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ed to be in the Olympics some day. That was a dream we developed and continued to work towards. The Olympics had a strong formulative influence on our participation in athletics. Once you are in the sport, you are hooked on it. It requires so much from you but gives you so much as well. Anyone who wrestles knows that once you learn how to wrestle and can win and compete on the mat, it is an addictive sport.
USA Wrestler: You and Jim were able to win NCAA Div. I national titles for Nebraska in 1984 side-by-side. What were the keys to your success in college? Scherr: The key was being single-minded in pursuit of that
goal. We both knew our goal was to win national titles at Nebraska. We were determined to win national titles and worked every day to put ourselves in position to do that. To have someone to share those goals and the training and push you to that level made it more likely that we could achieve those goals. You never do anything by yourself. We had great coach- ing, with folks like Stan Dziedzic, who was the national coach and located in Lincoln, Neb., who was involved in coaching us.
USA Wrestler: Talk about the feeling you had when both you
and Jim qualified for the 1988 Olympic Team. Scherr: It was amazing. It was a lifelong goal of ours to make
the Olympic Games. It was so hard. We tried out in 1984 and didn’t make it, then we spent another four years and trained. You have to do it on that one day. There is an intense amount of pressure. You performed, and you were not only able to do it yourself, but you were able to share it with your twin brother who did it also. It was an unbelievably emotionally fulfilling and rewarding experience.
USA Wrestler: What are your most vivid memories the 1988 Olympic Games, where you won a bronze medal? Scherr: There was a lot of disappointment around those Games. We waited so long to compete. Our sister passed away earlier that year and made it very emotional for us. We were frankly emotionally drained, when we went through the Olympic Trials one week after our sister passed away. Trying to recharge those batteries and train to compete for a gold medal was diffi- cult. At the time, we thought we were at that level, but when we look back, we realize there was a lot of emotion that was spent that year. It was hard to get back to that peak of emotion and intensity. We did a very good job until we had tragedy befall Jim, unfortunately getting pinned with less than a minute left while leading 6-1. That took a lot of wind out of my sails, and I lost the next round because I wasn’t focused. Jim went on and demonstrated a tremendous amount of pride, although he didn’t have a chance to medal. He won additional matches to place fifth. I ended up coming back and beating a World champion to get a bronze medal. We were determined to come back.
USA Wrestler: Why is it so important for us to work together
to preserve the Olympic dream for today’s young wrestlers? Scherr: The Olympics are the pinnacle of athletics, in terms
of being able to test yourself against people from around the world and what they represent in terms of the global peace movement. Wrestling benefits tremendously from the Olympics and the Olympic dream, and the Olympics benefit from wrestling as well. The ability for wrestling and the Olympics to preserve that beautiful relationship for generations of young wrestlers to come and for the world is something very important to me.
31 USA Wrestler
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