This past week of training
July 24 2000

This past week of training was definitely a week that will remain sketched in my memory. I must admit that I was praying for the week to come to an end. I am sore; I am very sore. But from now to the Olympics, whenever I go into overtime in a match situation, I will have fuel that will propel me to carry on. A few weeks of this kind of training has got me ready to brawl, grind, and bang heads with anybody in my weight class. I am glad I made this trip and even more glad that I am heading back to Vancouver, to more familiar surroundings. Have I said I am sore? Yeah, I am sore, really sore!

It's not until you venture over to other countries that you begin to understand the magnitude of talent that different wrestlers have. It's not until a wrestler in a weight class below you gives you a run for your money that you begin to realize that winning an Olympic gold medal is not just talking about it. It will only happen when the circumstances are right on that day. I understand the number of talented wrestlers in my weight class, so I am not going to boast that I will dominate everybody. All I've been trying to do is to train as hard as I can, control as many situations as I can, hope to get really lucky, and with God on my side, wrestle well enough to win a gold medal at the Olympics. I'm glad I made this trip to Korea because it is a very humbling experience. I'm glad because I had the opportunity to see wrestlers whom I have never ever heard of, slap gut wrenches on me and squeeze the headlights out of my ribs. I'm glad because I trained with unknown wrestlers who got in on my legs and finished without giving me a chance to react. I'm glad because I feel very vulnerable right now; I'm glad because I know that the 69 kilogram weight class is wide open and I'll have to wrestle really hard to have a chance at a gold medal.

My ribs need a break, so do most other parts of my body. Coach Mckay was cognizant of that fact and has given us two days off the mats to rest our bodies. I am excited that I have some little studs from Washington coming up for a camp this week. I may also go to Port Albernie to make an appearance at a kids camp, anything to boost the morale of younger wrestlers who look up to me. On Wednesday, I get back on the mats. The ribs will still be sore, but we don't have too much time for layoffs. I can always take as much time off after the Olympics to allow for healing. I catch my 12 hour flight back to Vancouver in three hours. Everyone smiles and bows to me here in Seoul, Korea. I get a feeling they are at ease with me. The feeling is mutual. I'm at ease with them as well.

Keep Sweating... Daniel (Dynamite) Igali.