Last Post: Wrestling Ends and Going Home

Today was the last day of Freestyle Wrestling. We had three Americans competing–Andy Horvat, Daniel Cormier and Steve Mocco. Andy was defeated in the first match by the Cuban. He wrestled strong and was ahead in the third period, but the Cuban turned him in the last 5 seconds of his match. It was sad to see it end the way it did.

Daniel Cormier, the Team Captain, made his weight for competition, but he ended up having to spend the night in the hospital because he was so dehydrated. He was devastated. It is sad to see an Olympian come all this way and have to go home without even competing. My heart really goes out to him.

Heavyweight Steve Mocco won his first two matches, then lost a hard match in the quarterfinals. He was two seconds away from beating the Silver Medalist from Russia, but he lost in a clench. He had the chance to advance to a Bronze Medal, but he lost to the Iranian Heavyweight.

Overall, Team USA won a Bronze in Greco Roman, two Bronzes in Women’s Freestyle and one Gold and two Bronze in Men’s Freestyle–for a total of 6 medals to Team USA Wrestling. Once again, the Russian and former Soviet countries dominated wrestling. In almost every weight class, the Russians claimed at least two of the medals available. They have definitely set the bar very high, but Team USA was right there with them.

I was busy working up until the end, so I did’t get to see any events over the last few days, but Kamie was very excited to see Women’s Beach Volleyball and Men’s Volleyball as a former Volleyball player herself.

Now I am packing up and getting ready to head back to the USA tomorrow. I had a great time in Beijing–the Chinese people were so friendly and welcoming. These Olympics were VERY well organized. The hotel we stayed at was amazing–I could look out my window and see the Bird’s Nest. There were always hundreds of people from all over the world outside–there was such an excitement and buzz. It’s hard to explain, but something we could all feel.

The NBC crew has been great to work with. Being at the NBC hotel, I am constantly spending time in the lobby with Bob Costas or Al Roker, or riding the elevator with Brian Williams, Meredith Viera or Matt Lauer–it’s been great! NBC has been an amazing team to work with, I hope to work with them again in the future.

Yesterday at the IBC (International Broadcast Center) I ran into Bart Conners and Nadia Comaneci–they both gave me a big hug. It’s still hard for me to believe that I could go from growing up on a dairy farm in Wyoming to becoming an Olympic hero. Many years after Sydney, there are still people that come up to me and want my autograph everyday, or want a photo taken with me. It still doesn’t seem real.

Thanks for following along on this journey!

Day 7: Day Off and The Silk Market

I had the day off today from commentating, so I got a workout in with USA Wrestling Head Coach Steve Fraser, then went to the Silk Market. At the market they have hundreds and hundreds of shops where we could bargain and try to get the best price. We’re having a really good time; China is a very unique country. I’m happy to have the opportunity to be here.

After the Silk Market, we went to the USA House to a USA Wrestling function. The Ambassador to China was there and he spoke to our group–it was cool. I was also able to talk with USA Silver Medalist in Shot Put, Adam Nielson. He won his medal in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. We had a good time talking about how big we both are! We took a funny picture with him pretending like my head was a shot put and that he was throwing me. It was a good time.

I have three more days of commentating left, then I’m headed back to the US on Friday. I have about a week off to relax, then I’m back to my schedule of motivational speaking. I have events coming up for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, John Hancock and many others. The month of September alone I’ll be in Lincoln, NE, Beverly Hills, CA, San Francisco, CA, Moberly, MO, Peoria, IL and San Diego, CA. Never a dull moment!

Olympic Wrestling on the Web

NBC Olympics Homepage for Wrestling: Headlines, Results & Schedules, Athlete Profiles, Overview of the Sport, Video and Photos

Rulon Gardner Interview with Tiki Barber on MSNBC

Day 5: Wrestling

Since I’m staying at the hotel with all the other NBC broadcasters, I get to see cool people every day. I’ve seen Bob Costas most days! It’s cool to see him in person. I’ll never forget the background piece he narrated on me going into the Karelin match, and again going into Athens. It’s part of the intro video I use when I’m speaking to corporate groups, schools and non-profits. I think every Olympic athlete dreams of having Bob Costas tell their story.

Dremiel Byers wrestled in his first Olympics here in Beijing, and as his friend, former teammate and former training partner, I was honored to commentate during his matches. He wrestled really well in the preliminary matches, and he defeated China’s heavyweight wrestler. He ended up being defeated by Sweden’s heavyweight, when he was unable to score in the last few seconds of the third period. I was sad to see him lose–I’d really hoped he’d leave Beijing with a medal.

American Greco-Roman wrestler Adam Wheeler won the Olympic Bronze Medal! This is his first Olympics and he showed strength, courage and confidence in winning the match. I was really happy to interview him after he won, and I’m honored to share a spot with him on Coach Fraser’s “wall”.

As a broadcaster, I’m able to commentate on the matches, but I still feel the pain of the American athletes who lose, even after they have given their all to represent their country. Even though the American Greco athletes only won one medal, we wrestling fans know that the Greco wrestlers will continue to improve for our next Olympics. My hopes are high for Team USA in the women’s wrestling and men’s freestyle events, which are up next. I hope the American public continues to tune into wrestling and the other lesser known Olympic sports that may not receive as much coverage. It’s really important to support all of our teams!

