Sanderson primed for Olympic debut

ATHENS, Greece — Cael Sanderson was calmly answering all the usual questions a wrestler gets a few days before his Olympics debut, when one hit him with the unexpectedness of an opponent's five-point throw.

Does the most successful college wrestler ever consider himself the face of an inexperienced but eager U.S. Olympic freestyle team?

Immediately, a frown creased a face that, at least so far, has displayed only relaxed confidence.

"Am I going to get teased now from these guys," Sanderson said Monday, glancing up and down a table where six teammates tried to contain their laughter. "I am one of seven people ... trying to do the best I can here at the Olympics."

Sanderson, 25, is the best-known member of the U.S. freestyle wrestling delegation, but he doesn't equate that to stardom in a sport where even the best athletes compete in relative obscurity except during an Olympics.

Being the only four-year unbeaten (159-0) NCAA champion gained him as much acclaim as any American wrestler not named Rulon Gardner can get, including magazine covers. What Sanderson most wants is a breakthrough on the international stage.

Gardner got his four years ago in Sydney with his once-in-a-century upset of supposedly unbeatable Greco-Roman super heavyweight Alexander Karelin, but Sanderson is more accomplished than Gardner was then. He just doesn't have the gold medal yet; he was too inexperienced internationally and didn't make the 2000 team.

"I'm not concerned about personality, I'm concerned about wrestling well," Sanderson said. "I don't want to win to get some kind of status, I want to win because I want to win, I want to be the champion. The truth is, you win this, and that's going to give you your celebrity status in wrestling."

He came close a year ago, losing 4-3 to Russia's Sajid Sajidov in the world final in New York. In 2002, the same year he won his fourth consecutive NCAA title, the U.S. team didn't attend the world competition in Iran for security concerns.

Sanderson wouldn't be too old for Beijing in 2008, but understands this may be his best opportunity in a low-income sport that often forces even its top athletes to retire and take real-world jobs to survive financially.

"He knows what he did wrong" in 2003, said Bobby Douglas, the Iowa State coach who is also on the U.S. Olympic team staff. "Our preparation could have been better, and I think he's made the necessary adjustments to take care of that. I think you'll see a different Cael Sanderson this time."