Rulon Gardner (2000 Gold medal Olympian who beat Alexander Karelin, 2004 Bronze) and Me on the Great Wall
I used to wrestle for Boulder High way back when (2000-2004). When at BHS I also wrestled for Colorado Team Excel, coached by Steve Knight. At the time Steve was also an assistant coach to the US Wrestling Team in Colorado Springs. About a month ago I shot him an email asking how I could help the team in Beijing, and he got back to me with the contact info of Mitch Hull- director of US Wrestling. A few phone calls later and I was doing ground work for Mitch, looking into hotel prices and what not. When the team got here I helped them get a bus (for super cheap) to go to the Great Wall. They invited me along and here is my recollection of the day:
We met at Beijing Normal University’s eastern gate where the entire Greco-Roman wrestling team, staff, and families boarded the 51 person bus. It was filled to capacity after all the reporters (NBC, New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and some Chinese newspaper), camera-men, and interns came aboard- a total of 50 people. It could have held 51 total, but Rulon Gardner counted as two.
We headed off to Mu Tian Yu, a relatively touristy Great Wall destination about 1.5 hours outside of Beijing. The assistant coach, Momir Petkovic (1976 Gold medal Olympian from the former Yugoslavia) kept commenting that there were no birds- anywhere. Indeed, the smist hung heavy that day, seeming to choke the life out of the surrounding countryside. Momir had been in Beijing nearly two decades earlier as a part of a diplomatic visit on behalf of Yugoslavia. He said in the morning he didn’t need an alarm as the cacophony of “dings! dings!” made by the sea of bicycles was enough to wake him up.
After we got to the Great Wall introductions were made to the media. I soon realized I was standing in the midst of some of the greatest contemporary American wrestlers and coaches. A little overwhelmed, I began the hike up the Wall, where I stopped with US head Coach Steve Fraser (1984 US Gold medal Olympian) who took pictures of me astride a camel. Yeah, a camel. I don’t get it either. It was fun, so whatever.
Me on a Camel (?), Photo taken by Head Coach Steve Fraser
Spenser Mango (awesome name) Getting His Face Time
Wrestlers Posing for Sports Illustrated
I happened to walk next to the New York Times reporter and we struck up a conversation about the Wall. I told him of a Chinese saying I had heard: “不到长城非好汉” (“If you’ve never been to the Great Wall then you’re not a real man (or woman)).” He ended up really liking the quote and used it as the basis of his article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/sports/olympics/08wrestlers.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss# It turns out it was actually Mao Ze Dong that said this, as I regretfully discovered later. I’m not happy to have quoted Mao for the NYT, but oh well, my Chinese friends didn’t know it was Mao that said it either. Honest mistake.
We scaled the remainder of the Wall, peered over the battlements and imagined the Mongols riding straight at us. For the wrestlers, the idea of doing battle seemed to give them a little added energy. They were here, in China, to compete and best their international opponents. Many of them are/were in the military so the idea of waging war in a foreign land isn’t that foreign to them. (Sigh.) I walked next to an NBC (I think) photographer that had been in Beijing for 5 years, and he told me how being a diabetic was hard during the Olympics because the machine that gives him insulin sets of all the alarms and Chinese security don’t know what to do with him. (Side note, my Chinese uncle went to the Opening Ceremony and security made him give them his Buddha necklace for further examination- they are being that strict.) He also said it was hard to shoot any pictures as an official photographer anywhere near Tiananmen, even with the promise of increased media freedom.
At the end of the Wall we all took the alpine slide down to the bottom. I was unlucky to be behind one of the largest wrestlers who took his sweet, slow time on the way down. At the end of the trip the larger wrestlers were dripping with sweat. I would imagine most were happy about this as it made it easier to make weight for their competition. The ride back on the bus was a musty return, but I was content. (Even though I was being smothered by the massive, slumbering wrestler next to me.) The trip I had planned for the team had gone off without a hitch…
At the end of the day the men and women of US wrestling returned from one of the largest monuments to human perseverance and prepared to overcome their next Olympic struggle in the way that wrestlers know best: a solid, grueling practice session.
(PS I’ve now become the go-to-guy for bus arrangements for some of the US Olympic teams. I got the men and women’s freestyle wrestlers a bus last week and am working on getting the men’s volleyball team a bus for tomorrow. Not sure how that happened…)
Here’s my facebook album with all the pictures from the day:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028756&l=f6957&id=14500792
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