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Wrestler Schwab wants Olympic gold to rank with Iowa greatsZach Smith - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 7/29/08 Section: Sports
> It's 6 a.m. The light blue sky is painted with a hint of orange before the sun makes its daily trek across the horizon. Most of Iowa City's 82,000-some residents remain sound asleep in their beds.

Not Doug Schwab.

No, the former Hawkeye national champion has all intentions of making the most out of every moment of the day.

For Schwab, it's just another day in the life of a small-town Iowa boy with big dreams. As he makes his daily venture over to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the first of many workouts during the day, the Osage native envisions himself standing on the top of the awards stand in Beijing with a gold medal around his neck as he hears "The Star-Spangled Banner."

"I've rehearsed it in my head maybe 10,000 … 100,000 times," he said, pondering the taste of being an Olympic champion. "I've been there. I've seen myself there. I've heard the national anthem playing."

After a rigorous weight-lifting session and a trip to the sauna to warm up his muscles and burn off any excess weight, it's off to a daily film session, during which Schwab analyzes his potential opponents' every move.

A gut wrench here, an ankle lock there. It's all business, all the time.

An Olympic Gold medal is one of the few championships Schwab is yet to cross off his to-do list.

The youngest of four children, Schwab had a lot to live up to in high school after the success on the mat of his two older brothers.

His oldest brother, Mike, was an Iowa state champion at traditional powerhouse Osage High School in 1981. Mike Schwab attended college at Northern Iowa and earned All-American status as a senior.

But it was the shadow cast by his other brother, Mark, that had the most significant effect on Doug Schwab.

Mark Schwab, currently the head coach at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, is one of 19 wrestlers in the history of the Iowa High School Athletics Association to win four individual state championships [1981-84, also at Osage]. He followed Mike Schwab to Northern Iowa and was also an All-American for the Panthers.
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