Latest News: Donald Trump gets very strong reception at NCAA wrestling championships….Read More

U.S. President Donald Trump was introduced to the crowd at Saturday’s NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia and received a raucous ovation.

U.S. President Donald Trump was met with thunderous applause and chants of “U.S.A” as he made his grand entrance at the NCAA wrestling championships.

The scene unfolded on Saturday at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, where the 78-year-old president engaged the crowd with a fist pump and a wave before settling down next to Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick, his top adviser Elon Musk, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, U.S. Representative Jim Jordan, and Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin.

Ahead of the event, during a Friday afternoon press briefing at the White House, Trump shared his enthusiasm about attending the NCAA wrestling championships for the second time in three years.

Trump’s appearance at Saturday’s championships adds to a growing list of sporting events he’s attended since beginning his second term in January. His recent outings include Super Bowl LIX at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome and the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway as part of the NASCAR Cup Series.

Trump is known for his frequent appearances at UFC fights, having most recently attended UFC 302 in Newark last June. He also made appearances at UFC 290 in Las Vegas back in July of 2023, UFC 295 in Manhattan several months later and UFC 299 in Miami last March.

Since his return to the White House, Trump has not hesitated to influence college sports. Last month, he signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports under Title IX.

According to the order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” Trump gave federal agencies the authority to deny funding to high schools and colleges that refused to comply with it. “With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” he declared during a signing ceremony in the White House East Room.

“If you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding.”

The order urges the government to “rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities,” as well as “prioritize Title IX enforcement actions” against schools that allow athletes assigned male at birth to compete in women’s sports.

A day after the signing, the NCAA Board of Governors introduced new guidelines prohibiting student-athletes who were assigned male at birth from competing on collegiate women’s teams.

NCAA President Charlie Baker emphasized the need for uniformity in an official statement, saying: “The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes.

We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” and added, “To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”