THE LAST WORD
Wrestlers show class after tough setbacks
I
OWA CITY – It happened behind the scenes. Away from the sold-out crowd of 13,000-plus cheering fans – in warmup areas, in elevators, in staircases and in hallways – after Olympic spots had been determined. Wrestlers who had just fallen short in some of the biggest matches of their lives tried to come to grips with what just hap- pened. Many broke down in tears and crouched down in disbe- lief as their coaches tried to console them. My role during the two nights of finals at the U.S. Olympic
Team Trials was to track down wrestlers who lost in the finals and bring them back for interviews. You might wonder why these wrestlers were being asked to do interviews after suffering some of the most stinging losses of their careers.
And why champions like Henry Cejudo, Nick Simmons, Brent Metcalf, Adeline Gray, Trent and Travis Paulson, Helen Maroulis, Aaron Sieracki, Tommy Rowlands, Les Sigman, Alyssa Lampe and Mike Zadick were asked to talk about their setbacks after suffering heartbreaking defeats during the Trials. The assembled media, which numbered more than 200 mem- bers for the Trials, wanted to interview the wrestlers who won. But they also wanted to talk to the ones from their coverage area who lost.
They wanted to provide insight from both sides of the story. It is done with athletes in virtually every sport, from the profes- sional level all the way down to the high-school level, and it’s not easy. All American athletes in every sport are asked to do interviews, win or lose, at the Olympic Games. Many of them understandably broke down at the Olympic
Trials after coming so close to achieving their dreams. I understand where many of these athletes are coming from. I have been around athletics my whole life as the son of a coach,
as a college athlete, as a sports- writer, and now as communica- tions manager at USA Wrestling. But I still learned a great deal about the athletes that fell short on the two nights of the Trials. They were accountable and agreed to do the interviews. Metcalf and Travis Paulson, with a large throng of Iowa media there to follow them, sat in a press conference room for sepa- rate interviews and candidly answered questions. Numerous other athletes came back to the “mixed zone” media area, near the corner of the main arena floor, to meet with reporters. They answered questions about what went wrong and talked about what they were feeling at that point. Simmons has been wrestling for a quarter of a century, and
Craig Sesker
suffered a crushing finals loss, but he showed a lot of class by wishing Sam Hazewinkel the best at the Olympics. Sigman did the same with the wrestler who beat him, Tervel Dlagnev. Cejudo offered to train with the Olympic Team prior to London. Metcalf, who a majority of the fans came to see on Sunday, showed what a stand-up person he is by granting a five-minute interview in front of about 25 media members after he came up short in the finals.
Jordan Holm stood and did interviews for close to 10 minutes
after falling to Chas Betts in the finals. Not one athlete who lost in the finals declined an interview request by USA Wrestling. What the athletes that lost did doesn’t erase the sting of what happened on the mat, but they showed what kind of people they are by being accountable. They showed class, and they repre- sented the sport and their country in a very favorable way. They won’t represent the U.S. in London, but these wrestlers are ones that Americans and beyond can certainly be proud of.
42 USA Wrestler
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