Wrestling Blogs - Flowrestling Blogs

Well I figured I would wrap up the whole experience, even though I havent wanted to think about it much lately. Then tell you where the future is going to take me. So I lost, I didnt live up to the guarentees I put forth. I have to keep being reminded that making the Olympics in the first place is a great accomplishment. It isn't the first time I haven't lived up to a guarantee I put out and it probably wont be the last. When asked a question I will tell you exactly what I think without pulling any… more »

I've Watched This Man Work and Train...He Also Embodies an Incredible Work Ethic, Incredible Discipline and an Incredible Desire to Win and Succeed!CONGRATULATIONS HENRY!Henry is also the youngest American to win a Olympic or World Championship!? Congratulations Again Henry! http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/06/05/cejudo0611/index.html http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-spw-olywrestling20-2008aug20,0,6050221.story more »

So I'm sitting in s Tokyo airport watching USA vs Brazil gold medal match in volleyball with only a blackberry in hand and I thought I would do the impossible of writing this whole blog with my thumbs..... Overall china did OK with the Olympics, their wrestling logistics and organization was outstanding, getting into some of the other venues like the birds nest was a nightmare.....like 40 minute waits to just get inside the green, not even the stadium, and although security was the reason they had these delays I wasn't impressed with it. Taxis could be an absolute nightmare… more »

First and foremost, congratulations to Henry Cejudo on his inspiring performance in Beijing. He has dedicated his heart and soul to the goal that he just accomplished, and it showed in his wrestling. A gold undoubtedly well-deserved. Congrats also go out to Adam Wheeler and Randi Miller for representing with honor and pride, and for bringing back the hardware. As I watched these three wrestle over the past week I couldn't help but feel my sense of pride in US wrestling as I yelled at my computer like a fool. As those hands were raised, one in Greco, one in… more »

HEJ! (Swedish Hello)As we prepare to leave Beijing it is time to reflect a bit on the experience. First of all let it be known that The Peoples Republic of China has done a TREMENDOUS job of hosting The Olympic Games. The people here have been very hospitable and gracious, and are going out of there way to help people out.The Beijing Olympics compared to Athens Olympics. This will go down as one of the best run Olympics in History. I know a lot of problems are probably handled behind the scenes like in most business, but from a coaches… more »

So we have 3 weight classes left. 84,96 and 120kg will be going today. I have a jammed packed day and it starts right now. Yesterday Ben Askren and Doug Schwab didnt have the days they wanted. Ben won his first match with a pin which was awesome but lost handily to the cuban in his second match. I think it was a really bad clash of styles. I was disappointed that Ben lost but also excited to be able to watch Saitiev wrestle in that weight class. Saitiev was a really awesome to watch. He came out there and… more »

I just review video with the Luchador now. It's close enough to competition time that the only thing that will make much of a difference is strategy. Suprisingly enough I get the day pass that larry didn't expect me to get but Brian informed me about. However, Larry's other coach wants him to go in and work with some of the other nations wrestlers at the competition venue. This is better for Larry anyway, as much as I can review general stuff with Larry, the best strategy will be tailored to his opponents and the only way to know what… more »

74 kg: As I mentioned in my video preview the other night (http://www.flowrestling.org/videos/speaker/1413-craig-vitagliano/71944-74-kilo-breakdown), this is by far most stacked weight I have seen in any World or Olympics.? You'll see 7 or 8 World medalists battling it out forthe Gold medal. I'll say it again: If Ben Askren wins Gold here it will be the single greatest achievement by an American wrestler to date. Here we go: First round we will see 2003 World Silver Medalist Mourad Gaidarov of Belarus taking on Azerbaijan's Chamsulvara Chamsulvaraev, 3rd in last year's World Championships. I see this as an exciting bout. Gaidarov recently… more »

66 kg:Last year's World finalists Ramzan Shahin of Turkey and Gendry Garzon of Cuba will meet in the first round. Expect to see an exciting match here with attacks, counter-attacks, flurries and trips. Hopefully Garzon shows a little more heart than his Cuban counterpart Quintana. If he does I believe he will win this match. 2007 Junior World Champion Mehdi Taghavi will take on Canada's Veranes Garcia. Taghavi is real tough and I see him advancing.Ikematsu of Japan, 3rd at the 2003 World Championships will be taking on last year's Bronze Medalist and 2006 Silver medalist Otar Tushishvili of Georgia.… more »

