Wiltz

Zadick's Olympic odyssey comes to quick end
By BRYCE MILLER • brmiller@dmreg.com • August 19, 2008

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/app...RTS13/80819007
Beijing, China — Mike Zadick’s gold-medal Olympic dream did not materialize in 2008.

Ukraine’s Vasyl Fedoryshyn, who beat Zadick at an Olympic-qualifying tournament in December, rolled to a 5-0, 6-0, 132-pound victory this morning at China Agricultural University Gymnasium.

Zadick, 32, fell to Bazar Bazarguruev of Kyrgyzstan, 1-0, 3-0 to end his Olympics.


“It happened so quick — and ended so quick, too — it’s just kind of a shock right now,” said Zadick, a Great Falls, Mont., native who competed at the University of Iowa.

Mike Duroe, wrestling coach at Cornell College and Zadick's personal coach, struggled to pinpoint reasons for the sluggish performance.

“He didn’t seem like himself out there,” Duroe said.

Zadick struggled to cut weight for the tournament and was seriously dehydrated after the opening-round loss.

“Mike’s big for the weight class, there’s no question about that,” Duroe said. “I think it was a particularly hard cut for him.

"He certainly didn’t have the pop that he normally has in his offensive attacks, That would be an indication that maybe he was just a little bit worn out. But there are a lot of factors. Just the emotional strain of not knowing if he’s going to get to the tournament until less than 48 hours ago.”

Wrestling at all was an accomplishment for Zadick, who lives in Solon and was added to the U.S. team Sunday after two Bulgarian wresters were injured in freak accidents.

Anatoly Guidia, a 2007 world silver medalist, ruptured an Achilles tendon playing basketball at the Olympic Village. Team backup Ismail Redzhep broke a rib in a car accident — on the way to the airport to travel to Beijing.

The U.S. had not qualified the 132-pound weight class for Olympic competition, but Zadick — the U.S. national champion — continued to train and traveled to China on the chance that a spot would open.

Zadick was a 2006 world silver medalist.

Bill Zadick came to China with Mike to work as a training partner — both with hope, but no promises.

“Give Mike a lot of credit for the courage and guts to stick with it all summer,” Bill Zadick said. “It’s pretty amazing.”

__________________
"He quits, not because he wants to, but because he has to. He has no choice.
" -Tom Brands 01/20/08