Wrestling is an individual sport. No doubt about it. Ask any wrestler "why wrestling?" like they did at the Women's Olympic press conference, and they will tell you they enjoy the challenge of competing one against one. There are no balls and bats, and there are no teammates to blame if you lose. It is all up to you to get the job done.    Every year, the best wrestlers in the nation win the Team Trials in their weight division, and together they become Team USA. Three straight years it is for the World Championships. The fourth year, it is at the Olympics. Just like that, a group of individuals become a team.    But are they really a team? Or is it just a haphazard collection of people at the same place at the same time?    Ask the wrestlers. They will tell you they are a team.    Picture this. The Women's Olympic Wrestling Team gets together for a night to watch the movie "Miracle" about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. It is for relaxation and motivation and a team activity. This is just a few days before they are about to compete in the Olympics.    If you've seen the film, you remember how coach Herb Brooks (played by Kurt Russell) kept asking the players "Who do you play for?" In the beginning, they would all answer Minnesota, Boston University, Wisconsin or wherever. However, the group goes through training and tribulations, and eventually the answer is always "USA."     Someone suggested that this movie might not apply to wrestling since it is an individual sport. However, Sara McMann corrected that assumption. "Wrestling is a team sport," said McMann. "We are a team."    Consider these three teams and where the athletes went to college.    Men's freestyle has three Oklahoma States, plus Frenso State, Iowa, Iowa State and Penn State. The Greco-Roman team has two Nebraskas, and Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Maranatha, Oregon State and Minnesota. The women's team features Stanford, Pacific, Lock Haven and Cumberland.    How about their home states? They include California, Alaska, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Utah, Louisiana, New York, Wisconsin, Oregon, Nebraska and Wyoming.    Through the course of being international wrestlers, this group of individuals get to know each other well. They competed against each other. They qualify for teams together. They go through the long and challenging training camps together. They take long flights together. They eat together, visit places together, watch TV together. They act like a team because they are a team, that just happens to be individuals at different weight classes.    The U.S. freestyle team has been the same seven athletes for two straight years. The lineup goes Abas, Guerrero, Kelly, Williams, Sanderson, Cormier and McCoy. They know each other. They like each other. They are a team. They were second at the 2003 World Championships. They intend on being first at the 2004 Olympic Games.    Eric Guerrero is one of the veterans on the men's freestyle team. He competed on the 1999 U.S. World Team, then was on the last four U.S. squads (2001-04).     "For me, I can look back to 1999, my first team," said Guerrero. "I didn't know the guys. I got teased by McCoy. He said I'd never come out of my room."    This group does not have any problems with familiarity.    "I feel like I have earned their trust, and they have earned mine," said Guerrero. "Above everything else, I trust every single one of them, that they would give me the right advice and support. When trust is there, it is easy to have good relationships. You are comfortable that they are your friends. If anybody can understand the trials and tribulations you go through, it is your teammates."    The Greco-Roman team has a number of veterans, including four past Olympians. This group has been together on the national circuit for many years. They also have a team concept when competing together.    Jim Gruenwald has been on five straight U.S. teams (2000-2004). He knows this team inside and out.    "Greco has always had a great spirit of commeraderie," said Gruenwald. "It's a combat sport, so you will have some fight and flare-ups, like any other close family. A lot of us train together in Colorado Springs. We have created a relationship over the years."    Gruenwald gives example, such as when he was a coach at the Camp of Champs when Garrett Lowney was a student there, and how they made their first Olympic team together in 2000. Or the career-long rivalry he has had with Dennis Hall, going back to high school days, and how they find themselves teammates at the 2004 Athens Games.    "Over the years, you gain respect for each other," said Gruenwald about Hall. "Even when we were in the same weight class, we would still talk about jobs, family, kids and other issues without letting animosity interfere with our relationship. Now that we are in different weights, the bond is closer."    Gruenwald also understands that representing the United States is a bond that brings each team together. There is something about wearing the U.S. singlet, especially at the Olympics, that makes the group a team.    "I have always had a sense of representing more than myself when I step on the mat," said Gruenwald. "I can be at the Schultz International, the Nationals, the Trials, the Worlds and the Olympics, and I always represent my country."    Believe the athletes. This is more than a bunch of individuals. This is the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team.