Ok guys & gals, here we go. The first night of Freestyle wrestling begins this evening and the draws for 55 and 60 kg are out. There are some interesting match ups, and some matches that the world has looked forward to for quite some time. Let’s take a look and go over what we can expect to see this evening. 55 kg: Kyong Yang from North Korea is at the top of the bracket. If you recall my preview from the other night (http://www.flowrestling.org/videos/speaker/1413-craig-vitagliano/71947-55-kilo-breakdown) I said that this kid can win the entire weight. He’ll have Azerbaijan first round… more »

60 kg: ? Some very interesting match ups occurring right away. ? At the top we have both Bronze medalists from last year, Bazar Bazarguruev of Krgyzstan and Sahit Prizreni of Albania in an opening bout.? Bazarguruev had a good match with Batirov last year, as well as wins over Fedorishin of the Ukraine and Odabasi of Turkey.? Prizreni had an equally impressive run in Baku last year with wins over Mike Zadick of the USA and veteran Mourad Ramazanov of Macedonia before losing in the semi finals to Anatoli Guidea of Bulgaria.? He had a great match against He… more »

And so it begins. In about 12 hours we will begin to start Freestyle. These guys have waited a long time for this and Mike Zadick has got to feel like he has the world in front of him with his birth at the Olympics. It is interesting to see how these wrestlers perfrom under the "pressure". I have been doing a lot of thinking about these guys and how they will perform. Do wrestlers perform at their ultimate or do they crumble or just tighten up? Why and how? Can you imagine when you workout in intense conditions and… more »

Days are getting boring, competitions coming near I can see myself getting skinnier when I look in the mirror When I step on the mat August 20 I'll be ready to scrap And it will be the last feather I need to put in my cap. more »

SUNDAY EVENING - AUGUST 17, 2008FINAL RESULTS - DAY 2USA has a new Olympic Bronze Medalist - RANDI MILLERBoth Ali Bernard and Clarissa Chun Lost in the BRONZE MEDAL Matches.Randi beat a real veteran in Degrunier from Canada in the Bronze Medal Match. I thought she wrestle a close to perfect match - she won in typical Randi Miller fashion. She pressured Degrunier the entire match and in the end all of her work payed off.I'm proud of the WAY we wrestled the last two days I'm only dissapointed in the results. These Coaches and Athletes have worked too hard… more »

SUNDAY EVENING - AUGUST 17, 2008FINAL RESULTS - DAY 2USA has a new Olympic Bronze Medalist - RANDI MILLERBoth Ali Bernard and Clarissa Chun Lost in the BRONZE MEDAL Matches.Randi beat a real veteran in Degrunier from Canada in the Bronze Medal Match. I thought she wrestle a close to perfect match - she won in typical Randi Miller fashion. She pressured Degrunier the entire match and in the end all of her work payed off.I'm proud of the WAY we wrestled the last two days I'm only dissapointed in the results. These Coaches and Athletes have worked too hard… more »

Mike Zadick should make the olympics. He is first in line as an alternate and the Bulgarian wrestler will not participate. Apparently the Bulgarian alternate got into a car accident. This is not official until the IOC signs off on it. more »

SATURDAY EVENING - AUGUST 16, 2008Hello from the Village!The Competition just finished. Clarissa Chun Lost in the BRONZE MEDAL Match to Merlini (UKR)I thought Clarissa wrestle a great tournament but those few mental lapses cost us a medal. Marcie simply wasn't on today. I feel for these two athletes because I know the have put in a lot of work, when they do that you want to see them leave with rewards.The Final results today are as follows:48 KGGOLD - Carol Hyhn (CAN)SILVER - Icho (JPN)BRONZE - Stadnyk (AZE)BRONZE - Merlini (UKR)55 KGGOLD - Yoshida (JPN)SILVER - Li (CHN)BRONZE -… more »

