A Long Time Coming
May 09 2004
I must first of all apologize for the long silence. If I remember correctly, the last diary entry was about one and a half year ago. I am too much of a positive person to dwell on the negatives that bedevilled my last year and a half of competitions or the lack thereof. Truthfully, I found it too depressing to share my last 18 months on diaries with you, so I saved you the heartache; but I will, while not elaborating on the circumstances, recount some of the more positive events from the last 18 months. Front and centre is the fact that I have qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics. When I take into consideration the ease with which I qualified for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, it forewarns me that Athens will be the biggest test I have ever faced on the mats.
October of 2002 also saw me compete at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England. I had the immense honour of being Canada's flag bearer at the Commonwealth Games, reminding me of a similar sporting event that brought a wide-eyed 20-year-old to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 8 years prior. Walking into the Manchester stadium with the hopes of a nation disproportionately perched on my shoulders is got to be one of the biggest thrills I have ever experienced. Hearing the shouts and chants, as 'Team Canada" was introduced, brought out emotions that I never knew ever existed inside of me. Most of my friends who had won commonwealth games gold medals were quick to remind me that I could be a World and Olympic champion wrestler, but that I was not a Commonwealth games champion yet. Well, that is all over now.
2003 also turned out to be a sub par year for me. After a spinal fusion in my C-6/7 vertebrae, it took me almost 4 months to get back on the mat; another month (July, 2003) to get ready for the national team wrestle-off (which I won to represent team Canada at the 2003 world championships); and a couple of months more for me to get ready for the world championships. My results at the 2003 world championships in New York are the worst I have had in my senior level of competition ever. I placed 11th, not because that is an accurate depiction of my world ranking, but because I lost a winnable match in overtime. Wrestling rules do not allow for anyone to move further if one loses before the semi final match. So I had to settle for 11th place.
December of 2003 was a combination of broken ribs and an inability to compete at the Canadian Olympic team trials, which meant I had to have a special wrestle-off with a match down and everything to lose. Early 2004 (January 31st) also meant that I had to try and qualify an Olympic spot for Canada internationally in Bratislava, Slovakia. I have since qualified the weight class for Canada, and won the Olympic spot wrestle-off. What followed was another month of rehab for a low-body injury. I get back on the mats next week and pray and hope that from now until the Olympics, this body holds up. My one consolation is that both the body and the spirit are willing. To compete at the Olympics, to represent team Canada at the Olympics, is an opportunity that I treasure and will do anything legally within my power to protect.
After a month of riding away on the bike, swimming and doing those monotonous physical therapy routines, I am looking forward to actually grinding away on the mats. At the last count, it remained just over a hundred days before I get out on the mats in Athens. No terrorist threats, nor rumors of incomplete structures in Athens will deter the 'chosen ones' from filing out on the pitch, in a gigantic Athens stadium, sometime on the 13th of August for the Opening ceremonies. I realize this is a boring diary entry. It is intentionally meant to be; anything more would not do justice to the past gloomy, miserable, 18 months. But the sun is shining again and new leaves on trees and blooming flowers are all around. Until you hear about the Solitary Life of An Olympic Athlete in next week's entry, keep sweating.
Dynamite Daniel Igali
