Hail Cael

Sanderson wins 5 times in 2 days to claim Olympic gold, but it isn't easy

ATHENS — Utah's Cael Sanderson, who never lost in college, became the 2004 Olympic freestyle wrestling champion in the middleweight (185 pound) division Saturday night by not losing at the Olympics, either. He won five straight matches over a two-day period, including a 3-1 verdict over Eui Jae Moon to clinch the gold medal Saturday night in the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall.

That's the easy summation. On the mat, it wasn't that breezy.

Sanderson, 25, went through his first Olympic tournament more like Indiana Jones than the untouchable man. Only one match — a 9-1 dismantling of Siarhei Borchanka of Bulgaria — qualified as a blowout. In none of his other matches did he win by more than two points and in his last three matches he had to come from behind to win.

And yet, he had an uncanny ability to stay calm in the face of so much uncertainty. "I was having fun, even when I was behind," he said. "I think that helped. I was able to keep a clear mind and focus."

In the gold-medal match, he trailed Moon 1-0 at the 3:07 mark after the Korean was awarded a point for winning a clinch hold. Wrestling defensively, Moon succeeded in staying away from Sanderson's offensive attempts for almost a minute and a half. But at 4:32, Sanderson was finally able to strike and land a hold on the Korean's legs and roll him over, securing a two-point takedown.

Even that scoring, however, came with suspense. Although the referee signalled points for Sanderson, the move was so quick that the judges stopped the match to review the videotape before putting the points on the scoreboard.

Needing three points for a win in regulation, Sanderson got the match-clincher with a one-point facedown takedown with 50 seconds remaining.

After that, Sanderson successfully kept Moon at bay, although Moon made an aggressive move that nearly turned Sanderson over with 15 seconds to go.

"Man, I was just thankful he didn't get me," said Sanderson. "He was real strong and real smart and wrestled a good match."

Moon won a silver medal at 76 kilograms (167 pounds) in the Sydney Olympics. He was pinned in that tournament by Alexander Leipold in the semifinals and wrestled in the bronze medal match, where he defeated Adam Bereket of Turkey. But three weeks after the Olympics, Leipold tested positive for anabolic steroids and his gold medal was taken away. Moon moved up to silver and Brandon Slay of the United States — who lost to Leipold in the gold-medal match — got the gold.

Four years older than Sanderson and a veteran of international freestyle competition since 1998 — when Sanderson was in his first year of college at Iowa State — Moon had a definite experience edge. At that, he was an unexpected foe in the final after upsetting Russian Sazhid Sazhidov in the semifinals with a 10-2 trouncing.

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