I get back from the workout and what do I see. Cartan tours is selling a ticket. I haven't been to an event yet. And what is this one. BEACH VOLLYBALL. While I was in the storm on the great wall I met a guy that had some video blog thing going on for MTV or something. He said beachvollyball was the most fun. Heck yeah it was. All our professional sports, that's what this beach vollyball game was like. It is fun lots and the guy doesn't think I'll make it so I buy it for face value. Face… more »

Yeah so It was a great day being a tourist. Now I get a day pass. I already figured this one out with Larry. Someone told Larry who told me and so yeah it's a done deal. NOT. Funny deal. Mexico keeping an agreement. Yeah so they still bother lying to larry and saying I was on but got bumped off at the last minute which was really polite of them. They could have told me the truth and said 'We actually don't care about you or how larry does' Yeah I don't give up. I got taught a few… more »

Brian doesn't understand the concept of money in China. Let me make something very clear. Money in China isn't money in the United States. The mosty accurate way of measuring gold standard is not big macs. It's not the exchange rate, which right now is 1:6.85. The best standard is the hour wage stardard. Why? because this is another way of measuring the GDP of any given country. I tried to explain economics to chinese people but it is tough. Now a chinese teacher makes 300 USD per month. An american teacher might make 2000 to 3000 USD per month.… more »

I was supposed to get into the village. Plans don't always work out. I take the seven thirty shuttle to get there. I get up at six forty. *Now let me be very clear about something. I get so little sleep compared to what I need that this is a workout in itself. I like to come on here and write so that people who are interested can read, but frankly it's for myself. I wrote about five single spaced journal pages a week on top of the blogs I wrote, on top of my homework and wrestling a week… more »

...I think that's how you spell his name... well he's my new roommate. Half japanese coaching a mexican polevaulter by the name of Giovanni. I get back from this great wall experience and I find him in my room to my surprise. He speaks fluent japanese and he seems to know everything shady that the mexican team is likely to pull. His guy is one of Mexico's really legit contenders for a medal. And by legit contenders for medals I mean he has vegas odds of winning the gold at 1/25. But he's only about 5 inches away from the… more »

*I'm going to catch up quick. Read any if you like. Don't if you don't. 18+ The great wall is well... great. It winds all the way around all the mountain ranges we can see. From the great wall we can see the cities all around china. There are lifts on the way up, which we end up taking all the way down afterwards. Larry is getting some nice shots of him taken. Some of him walking up the stairs of the great wall and others where he is hanging over the edge of the great wall, and in the… more »

Hello from the Village!The Competition just finished. Clarissa Chun Lost in the BRONZE MEDAL Match to Merlini (UKR)I thought Clarissa wrestle a great tournament but those few mental lapses cost us a medal. Marcie simply wasn't on today. I feel for these two athletes because I know the have put in a lot of work, when they do that you want to see them leave with rewards.The Final results today are as follows:48 KGGOLD - Carol Hyhn (CAN)SILVER - Icho (JPN)BRONZE - Stadnyk (AZE)BRONZE - Merlini (UKR)55 KGGOLD - Yoshida (JPN)SILVER - Li (CHN)BRONZE - Verbeek (CAN)BRONZE - Renteria (COL)Tomorrow… more »

SATURDAY - AUGUST 16, 2008Hello from the competition venue. We just finished the first session for 48 kg and 55 kg. Here are the results.48 kg1st RoundChun over Matsson (SWE)2-1, 3-12nd RoundChun over Bobryrmm (FRA)4-1, 2-1Semi-FinalIcho (JAP) over Chun1-0, 0-3, 1-1Clarissa has wrestled a good tournament but in all three matches she let up after she had the lead. She was able to come back from that in the first two matches but against Icho we had the lead, 1-0 in the third period and we let up for a second and got driven out of bounds. Tonight in the… more »

Telemundo set up an interview with larry for 9:30 a.m. the next day. To do it we are supposed to go to the great wall of china. I think Larry should get a practice in in the morning so I head down in a cab at 7. However Larry takes far too long and then decides he doesn't want to do it. It's his journey so I say ok. I'm just here to help him out, it's his journey. We have breakfast and then I head down to find the telemundo guys while Larry gets some errands done before meeting… more »

