Arlington wrestler wants Olympic medal this time

Tervel Dlagnev is honored to have wrestled for his country in the 2012 Olympic Games, but the Arlington High graduate wants more this time.

Dlagnev qualified for a second — and his final — Olympic Games and competes in the 125 kilograms/275 pounds freestyle division Aug. 20.

“I want a medal about as bad as anything,” Dlagnev said in a phone interview last week. “It’s a token of what kind of wrestler I am. I believe I’m one of the best in the world, but I want to be able to show on the day I compete. To come home with a medal, that would be awesome. Last time, I was close. It was heartbreaking to get so close. This time, hopefully, I can get it done.”

Dlagnev, 30, regularly has beaten the top international stars in his eight years with Team USA. He owns two World Championship bronze medals.

But an Olympic medal remains his carrot.

Dlagnev came close in 2012, reaching the semifinals in London before finishing fifth. Dlagnev was pinned by Uzbekistan’s Artur Taymazov only 1:50 into his semifinal match. Taymazov went on to win his third consecutive gold medal.

Dlagnev lost to Iran’s Komeil Ghasemi 4-0, 0-1, 1-0 in the bronze medal match.

Those were only his second and third losses of the 2012 season. But Dlagnev was hurting, competing through a rib injury.

“London carries a lot of negative emotions for me,” Dlagnev said. “… Obviously, coming up short of a medal was icing on the cake. It’s one of my biggest regrets, throwing a pity party and not remembering the good stuff and remembering only the bad stuff.

“London, there was a lot of cool stuff, but for me, it seemed like a negative experience looking back. That’s one of my goals, that no matter what happens to soak it all in. I’m really going to try to enjoy it.”

Health remains Dlagnev’s biggest obstacle. He missed the 2015 World Championships with a back injury that required surgery.

He considered retiring but has learned to manage the pain.

“Certain days I feel really good; certain days kind of achy; certain days I’m like, ‘Oh, I better not do anything today,’ ” Dlagnev said. “I just have to kind of take the good and the bad days and do what I can on the bad days, and on the good days take advantage and go really hard.”

Dlagnev, whose family moved from Bulgaria to Arlington when he was 4, will have 16 close friends and family members backing him during his one-day competition. That includes his mother, Igrena, who now lives in Benbrook.

Dlagnev, who trains in Ohio, plans to transition into coaching this fall. He said he will weigh his options, whether to coach at the college level or internationally, when the Olympics end.

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Arlington wrestler wants Olympic medal this time."