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.
I think most of the judges are against us.
In most of the matches i have watched the us wrestlers have been aggressive and have lost points and matches for their aggression.
I think Ara Abrahamian is a hero standing up against corruption.