So I am very happy because I woke up to the second day of Blue skies in a row, it looks like China's plan to clear the skies is working at least for now. ALso my parents and my high school coach get in tonight so I am excited for that. Yesterday was a good day, since I am only doing one practice a day now I am really getting to sleep in which is nice. I went and worked out with Max and did a quick Sauna. After that Max, Steele, Shawn, Amy and I took off for the… more »

GEIA SAS! (Greek - Hello)KALIMERA! (Greek - Good Morning)Weigh-In Day 48 kg and 55 kg- The girls have weighed-in and the brackets are set. Clarissa Chun will face Matsson from Sweden first round and Marcie Van Dusen will face Synyshyn from Ukraine in the first round - They must win 3 matches each tomorrow morning to make it to the Gold Medal Matches, tomorrow evening. You can go to: www.themat.com - for the full bracket. This is USA Wrestling's Official website.Like I have stated before, It is our belief that when an athlete makes a US Team they are prepared… more »

There is a shuttle that leaves to the wrestling facility every hour at the :20. We took the 4:20 shuttle and got there by five. However, I can only take this shuttle one time if I have a day pass and then I have to go around the whole venue just to pick up my passport. At that point I have to leave because I can't get in again. We jump on the bus to the arena with the mongolian womens team and some dutch swimmers. Larry has to change into his singlet when we get there. I think it's… more »

Ok just two quick thoughts for my blog today. 1- They have these things over here called squatters, they are holes in the ground used as toilets, they really gross me out. I had to take my first duker on one the other day, because I couldn't find anything else. It really felt like a violation of my humanity, and I couldn't figure out how old people could manage, it was a challenge to me and I am a young healthy man. 2- The most fun part about Beijing may be the cab driving, it is so cheap and there… more »

I got a day pass into Olympic village the next day. I wake up at 7 A.M. and jump on a 7:30 bus with the Mexican team. They are speaking spanish the whole ride and I can understand a little but not very much. When I get to the village we are all a little confused about which way Mexico's building is. Finally we get to the building. It takes a while to go anywhere in Olympic village since it is so spread out. When I have to meet up with Larry I'll call him from outside the village and… more »

Real Success is Much More Than Just Wanting to It...If Fact it's not About How Bad You Want...It About Commitment to The Process. The first P is Preparation...This one is the easiest to measure because it involves all the work that goes into any achievement and can be measured and monitored. This is not easy! The work part stops a lot of people. The Key here is put in the WORK so that you are PREPARED when your opportunity comes. The second P is Passion...Do you absolutely Love the Thing that your trying to Achieve. For me it was "Wrestling".… more »

I still couldn't get a workout with Larry in the third day I was here. He was arranged for a workout at one of the facilities though. However, he told me that absolutely no one from any country came in to work out when he was set to. Frustrating, because I was brought to be his training partner and coach. Most Olympians want to schedule their own workouts with their own workout partners. If he can't find a workout partner it's not their business to get him a workout. I looked at a few rooms to wrestle in that we… more »

My hotel is straight up next to the ghetto. I walked across the street to check out some shops the other day. The first one I looked in was a bike shop. Nice stuff, I considered buying one except I would hardly use it. Then I walked into the next shop and turned out it was a sex shop. In both shops the guys were sleeping in a bed in the back. Which helped me to realize, this is their house. The dude lives in a sex shop! what a sweet life.. not. And if you think this is not… more »

I met up with Larry the night after I got in. I took a bus to a train to another bus, the whole process was incredibly confusing, just to get to the olympic village. I realized that even though it only costs about 80 cents to do it that way, the 8 dollar cab ride is much nicer. I carry around several maps with me any time I go out. I point at the map where I want to go. If it's a cabbie he starts driving, If it's a person he will point - most of the time, sometimes… more »

A few for my thoughts for you before I start my blog -Women in the olympic have great legs -Sometimes you wil be walking around Beijing and it will just start stinking for no good reason -Taxis are so cheap, I dont think I have paid more than four american dollars for a ride anywhere -The chinese Language is very tough to read and speak Ok so today we went to the great wall and it is just mind boggling just to think of the time and effort put into that wall. It was very scenic but thegreat that view… more »

