“No Piece of Medal Is My Goal”: World Wrestling Champion Vito Arujau Denounces the Olympics as His Ultimate Ambition

Vito Arujau is one of the quickest and most versatile wrestlers in the world. The 61-kg grappler utilizes his nimble movement to surprise his opponents when they least expect it. Owing to his skills, the superstar rightfully won his maiden world title at the 2023 World Wrestling Championship in Belgrade.

While Vito Arujau catches his opponents off-guard with his speed, the 24-year-old recently caught American wrestling fans by surprise as well. A recent social media post showcased the 2023 NCAA champ denouncing the Olympics as his ultimate goal. In fact, this previously unreleased footage of Arujau comes after he had publicly admitted the opposite.

When Vito Arujau went back on his words

FloWrestling recently tweeted a new video to X showcasing two different interviews featuring the world wrestling champ. While the first interview session was taken at a press conference, the other one showed Arujau in a more relaxed environment. 

Speaking in the first section, Arujau said, “I never dreamt about being on stage yet, and for some people it’s everything, right? It’s their entire reason for wrestling. But my dream is always to be an Olympic and a gold medalist.” However, an old footage that was recorded after Arujau won at Belgrade saw him take a different stance. 

The 61kg grappler noted, “If I said that, like, in the moment, I don’t know, like, I don’t really know what my goal is. I don’t know if there’s like a, do this and I’m done now. It’s a little different because I just won the Worlds too. It’s like, was this it? And I was like, no, this isn’t it. You know, so I think I’m just wrestling because I like it.”

He further added, “And I like winning wrestling matches and just trying to get better. So like, yeah, it wasn’t, no award, no piece of medal is my goal. My goal is to, for me to be the best wrestler that I can. So every time you step on the mat? Yeah, I guess that’s the goal. Was that interview enough for you? Was that a good response?” 

This showcases that Cornell’s wrestling captain has already reached a place where he loves the process more than the end result. Now that he has both the skill and the right attitude, it actually increases his odds of winning the Olympics.

Enlightened wrestling superstar to enter maiden Olympics

While Vito Arujau is a 61kg specialist, he will be dropping down to 57kg to make the official Olympic weight. The confident wrestling superstar recently declined to engage with his US counterpart Zane Richards in a wrestle-off for the Pan American Olympic trials qualifiers. 

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While he banked on this option before, he relinquished it since he already had a direct entry as the world gold medalist. Now, he will be competing against Iowa’s 3x NCAA Champ Spencer Lee to make it to the final Olympic team of the US. Furthermore, he will also face the 57kg Serbia world champ Stevan Micic at the Olympics. Will the new wrestling philosophy of Vito Arujau see him qualify for Paris and win his maiden Olympic gold?

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