Olympic Training Report: August 11
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John Fuller (TheMat.com)
08/11/2004
Athens, Greece - The 2004 U.S. Greco-Roman Wrestling Team took things easy on Wednesday afternoon, playing a game of Ultimate Frisbee on the soccer (American football) field in the morning and getting the rest of the day off to enjoy the city of Athens and the beaches that are close by. Olympic coach Dan Chandler has arrived in town and is now with the team, and 1996 Olympic silver medalist Brandon Paulson is expected to arrive soon to train with Dennis Hall, reuniting the two combatants of the 16-minute grind match at this year's Olympic Trials. 2000 Olympic champion Rulon Gardner and 2002 World champion Dremiel Byers had a busy day as well. Following the Ultimate Frisbee game and a light lunch at the American College of Greece, Gardner and Byers visited The Today Show set at the historic Acropolis. Gardner appeared on the show with married track stars Shayne and Alan Culpepper. Following a two-hour, in-the-heat session before actually appearing on the show, Gardner and Byers then went to the Palaka to test some Greek food with the show Access Hollywood. Some of the foods sampled by Gardner and Byers were cow intestine soup, olives, nuts, gyros and cookies. The gyros and cookies were made by Gardner and Byers. Things begin to heat up for all the wrestling teams soon. The men's freestyle team arrives on Thursday afternoon and will process the same night. Jenny Wong has arrived to serve as a training partner for Sara McMann in the women's freestyle room. All three teams will have the opportunity to meet former President George Bush (#41) on Friday. He is serving as the leader of the U.S. Delegation for this Olympic Games, and will visit the American College of Greece and Olympic Village on Friday afternoon, meeting with all teams who have arrived.