Tsa- shung- ha (this is not the correct spelling but it sounds like this) This is how you say GOOD MORNING in Mandarin. Mandarin is the dialect spoken in BeijingWe had workout this morning at 10:00 am. At our workout, watching was a young women by the name, Jenna Stuczynski, remember the name! She is the # 2 Ranked Pole Vaulter in the world. She is a huge wrestling fan. Her personal coach is a former wrestler, NY State Champion in 1986, but wrestling is still a passion of his. He trains her with the wrestling menality. Jenna will compete… more »

I absolutely love the food here. Duck, goose, rat, dog, squid, whatever it is.. you name it, I'll eat it. In fact I'll do you one better - don't even name it, you don't even need a picture of it. If it gets handed to me it is getting devored. My first day here I entered a nice resturant. It was very large and spread out and yet there were only 2 other groups inside besides me. If I wanted to go out with a girl on a romantic date I would have chosen this place. It seemed upscale, plenty… more »

I finally got to the hotel last night and settled in. I had no idea who determined what. I just kept handing my sheets around to one person and the next and the next. There are several people that speak bits of english here. English is probably the most international language. It's worth having as a secondary language because economies of english speaking countries seem to do well. But even still the english I hear is primarily 'hello', 'yes', and 'please take a seat' which reminds me of Chris Hansen in to catch a predator. I know it's meant to… more »

I got here at 3 P.M. That's Beijing time. It's thirteen hours ahead of us and the flight was 13 hours. So I landed a day and 2 hours ahead of when I took off. When we landed I followed everyone. It was confusing - there were a few security checks, the baggage claim, and then I was all by myself to figure it out. I played the clueless foreigner. I asked people for help, kept my words to a minimum and pointed to names and pictures. It made it even more confusing that the only language I speak is… more »

I wanted to write down some of the things that have been going on in Beijing. First a little background: I got here the tenth, two days ago. I'm here with Larry Langowski Mendoza or L.L. Mendoza "The Luchador". I wrestled with Larry a lot the spring of my freshman year. He's tough to wrestle and tough to score on but like everyone else still has plenty of things to work on. Hopefully we can improve on the few things and strategize to find a way to bring back a medal. He is wrestling for Mexico and they are paying… more »

I hope you are all doing well. Everything here is great. The weather held up again a little over cast and scattered showers but it was again a cooler day. Still humid but very tolerable.The sky has been grey but the rain actually cleaned the air a bit. When I woke up today I could actually see the mountains to the north of the city. Remember Beijing sits in a basin so this is also the reason everything gets trapped. Also, a lot of the pollution/Dust in the air comes from dust from winds blowing in from the northwest. I… more »

So this morning I woke up to a huge surprise, I saw the first blue skies since I got here, now they are just faintly visible, but at this point any blue skies will make me happy. After rain the last two days the temperature has gone way down also it is awesome. SO yesterday we worked out twice, a hard practice in the mornign then in the afternoon I just drilled with Max. I also made another sweet purschase yesterday, it was a bicycle. Everything in the village is so far apart and I have been etremely jealous of… more »

I feel like such a dork because I wrote just short of 12 horus ago, but I had a rather exciting day and figured I would be busy tomorrow and I am bored now so why not write. Today after my morning wrestling with Max a big group of us headed to the silk market, I havent had so much fun in a long time. I got an Armani suit for $27 and Tru religion jeans for $19 (don't worry people I realize these may be knock offs.) I am really hoping Martin posts video of this which he took… more »

I hope its Jolly Goodaye in America!It has been a goodaye here in Beijing. It was a relaxing day, the girls were on there own. Even the HEAT took a break today as it rained most of the day with thuner and lightning storms.I spent some time this evening at the Asics VIP Wharehouse. Although it was a long cab ride, Stan Zeamer and Myself learned a little about the History of the company. ASICS started out in Japan with a basket ball shoe in 1949. The company was founded be the late Mr. Onitsuka. Onitsuka San was a very… more »

Alright so there are tons of crazy stuff going on here in China. Not to state the obvious but The chinese people and government got so into these games. I feel like they filtered the cab drivers to be the best in China. They are super honest and seem like they are out for our best interest. Not what I was expecting. After hand picking the best cab drivers in the nation they went on to put a radius around all Olympic stadiums and not let anyone get close to any facility without tickets to events. this allows China to… more »

