USA Wrestler: The United States was not very successful internationally in Greco-Roman early on, but over the years has developed into a World power. What were the key things that helped us get better in the Classic Style? Chandler: We had our moments. In 1979 our Greco World team won three medals and placed third as a team at the Worlds. When USA Wrestling took over as NGB for wrestling in 1982, they made a total commitment to Greco. We immediately began sending teams around the world and hired a National Coach for Greco. Most of our best guys were Greco-Roman specialists by then and it helped a great deal.
USA Wrestler: What achievement as an international Greco- Roman athlete were you most proud of during your career? Chandler: I am still disappointed that I did not win a World Championship medal or Olympic medal. I am proud of the fact that between the 1976 and 1980 Olympics I placed in the World Championships every year (6th, 6th and 5th) without the benefit of having a coach or much international experience.
USA Wrestler: As an athlete, you were on the 1980 U.S. Olympic team which did not compete in Moscow due to the gov- ernment boycott of the Games. Explain how you felt about that experience? Chandler: I think all of us were quite bitter after all of the sac- rifices that we had made. I remember that Jimmy Carter had invited the 1980 Olympic Hockey Team to the White House and at the same time decided that the Summer Games would be boycotted by the USA. It was all very hypocritical.
USA Wrestler: Your final Olympics as an athlete came in the 1984 Olympics. This was the first Olympics in which the USA won any medals in Greco-Roman. Two of your teammates were champions, Steve Fraser and Jeff Blatnick. What made that U.S. team so successful? Chandler: By the 1984 Games, we had Pavel Katsen as our National Greco Coach and our Greco-Roman team was getting more international competition. We also had a lot more depth. Greg Gibson won a silver medal at 100 kg and had barely been able to beat another one of my teammates, Dennis Koslowski at the Team Trials.
USA Wrestler: When did you decide you wanted to be a coach, and how did you learn the skills needed for success as a coach?
Chandler: I was a player/coach for quite a few years in that we had to coach ourselves throughout my career. My genera- tion of teammates would always film matches and study them constantly to learn new skills. Most of my coaching skills were learned through trial and error. After the 1984 Olympics, I approached the leadership of MN/USA Wrestling and expressed a desire to start a Greco practice for high-school age wrestlers after the folkstyle season which was the start of our regional training site program.
USA Wrestler: We’d like to know more about the Olympic medalists you mentored as their personal coach. Dennis Koslowski was the first American to win two Olympic Greco medals. What made him such a great competitor? Chandler: Koz was always a great student of Greco-Roman technique. In addition to being an outstanding athlete, he was technically the best I have ever coached.
USA Wrestler: Brandon Paulson was still a college student when you coached him to an Olympic silver medal in 1996.
What was special about Brandon that made him successful? Chandler: Brandon started young! He was probably wrestling Greco before he was 10 years old and by the time he tried out for the Olympics had won national titles in every age group. Brandon had his style figured out at an early age and was dead- ly from one position that he could force just about everyone into. Our coaching staff for the 1995 World Championship brought Brandon to the Worlds to be Dennis Hall’s training partner. That experience helped put him over the top.
USA Wrestler: Garrett Lowney was only 21 when you helped coach him to an Olympic bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics. What made him so good at such a young age? Chandler: His hometown nickname was “the freak.” Garrett had tremendous athleticism and he had won the Junior World Championship in 1999. During our Olympic Training camp and last pre-Olympic tournament in Russia, I saw that he was improving so fast that he would have a great chance to win an Olympic medal. Everything came together for him in Sydney. He competed with so much composure with a very bad injury. He had ice water in his veins.
USA Wrestler: At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, you were head coach of one of our most successful Olympic teams ever, with three medals, including gold from Rulon Gardner. What was the difference in the match when Rulon beat superstar Alexander Karelin?
Chandler: I had coached Rulon in a match against Karelin in 1998 and he gave the Russian a good match but folded late in that bout. Rulon has phenomenal aerobic capacity for a big man and we knew he could win if he kept it close. Karelin had had a tough match earlier in the day and had gotten tired. Watching him in the warm up area, I knew he had a tremendous amount of pressure to win and he looked a little tired and nervous. When Rulon stopped Karelin’s reverse lift early in the match I knew he could push him to his breaking point, and he did.
USA Wrestler: In addition to Gardner, that 2000 team includ- ed Lowney and silver medalist Matt Lindland. What made that team perform at such a high level? Chandler: We kept things loose and made sure the guys had fun during training camps and pre-Olympic competitions. It was a really special group that had great drive and athleticism. One day during a particularly tough practice in Sydney, my assistant coach Pavel Katsen and I watched as Gardner got angry and crushed one of his training partners. Pavel turned to me and said, “I think I can smell some medals.” He was right.
USA Wrestler: In 2007, the United States won the World
Team title in Greco-Roman for the first time. As a Greco pio- neer, what do you believe was the reason the USA was able to reach the top of the world? Chandler: A lot of things came together for that team at the right moment. Mostly it was the atmosphere created by Steve Fraser over a number of years at the USOTC. We had a lot of very good guys training together with a belief in their plan.
USA Wrestler: You are an employee and coach for Minnesota USA Wrestling. What do you enjoy about coaching younger wrestlers who participate in the state-level programs in your state? Chandler: Younger wrestlers are fun to coach because they actually do whatever you ask them to do. They also call me Sir at the beginning and end of each sentence when addressing
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