Greco-Roman Olympic Games Session 1 quotes

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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
08/24/2004


55 kg/121 lbs. - Dennis Hall, Plover, Wis. (Sunkist Kids)  How tough was that first match?  "Each match is going to be a hard battle. I just have to go out there and fight my hardest. Whatever happens, happens."    Do you appreciate it a little more this time around?  "I'm trying to have fun right now. If you have fun, it's easier to wrestle. If you show up tight, it's hard to wrestle."    "I've just been trying to get through it year-by-year for the past few years training-wise financially. I've had no training partners in the past, but this year I brought over a couple of Bulgarians. It makes a little bit of a difference. Those guys can lift. You make a mistake against them in practice, you get tossed on your head. I can't tell you how many times was thrown this year. But that's why I brought them over."      66 kg/145.5 lbs. - Oscar Wood, Fountain, Colo. (U.S. Army)  Assess your performance here.  "I just got beat twice. I've still got one more match. I don't really have anything to say."    Talk about your first match.  "I came out and tried a junior high move and that don't work at the Olympics. He caught me while I was still dry and he scored several points because of my attempt in the first seven seconds. That's one thing you never do in international wrestling and I found a way to do it. I don't know what I was thinking. I got caught up in the moment. I got excited, tried a throw and I paid for it."      120 kg/264.5 lbs. - Rulon Gardner, Cascade, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)  Did you wrestle a cautious match?  "I was really patient because that I knew that at 1-1, I could out-position him. The last thing I wanted to do was get thrown on my back because I was trying to be too aggressive and score a move where I should have been more patient. I'm happy with 1-1 and I have no regrets with walking off the mat with that score."    Do you get nervous before an Olympic match?  "You get anxious. Right before you come out you start to question yourself, but I think that's part of having jitters and making sure that you're ready. I don't think that I can go out and destroy the world. I think I can go out there one position at a time and hopefully go out there and control the mat, control the position and control the win."    Do you feel you get favorable calls because you are the Olympic champion?  "In the first part of the match, I felt I was more aggressive than he was yet they gave him the passivity. They will give you some calls, but they make you earn some too. Sometimes they want the Olympic champion to prove himself."    Were you scared that he might score on your lift?  "I thought he had me. All he had to do was basically just sit back and he had me for three. If he wins that, the match is over and he wins the next match, he advances to the semifinals. And I'm done."