Give Joe a Fair Chance

Hey guys, my name is Joe Rau. I am an Olympic hopeful wrestler from Chicago, Illinois and I desperately need your help.

Recently in the finals of the Olympic Trials, after I had already qualified the weight for Team USA for the Olympics, I had a referee with a clear bias and was deprived of a fair match.  The referee had direct affiliation to my opponent: he had wrestled for the same senior team when he was a competitor. Inexplicably, my coaches’ request for a different referee prior to the match was denied. The match ended up being conducted and officiated unfairly.

The sport of wrestling found me when I was six years old. I fell in love with it and it literally saved my life. When I was nine, I saw Rulon Gardner win an Olympic gold medal and I said ‘I want to do that one day!’ I never let injuries, lack of money or even lack of success get in my way in the last 24 years. I was an everyday kid: I never won a state title as a kid or a high schooler and I went to a D3 college. Despite all that, I pursued my Olympic dream. I travelled the whole world, in and out of wrestling rooms, trying to make it to this point.

I am crushed by what happened to me at the Olympic Trials. I can accept losing a fairly-officiated match, but after this unfair loss, I felt powerless and was going to run away from the sport of wrestling forever. But then people that care about me and supported me throughout my wrestling career reached out and said “Hey, we can do something about this. But it comes at a cost.”

So I am asking for your help. I am planning to appeal and ask for an opportunity to wrestle again in a fair match. If I win this appeal, I can get a special wrestle-off that will grant me the fair shot that I deserve to make it to the Olympics in Tokyo.  But I first need to raise $20,000 to cover legal fees.

I know this is a lot of money, but every donation will help -- there is no amount too small, and I will be grateful for whatever support you can provide. If you can’t donate anything, please just share this post.

Any donations in excess of what I need to cover legal fees will be donated to wrestling non-profit organizations like Beat the Streets and Wrestle Like a Girl.

I encourage you guys to watch the match and support my appeal. I want to prove that wrestling is a fair and pure sport. I want to prove that the wrestling community is powerful.

I promise that I will do everything in my power to prepare for Olympic success.

I hope to see you out there on the mats. 

Thank you.