8:30 AM Beijing time (Sun) 7:30 PM CST (Sat) I really feel the need to redeem myself after yesterdays blog, because it was that bad. I just read it again this morning and I cant believe I even wrote it, just terrible. Yesterday morning everybody woke up late, we were supposed to have an 8:30 work out, but due to not getting back from opening ceremonies until 2:00am the previous night, we smartly pushed it back until the afternoon. When I woke up I felt like a truck hit me, my body doesn't take well to standing and especially not… more »

Last night was opening ceremonies, and it is supposed to be an amazingnight, but I am not going to lie to you I didnt have a good time. Iwas hot, sweaty, tired and hungry. The heat was unbearable everyamerican athlete was drenched in sweat. Now dont get me wrong therewere some high points to the night, I asked Jenna Bush to take mypicture not knowing who she was. She did so very well, then everyoneon the team made fun of me. Daniel was getting his pictuer taken withevery basketball player in sight. We didnt get to see the fireworkswhich I… more »

I hope you all had the chance to see the Opening Ceremony last night on TV. As you have seen, The Chinese people spared no expense putting these Games together. It was Truely Amazing!I was asked by a reporter what i thought about the Opening Ceremony! It is really hard to put into words. It was a lot of things:It was Grand - it is amazing how many volunteer to help at the games and not just Chinese people but people from around the globe. It is also amazing how all of these efforts are coordinated to make everything run… more »

So here we are on another side of the world and things are really different! Yesterday we got in around 11pm. I came in with Nick Feckete and right off the bat wanted to go to Beijing Normal but I decicded to first go my hotel and meet up with him later. When we got to my hotel with my brother and my friend Garrett we decided that "heck we are only in China once" so we hit the town. It was pretty strange going around the city. When you get right down and think about it is totally crazy… more »

8:30am China Time ????? Central standard time So here I am sitting in an internet cafe before we have our first practice of the day. Being overseas does something strange to me, I am always able to wake up early. In the states I can never get up before 10am and be happy about it. But on the Russia trip I was up at 6am everyday and likewise I woke up at 6:30am today and felt good. The trip went very smoothly due to the fact that I can sleep well on planes, I slept almost 7 or the 11.5… more »

Ni Hao or Hello in Chinese!Did you know that China has 1/5 of thw worlds population with 1.3 Billion people. Amazing!Today - I woke up at about 6:00 am. I thought I might Sleep longer but I guess it takes a few days to acclimate.Let me tell you a little bit about The Beijing Olympic Village. It has enough room for 16000 people, it will hold all 205 countries that are competing in the games. There are also Olympic Villages in the cities of Hong Kong & Quindao which are 2 main host cities for sports in the games. The… more »

Alright, Im sitting here in my hotel room getting ready to head off to China. Should be interesting to see how things take place over there. From what I hear they got the city on lockdown, millions of cameras sureveling the street...pretty nuts. Although a lot of preparation has taken place for these games, probably way more than any other Olympics, there is some tension I feel going over there...if there are protests how will the government react, will the polution be too much for the athletes? Im kinda of an optimist though and I think everything will go off… more »

So here I am in my dorm room at San Jose St., we leave tomorrow from San Fran for Beijing on a direct 13 hour flight. I will be keeping you updated throughout all 20 days of my olympic experience, I will do my best to give you the full un cut version of what goes on behind the scenes at the olympic games. Now while they have already given us a full set of instructions on what not to do in our blogs I will do my best to give you the full experience. So yesterday morning, Monday August… more »

I'll Illustrate This Point With A Story I Learned From Dr. Rob Gilbert, Co-author of my CD Series entitled "The Psychology of Winning Wrestling http://www.leekemp.com/cdpage.htm "The story takes place on a hot day – 120 degrees in the shade. And it takes place in a railroad yard and this crew is out there with their pick axes and shovels and sweating and working on the rails. Then out of the office comes the president of the company, Bill McClanahan. He looks over at his crew and he sees his old friend Charlie and he yells out – hey Charlie is… more »