The slow music is gone
September 04 2000

The mood in my suburban surrey basement is upbeat. The slow music is gone. Instead, my loudspeakers are spitting the likes of Nas, DMX, JayZ, Tupac, Raskimono, Biggie, Orits Williki, Da Brat, Zigg/Bob Marley and sometimes Fela Kuti. The volume is cranked. I wonder what my neighbors are thinking. I hope they don't disapprove. The mood has changed to a more upbeat tempo to help get myself ready mentally for the big event.

I have started to eliminate a few things. For example, no movies past 10:00 PM, no pool past 10:30 PM, no clubbing whatsoever (that has been going on for months now) and most important of all, no distractions. The phone is turned off most times, and I get a feeling that my fish also senses the mood in this tiny basement. In a few weeks, according to Mohammed Ali "We will get it on, cos' we don't get along".

This week was better than last week. I'd rate it as a B+. I saw a renowned physiotherapist for my stubborn injury and I ran twice this week. I am feeling good and I feel great about my weights. But I'm not wrestling as well as I would like to. My coach, Dave Mckay tells me that all is proceeding according to plan. If I wrestle well now, he says, "I am not doing my job as a coach". I know it's important to peak at the right time, but I'm a little impatient. I sometimes wish we could get it over with right now.

Reporters have been telling me that most sports magazines, including Sports Illustrated have picked me as a favorite for a gold medal in my weight class. I know one thing. I will not fall for any of these mind games. You sometimes wonder what they mean by a favorite. Does it mean you have three legs and three arms? The Olympic qualification process involved picking the best twenty guys in every weight class to vie for Olympic glory in Sydney. When they say I am a favorite, does it mean I start every match with a three point advantage? As you know, I don't. We all start with a 0-0 score and work our way up. That is why I will not be fooled by the "favorite" tagline. I am going into the Olympics as one of twenty competitors for the Olympic games in Sydney. I will not receive any seeding, neither will any other wrestler in my weight class. We will all pick numbers from a hat and be paired according to the numbers we pick.

Napoleon Bonarparte did not want good generals. He wanted lucky generals to lead his army. Personally, I want to be very lucky in Sydney and have a good draw. Having spent a lot of time in the weight room, on the mat, watching wrestling tapes and meditating about the perfect match, I have come to realize that the more one trains, the luckier one gets. I repeat, I pray to God that I get really lucky in Sydney. I want to do well in Sydney, but I am very comfortable with what I am right now. As the coach in Cool Runnings (the movie) says: " A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you are not enough without it, you will not be enough with it".

Keep sweating!

Daniel (Dynamite) Igali.