Jeffrey Carl “Jeff” Blatnick (July 26, 1957 – October 24, 2012) was an American super heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler and sports commentator. He won NCAA Division II heavyweight wrestling championships in 1978 and 1979….and won the Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1984 after battling back from cancer. After radiation therapy helped to hold the cancer in remission….Blatnick competed in and won a gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He and his teammate Steve Fraser were the first Americans to ever win gold in Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling history. Blatnick retired from wrestling after a second round with cancer….which required chemotherapy. He served as a television commentator during the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics.
