Reflections from Athens
August 31 2004

It is the toughest thing, to pace back and forth, threaten a board standing nearby, shove it a bit while still breathing heavily, because CBC has just asked if "you mind an interview", just as you walk off the mat. You have just lost 3-1 to Fundora of Cuba in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games. You do not want to talk about strategy yet (especially if you keep it from your coach), it may have been faulty. It may have been faulty because you had promised Mike Jones you would just wrestle. You wrestled, but the 'just' in the middle was eliminated in this match. All of a sudden, you realized that this was a quarter-final match that would set you up against either Williams of the US or Laliev of Kazakhstan. They are two people you have wanted the opportunity to wrestle against. But here and now, it is Fundora you need to be all out for; not be wary of his most effective weapon: the counter attack, cos' right now, your mind tells you, the moment you worry about that which never happens, you have dug yourself into a hole.

But back to the CBC reporter, who is waiting patiently for you to catch your breath and have a word with him for the Canadian listening audience. Yes, the CANADIAN listening audience, the only people who matter at this moment. The people who have, on the average, been sending you 100 emails per day of "best of luck" wishes. The Canadian people who collectively supported your efforts to build a school in your homeland that volunteered and sacrificed and sent $1 - $200,000 for your school project. The Canadian people who have supported your vision to excel, who have taken it upon themselves to support your endeavours, your dreams; who understand when you are down and out, when you are happy or frustrated; who out of sheer love and support, laugh and cry with you. The Canadian people who housed, fed and nurtured your initial baby walking steps into their great country. Yea, the Canadian people, the people who really matter.

So... I pace back and forth, take a few swipes at the wall, only to be reminded that indeed, the CANADIAN people might see me taking out my frustration on an innocent wall, and so, in a delayed action reflex, I compose myself, walk back and forth a bit, and finally walk towards the interviewer and the focused camera and its camera man. "Wipe off the sweat from your face", a voice tells you, but you decide to let the CANADIAN people see the sweat. Let them know that you just finished a match and you are talking to the CBC crew because of them. Don't worry if you have to stop and catch your breath every so often. If you have to break down and cry, don't sweat it. If expletives creep out of you, just let it be. As it should be. One thing: be yourself. Do not be politically correct. No apologies for your performances, you have not let anyone down; except maybe for Mike Jones, whom you promised to flat out "wrestle", but that too is explainable. That a strategy did not work out does not mean you did not wrestle, and you should not sweat about the result, not at this point anyway. The interviewer has looked into your eyes and asked the question you have anticipated. "How do you feel?"

You do not feel like talking of course. You are doing this for the Canadian people, and also for your Mum, the one who has passed and the one alive, who may watch it sometime, somewhere. You are also talking, and have gone through this whole Olympic experience, because you wanted to excel at a more competitive tournament, a more competitive weight class; because Paul Nemeth would have loved to see it, as he had confided to you before passing away last year, "with less jitters than the first one"; and also because your father, Leimokumo, would have been a "proud father" again. They might be watching and/or may catch it on replay later. That is why you are doing it, but by no means are you happy. Your styles kinda conflict. Your favorite single is eliminated by the Cuban's left leg lead. You can shoot the high crotch, but he would counter, so you have been cautious and waiting for the counters, but he has been excessively careful as well. He takes about ten to fifteen shots normally in a six minute match, but here, he is picking his spots as well. It is, after all, the Olympics.

"I am not ashamed of my performance, but bothered that I have lost to the same guy a few times and have not figured him out enough yet." Despite the profuse scrutiny of video tapes that kept you up for the greater part of the night, it was not to be, and that is more of a disappointment than losing the quarter-final match at the Olympics. The fact that you lost to this one guy at the Olympics. It would not have mattered much if it was any other tournament, but not the Olympics. But someone has to win? Of course you are grateful to your sponsors, especially General Mills "Cheerios", without whom you would have been effectively retired three years ago. If you do not wrestle another match in your life, it is not because of lack of desire, but maybe for lack of a sponsor, as you are unsure if your sponsorship with CHEERIOS will be renewed. But you were confident about winning this match and the next and progressing to the finals, cos' Coach had told you that "if you win your pool, you'll go all the way and win the whole thing". So when a reporter asks you, right after, if you realistically expected to progress beyond the quarter-finals, you wonder if you should be mad or happy at that line of questioning. Yes, you had some injuries, but everyone else deals with injuries. Yes, your preparation was curtailed, but so was everyone else's preparation. I came into the Olympics because I was fit enough to compete. Losing does not have anything to do with injuries. I lost to someone who wrestled better than me on the day. No excuses about injuries here, if I was that injured, I would have stayed back home. End of story.

How about the school Project? What now for you? Is this your last Olympics? Do you expect anyone to meet you at the Airport when you go back to Vancouver?

Well, I will stay back and visit some choice parts of Greece before flying home on the 4th of September, getting home at 10:30 PM. I do not expect anyone to be waiting for me at the airport, except my friends who have always been there for me through thick and thin. I expect to fulfill some sponsorship requirements over the next month (September), travel to Mexico and Cuba early October and focus on my thesis. About my school project, I am really excited that it is indeed coming along. We are in the construction phase, which is going on very well. I will take some time to play soccer, learn to skate, rollerblade, hang out with my friends, read novels, and do all the things I have denied myself over the past year. I will remain very involved with our youth, we owe them a debt: to give back to them what we have gotten from others. I do not plan to wrestle competitively for at least six months, but I will go up to Burnaby mountain on occasion to roll around with the younger ones that will take over when we decide to call it quits in the next couple of years.

A big holla to Bell mobility for giving all Canadian athletes the Opportunity to be in touch with home away from home. I hope we have a lot more companies like Bell, to make life a lot easier for Canadian athletes. I have been a big advocate of living your life in a manner where you do not have to ever wonder what could have been. I honestly questioned the rationale for coming to this Olympics. It wasn't about my ability, that has never been in question. But I wondered if I could do as well with all the injury distractions I had. I contemplated a one way ticket to an unknown destination, but I am too close to my coaches, training partners, and friends to betray them in that fashion. So I didn't. I came, saw, and experienced. I will not have to wonder for the rest of my life, what could have been if I had made it to Athens. Now I know. It was a 6th place showing, which could have been better, but it was the best we could do on the day. To my coaches, team mates and training partners and my loyal and loving friends, to everyone who prayed, watched and wished the Canadian team "good luck" thank you for all your support.

God bless you all, bless you real good!

Keep sweating,

Baraladei Daniel Igali