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undergraduate degree and became a contender for World and Olympic Teams.
“The training was great. Ivan Ivanov was one of the best coaches I ever met or worked with. I had great training partners there including R.C. Johnson, who I trained with through the Olympics. He was a great partner for me. We went back and forth in competitions. Having somebody you could beat, or he could beat you on any given day was good for me,” said Wheeler. After graduation, Wheeler moved to Colorado Springs to be a full-time Greco-Roman resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. For him, the reason was simple. The best ath- letes in his weight class, as well as the surrounding weight classes were all there. To be the best, he wanted to train with the best. One of those top stars training in the Springs was Justin Ruiz, the No. 1 athlete in Wheeler’s weight class. Ruiz won five straight U.S. Open titles and made all three U.S. World Teams from 2005-2007. In 2005, Ruiz won a World bronze medal. The guy he beat the most often in the finals of the U.S. Open
and World Team Trials was Wheeler. In spite of this, Wheeler kept positive and kept coming at Ruiz.
There were two times that Wheeler beat Ruiz prior to the 2008 Olympic Trials, at the 2006 Kit Carson Cup and the 2007 Dave Schultz Memorial. But the rest of the time, again and again, it was Ruiz who came out on top.
“There were a lot of really close matches. He had a gut wrench that would get me. He could pull out a score when he needed it, so he was a step ahead of me. Knowing there was somebody better than me at the time that I had to surpass really made me work harder,” said Wheeler A key change in Wheeler’s mindset happened during the 2007 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, an event that he was not even competing in. “As a team, we won the World Championships that year. I got to go as Justin’s training partner and see that. After the team won the Worlds, being a part of it but not actually being on the team, clicked in my head. That made me want it that much more. “After that, I told myself that every day I was going to be early and be the last one to leave. There were a handful of us who did just that, me, Brad Vering, Mark Rial and off-and-on a cou-
ple of other guys. We were always doing extra stuff. That helped me close that gap,” Wheeler said. At the 2008 Olympic Trials in Las Vegas, Nev., Ruiz advanced directly to the best-of-three championship series. Wheeler won the Challenge Tournament to reach the finals series. Wheeler won the first match, but Ruiz came back to win the second bout. In the deciding third match, it went to the final period, and Wheeler won 1-2, 1-1, 2-0. “My whole wrestling career, every time I stepped onto the mat, I had butterflies. It is normal, and everybody handles it a lit- tle differently. I knew I was done wrestling after 2008, win or lose. I had a little bit of relief, a weight off my shoulders, because I had nothing to lose. I believed in my training. Maybe that little confidence helped me. Once I beat him in the Olympic Trials, it gave me confidence that since he had a World medal and I beat him, I could get a medal too,” said Wheeler. At the Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Wheeler used that confidence and relaxed attitude to his advantage. He defeated 2005 World silver medalist Lajos Virag of Hungary, then stopped Jiang Huachen of China. Both matches went all three periods. In the semifinals, he drew Mirko Englich of Germany, and lost 1- 2, 1-2.
“The loss was difficult. On paper, I knew the German. I had trained with him. He was the one person going into the tourna- ment that I was confident I would beat. He is the one guy I did- n’t beat. It was on a mistake. I was on top. I won the coin flip. I tried a move I had been working on in practice and slipped for- ward. He got a point on me. I ended up doing it two times, both periods,” said Wheeler.
During the break before the medal round, Wheeler composed himself, spoke to his coaches and was able to refocus for his bronze-medal bout against Han Tae-Young of Korea. In the last match of his wrestling career, Wheeler won 4-1, 3-1 and earned the Olympic bronze.
“I went out there for the bronze medal match and felt great. It was the easiest match for me. I won it the most decisively. I did- n’t know much about the guy, except for that he beat Justin in the worlds. I knew he was a decent wrestler,” he said. When he returned from Beijing, Wheeler was ready to begin his post-wrestling life. The only difference was he would forever be an Olympic medalist.
“It didn’t necessarily change my life. Wrestling is a small com- Continued on page 20
19 USA Wrestler
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