Wrestlers At The Trials: Their stories of trying to make the US Olympic wrestling team 1960-1988 ebook

by James V. Moffatt,Jack Wright

is a powerful collection of stories about 90 remarkable wrestlers - in their own words. Their stories of trying to make the US Olympic Wrestling Team 1960-1988.

book by James V. Moffatt.

to make the US Olympic wrestling team.

These amateur wrestlers from the 1960s, '70s. to make the US Olympic wrestling team. Their compelling stories - most of which have never been told until now - reveal their ordeals: fighting backroom politics and racial prejudices surviving weight-cutting countdowns and physical training beyond - way beyond - normal boundaries.

These amateur wrestlers from the 1960s, '70s and '80s had a common goalto make the US Olympic wrestling team. Their compelling stories - most of which have never been told until now - reveal their ordeals: fighting backroom politics and racial prejudices; surviving weight-cutting countdowns and physical training beyond - way beyond - normal boundaries.

Although wrestling was not initially an ancient-Olympics sport, it was added to the . If the athletes were standing, they tried to throw an opponent to the ground three times. A match ended when the third grounding took place.

Although wrestling was not initially an ancient-Olympics sport, it was added to the games circa 708 . The event took place in a muddy arena known as a keroma. The most famous of all wrestlers was Milon of Croton (student of the philosopher Pythagoras), six times Olympic champion (from 540 to 516 . ten times winner of the Isthmic Games, nine times winner of the Nemean Games, and five times winner of the Pythic Games. From the tongues of Blubaugh, Douglas, Owings, Gable, Farrell, Schalles, Kemp, Mills, Schultz, Fraser, Monday and many other great wrestlers��read their stories of glorious achievements and punishing defeats.

These amateur wrestlers from the 1960s, '70s and '80s had a common goa. o make the US Olympic wrestling team.

Wrestling at the 1988 Summer Olympics. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, 20 wrestling events were contested, for all men only. There were 10 weight classes in each of the freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling disciplines. A total of 429 wrestlers from 69 nations competed at the Seoul Games: List of World and Olympic Champions in men's freestyle wrestling. List of World and Olympic Champions in Greco-Roman wrestling. Official Olympic Report.

Wrestlers At The Trials is a powerful collection of stories about 90 remarkable wrestlers - in their own words. These amateur wrestlers from the 1960s, '70s and '80s had a common goal....to make the US Olympic wrestling team. Their compelling stories - most of which have never been told until now - reveal their ordeals: fighting backroom politics and racial prejudices; surviving weight-cutting countdowns and physical training beyond - way beyond - normal boundaries. From the tongues of Blubaugh, Douglas, Owings, Gable, Farrell, Schalles, Kemp, Mills, Schultz, Fraser, Monday and many other great wrestlers....read their stories of glorious achievements and punishing defeats. The stories of their Trials.... Amateur Wrestling News, in their review of the book last year, commented that Wrestlers At The Trials is... full of fascinating stories, anecdotes and opinions... a must for any serious wrestling fan. The book, which is a hard-cover 196 page publication with many action photographs, also received the 2007 Publication of the Year award from the National Wrestling Media Association.

Undeyn

He loved it. His picture is on the inside front cover. It was signed by the author and came in pristine condition. Very satisfied, but more importantly, so is my Dad.

Velan

Jamie Moffatt, in his new book Wrestlers at the Trials, has taken a look at a subject long neglected by wrestling historians - the Olympic Trials and all the effort, combat, pain, intrigue and politics involved in this quadrennial event. The book begins with the 1960 trials and continues through 1988, with a chapter devoted to each Olympic year. There is also a separate chapter on the prolonged battle in 1984 for the Freestyle slot at 136.5 pounds, what the author calls "the most highly contested controversial Freestyle weight class in the history of the US Olympic Trials."
Each chapter of the book begins with a brief discussion of the social environment at the time and the process used to select the team members. The rest of the chapter is devoted to the wrestling, training and final selection of the team. There are also lengthy looks at the battles for a few of the most hotly contested weights at each of the trials. The author has interviewed countless wrestlers and coaches involved in the trials and each chapter is loaded lengthy quotes from these insiders.
There was very little media coverage of the trials and this book, with its numerous insights and behind the scenes stories, fills this vacuum. We learn about the legendary war between Olympic gold medalist Doug Blubaugh and Phil Kinyon in 1960, the round robin of Ed Banach, Chris Campbell and John Peterson in 1980, and the 1984 duel of world champions -- Lee Kemp vs. Dave Schultz.
No book on the Olympic trials would be complete without a few stories about world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist Rick Sanders, a rare combination of wrestling savant and eccentric behavior. One of the excerpts of the book in this issue describes the side deal between Sanders and Don Behm to avoid a weigh in before the final match to determine the 125.5 pound slot on the 1972 Freestyle team. Another story describes Sanders' penchant for listening to very loud rock music at all hours of the day and night. At the 1968 training camp, Sanders used discarded acoustical ceiling tiles and duct tamp to sound proof his dorm room so that his music would not bother other team members.
Politics are part of amateur wrestling and this was no more apparent than at the 1984 trials. These were the first of the PC era and technology played a major role in the competition. All the final trial bouts were recorded on video tape and virtually ever close match went through the protest process. The mother of all protests was of course the one concerning the second bout between Lee Roy Smith and Randy Lewis at 136.5 pounds. Smith won the match and eventually a spot on the Olympic team.
That was not the end of the story and the book contains a whole chapter on a process that was as prolonged and heated as the 2000 presidential election. The chapter includes a full chronology of the events. It was a battle between the two power centers of wrestling in America - Oklahoma and Iowa - and it would have repercussions for years to come. Lewis, supported controversially by Olympic head coach Dan Gable, eventually won an arbitration hearing and the Olympic spot when the protested bout was re-wrestled from 84 seconds left in the match. Lewis also won gold in Los Angeles, but four years later was defeated in the trials by Smith's younger brother John.
The 1984 trials did not have a monopoly on politics. In 1960, the event has held at the University of Oklahoma and many wrestlers from the east felt that there was favoritism shown to the Oklahoma based competitors. Bill Farrell, a contestant in 1960 and head coach of the high successful 1972 Freestyle team, felt that: "The powers-that-be didn't want me, (Frank) Bettucci or (Dave) Auble on the team. It was obvious to everyone but the Oklahomans." Shelby Wilson and Terry McCann, the winners in the trials, went on to win gold in Rome.