I watched Abrahamian from Sweden in the semi-final match where he lost–there was a judgement call that the referees made, and Abrahamian felt that it was the wrong call. FILA discussed the call for a short time, but decided not to review it. They filed protests with Novell. He chose to wrestle in the Bronze Medal match and won. During the medal ceremonies, he received his medal, but then he took it off and threw it on the mat. At first, everyone in the arena thought it was to respect the other wrestlers. We found out later it was in protest of the call in the semi-final match. Now, to find out the whole story, it’s hard to think that a wrestler would retire with these angry emotions against the sport of Greco Roman Wrestling. People have made comments for and against his protest. Personally, I think his protest is justified, because in his heart he knows that it was the only way to represent his disappointment, even if I don’t agree with his actions. He was a great Greco Roman Wrestler, and he represented the sport very well for many years before this incident. He will be missed and people like myself will still respect him and his memory.

On a lighter note, I had the chance to interview Alexander Karelin on TV!!! Much has been made about Michael Phelps being the “Greatest Olympian Ever” during these Games–and while I think he’s amazing (all those Gold medals, all those World Records, all those events!), in my mind, Karelin is the Greatest Olympian Ever–I mean, seriously, he won Gold in three consecutive Olympics (the only Olympian ever to do so), and he went almost 13 years without ever losing a match. It was a great honor to interview him 8 years after I defeated him, and to get to know one another “off the mat.” He is a very classy man. We hope to get a link to the interview up on this blog soon, and it should air on MSNBC today.

Day 4: The Water Cube and Wrestling Commentating Begins

Today I started doing the color commentary for NBC Olympics’ coverage of wrestling. It’s been keeping me really busy–we leave for the venue around 7am and get back to the hotel around 8pm. I did have a chance to visit the Water Cube to watch some swimming and diving, but other than that, I’ve just been working. I really enjoy commentating on the matches! It’s strange to not be competing at the Olympics this time, but I’m happy to just be here.

Day 3, Part 2: The Night Market

After we visited the Forbidden City, we went to the Night Market, which is in the business section of downtown Beijing. They have some really disgusting stuff to eat there! Some of the menu items included scorpions, meal worms, testicles, starfish and seahorses. Some of the people in our group (like Kamie!) ate the scorpions and said they were really good, that they tasted like hash browns. The big black ones, however, were crunchy and didn’t have much of a taste. I like to eat, but not that much. Where’s the McDonalds again?!

Day 3, Part 1: The Forbidden City and USA v. China Basketball Game

Work has kept me really busy, but I had a little bit of time to visit the Forbidden City. There were a lot of tourists there who didn’t know who I was, but who wanted pictures with me simply because I was American. They would get in line and try to hurry to get as many pictures as they could! It was kinda funny. They all wanted pictures with Kamie as well!

I was supposed to go to the USA v. China basketball game, but I didn’t have time. EVERYONE here was talking about it though, and trying to go. I wish I hadn’t missed it.

Day 2: Opening Ceremonies

The opening ceremonies were amazing!! I just watched it on TV, but my hotel is right next door to the Bird’s Nest, so I was able to see a great fireworks show. The fireworks were actually shaking the hotel! It was cool. There was a lot of security around the venues and outside our hotel. There were helicopters flying over us all day, and you couldn’t walk 10 feet on the sidewalk without seeing a police officer–they were everywhere.

Day 1, Part 2: Visiting the Great Wall

After we stopped by wrestling practice, we hopped on a bus for an hour and a half drive to the Great Wall. It’s very beautiful here, but MAN, is it ever smoggy! I know they were trying to clean up the air before the Games, but take a look at these pics–it’s still hard to see much in the distance.

Once we arrived at the Wall, he hiked about three quarters of a mile up a steep hill. There were shops on both sides of the streets with people trying to get us to buy anything and everything. It was a cool experience. I’m in Beijing with my girlfriend Kamie, so we had some fun selecting gifts for the people back home. Do you like my fan?!

 

After the shops, we boarded a gondola and road that the rest of the way up the Wall. Once we arrived at the top, we took lots of cool pictures, but the smog was so thick you couldn’t see very far in the distance. We had fun, though. I wrestled with some of the guys on the wall and we took some cool pictures. Some of the wrestlers road a toboggan back down…I took the gondola!

On our way back down the hill, we made some more purchases in the little shops. It was much more expensive to buy souveniers at the top than at the bottom–lesson learned. We had fun bargaining!

Day 1, Part 1: Wrestling Practice with Team USA

On our first day here in China, we went to wrestling practice with Team USA to check out the Greco-Roman team. I had some fun wrestling with the guys, especially Dremiel Byers, my former teammate, rival, training partner and friend. Dremiel has a good shot to win a medal, but he needs to “turn it on” to really want it. I don’t know if he’s there right now. I made a comment to this effect in the press and I know Dremiel’s buddies from back home didn’t like it–but it’s the truth. It’s what I used to beat him back in the day when I was competing. I hope that my honesty fires him up, because I want nothing more than for him to win a medal. He’s a great wrestler and a great friend. I want this for him.