Thomas & Phillip Barreiro
Akwesasne, Quebec, Canada
Wrestling
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Our names are Thomas and Phillip Barreiro. We are Mohawks (Wolf Clan) from the community of Akwesasne, a Mohawk Reservation on the New York-Canadian border.
We are Greco-Roman wrestlers with an aim to represent our Mohawk people and all indigenous peoples at the 2020 Olympics as well as to encourage the dreams of our young indigenous athletes.
We began our wrestling journey in 8th grade at the age of 14. Although a later start than most wrestlers, we picked up the sport quickly and each finished our first season with a 12-2 record. We wrestled at Ithaca High School in Ithaca, NY and then at Massena High School. We also trained and wrestled with the Kahnawake Survival School Wrestling (KSS) team. During our time with KSS, we competed in the North American Indigenous Games where we brought home gold medals and the team championship in 2008.
We both wrestled collegiately at American University in Washington, DC, 2009-2013, (First String, Division One), where we graduated in 2013.
After college, we decided to return to the Akwesasne community, where we now live and work. When we returned to our home community we mentored younger wrestlers in the sport and were fortunate enough to meet our current coach Doug Yeats. Doug reinvigorated our love for the sport and set us on the path we are on today in the style of Greco-Roman.
We reside in the community of Akwesasne and train in Montreal at Tristar Gym with coaches Doug Yeats and Anatoli Bykov.
Doug Yeats represented Canada in the Olympics from 1976 until 1992.
Anatoli Bykov is a two-time Olympic medalist with a gold finish at the 1976 games in Montreal and a silver finish at the 1980 games in Moscow.
Since our transition to the Greco-Roman style;
Phillip has been a four-time Canadian National Finalist with a championship in 2014 at 85kgs. He placed 5th at the Granma Cup in 2015 at 80kg and was 2nd at the 2016 Canadian Olympic Trials.
Thomas has improved from 4th at 85kg in 2014 to become a two-time Canadian National Champion with wins in 2015 at 85kg and in 2017 at 98kg.
We need your help. We need people who believe in our mission to donate and otherwise help us fundraise to cover travel expenses to be able to participate in quality training and overseas competition to continue to develop and test our technique. This development is necessary for us to reach our goal of standing on the podium at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.