Wisconsin wrestler releases statement after incident with Iowa fan last Saturday
By Dallas Jones
IOWA CITY, IA – The University of Iowa Athletic Department released a statement Monday night denouncing the words and actions of an Iowa wrestling fan towards former Iowa State and current Wisconsin wrestler Austin Gomez.
Soon after, Gomez released a statement of his own via Twitter. See below:
I don’t owe this to anyone but I wanted to make a statement about what happened this past weekend at CHA. I appreciate all the support from everyone.
The Wisconsin faculty and I have been contacted and have a phone call set up for tomorrow with personnel from Iowa.
GO BADGERS pic.twitter.com/TwNeP0xPvh
— Austin Gomez (@agomez_149) February 8, 2022
Gomez has been contacted by the Iowa Athletic Department and an investigation to find the identity of the fan, or fans, is underway.
Wisconsin Athletic Director Chris McIntosh released a statement Tuesday following reports of a fan using a racial slur towards Austin Gomez and his family during Saturday’s meet at the University of Iowa.
“On or off campus, home or away, UW Athletics strives to create an atmosphere where our student-athletes feel welcome and can thrive. Needless to say, I am deeply disappointed and angered that one of our wrestling student-athletes, Austin Gomez, and his family were the recipients of vulgar and racially insensitive language at our team’s match at Iowa over the weekend. This behavior has no place in the Big Ten and college athletics as a whole. It is totally unacceptable. We have been in contact with Austin, his parents and the Iowa athletics administration and I am thankful that our colleagues at Iowa are investigating the incident. I appreciate the Gomez family having the courage to bring this to light. They have our complete support.”