The Common Wealth Games, first held in 1930, are the third largest sporting event in the world. The Commonwealth of Nations is comprised of 53 states, which span every continent.
Video
- Watch David Tremblay talk about his development as a wrestler.