OTTAWA – Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) is announcing the resignation of Lúcás Ó’Ceallacháin as High Performance Director, effective February 1, 2021. Lúcás was with the organization for the last two and a half years and a significant contributor to many of the high performance program’s successes during that time.

Lúcás will be moving to a new opportunity in Australia in the area of high performance sport consultancy, an opportunity that fits into his personal and family plans.

“I am truly grateful for the opportunity I had to work with a special group of coaches and athletes,” said Ó’Ceallacháin.

“Highlights on the mat include seeing Aly Barghout capture World Junior Championship silver, Jacob Luczak’s emotional performance at the 2018 Senior Worlds and the record-breaking women’s performance of four medals at the Senior Worlds in 2018.”

“Off the mat it was a privilege to work with our world class Integrated Support Team led by Scott Vass. As a program I am proud of the progress made on system alignment to restore the value in international performances via the Gold Medal Profile and International Performance Index”.

“I wish the entire group of athletes, coaches, officials and staff all the best for the upcoming Olympic Games. Despite the challenges I know that the program is well positioned and supported to continue our Olympic success. I am excited by the depth of talent that is emerging ahead of Paris 2024 and am confident that Canadian wrestling will continue to lead the way on and off the mat,” noted Ó’Ceallacháin.

“On behalf of WCL, I would like to sincerely thank Lúcás for his contributions to wrestling in Canada, and wish him every future success,” said Tamara Medwidsky, Executive Director at WCL.

“Lúcás brought a unique and valuable perspective as well as a wealth of sport knowledge and experience to WCL. He was instrumental in implementing several systemic alignment pieces including the Gold Medal Profile and revised International Performance Index, which is a critical element of assessing true performance benchmarks. He has also shown strong leadership in helping to drive an athlete-centred and values-based culture shift in the high performance program”.

All High Performance program leadership and decision-making will shift in the interim to the Executive Director. Other program transitionary measures are in the process of being implemented, including posting for a new HP Director following the Tokyo Games, to allow for the largest pool of prospective candidates. We remain focused on delivering a well-executed Olympic plan and look to the community’s cooperation and support to ensure a smooth transition during this period.