When Melvin Douglas made his comeback this season, the first question people might have asked themselves is, "Wait, Melvin Douglas? That Melvin Douglas? How old is he?" Dominic Black had no long layoff, as he'd been steady on the U.S. Freestyle scene. But Douglas' dream of Olympic Gold ended Saturday morning at the hands of two-time U.S. World team member Tim Hartung 4-0 in the semifinals at 96 kg. Black's Olympic hopes were dashed in the first round in a loss to Jon Trenge. Douglas never wrestled his consolation semifinal against Dean Morrison. With the chances of an Olympic gold medal dashed, Douglas left his wrestling shoes on the mat. Literally. P.A. announcer Ed Aliverti's voice boomed through the RCA Dome sound system as Douglas stood in the center of the mat. Moments later, Douglas received a standing ovation from the crowd as walked down the raised platform, shaking the hands of staff and officials for the last time as a competitor. Sitting alone in the center of the mat … his shoes, covered by his wrestling handkerchief, the traditional way to retire for international wrestlers. Also retiring this weekend were Greco-Roman wrestlers Glenn Nieradka, Kenny Owens, Dan Hicks and Marcel Cooper. Then there's Black. Black walked across Mat 2 to take his forfeit for fifth place at 96 kg with tears already in his eyes. This was it for him, too. Referee Toby Walker raised his hand and Black walked off the mat, he too received a standing ovation as Aliverti informed the crowd that Black's wrestling career had also come to and end. Black gave long-time friend Mike Van Arsdale a tight embrace, with tears streaming from his eyes. "This has been my life for 20 years," Black said. Black didn't wrestle his last match, which would have been against Douglas had he not defaulted to sixth after his loss to Hartung. Black took the forfeit. "I would have love to finish doing a snap single or an ankle lace, two of my signature moves, but it feels good to get hand raised in victory," Black said. Black wasn't going to steal Douglas' thunder, though. "I was going to (leave my shoes on the mat), because I knew Melvin left his. I didn't want to overshadow Melvin; I didn't accomplish what he did." "It was his stage," Black said. Douglas was honored by the respect Black displayed. "I appreciate that, that's respect; a respect that he gave me, and I appreciate that," Douglas said. Douglas and Black met in the finals of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, with Douglas earning the Olympic berth, but they've got some history with each other. "We probably hit about five times, and he pinned me once. He threw me and pinned me," Douglas said. "In 2000, we both got injured, I got hurt in Colorado Springs at the training center and I was like 'Oh, man!.' Thirty seconds later, he got injured," Douglas said. Black retiring struck a chord with Douglas. "He's (Black) hasn't been there not as long as me, but he's been in the battle as long as I have. With him, it was emotional. You're leaving a part of your life that you've been in for so long. You're now saying, 'Okay, it's time to hang these up and you've got the rest of your life in front of you,'" Douglas said. "Dominic and I always respected each other. In 2000 I stayed in his room at the training center. We compete hard on the mat," he said. Kevin Jackson, a long-time teammate of Douglas on U.S. Olympic and World teams said: "It was like a loss. I don't want to say as strong as death in the family, but it was our era coming to a close." "One of your own and former world and Olympic teammate retire, it's a finalization. It brought a tear to my eye to see him hang it up," Jackson said. In October, it wasn't Douglas' former shadow of himself that took to the mat, it was a larger, more rotund Douglas that hadn't been seen on a mat in nearly three years. He lost in the finals of the Sunkist Open to collegian Steve Mocco, redshirting this year at the University of Iowa, the second time Douglas had finished as a bridesmaid at the event, but he hadn't finished second in that tournament in 12 years. Douglas said he had fun coming back, but that first match with Mocco showed him the caliber of younger wrestlers that were coming up through the ranks, even though Douglas weighed in at 235 pounds, 24 pounds over the weight he wrestled this weekend at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. "I got this big bull coming at me and I'm just trying to hold him off," Douglas said of Mocco. "I went back to my corner saying, 'Man, he's strong. I've gotta hold him off and look for that last shot, that one shot.'" It was then he heard the appreciation of the wrestling fans that watched him through part of his 31-year wrestling career. "To sit there and see the crowd behind me cheering me on, that was a good feeling," Douglas said. As he walked off the mat, he met similar praise. "It felt a little emotion. I'm one of those that hold it in. I almost (got tears in my eyes). To know the fans appreciate it; I gave a lot to the sport and look up at my father and see him up there and he's been through all of them with me and knowing this is the last time, it was an emotional moment," Douglas said. As Jackson said, it was the end of an era for U.S. wrestling, a group that won the only world championship as a team for the country. "We're all friends, each of us. Kevin and I battled against each other and afterwards we went out and do things together," said Douglas. "Dave Schultz and Kenny Monday, we were all friends and we wrestled hard. We all had the attitude we're going out here and win," Douglas continued."I'd bet money on that group anytime. It was great to be a part of that era. I wouldn't trade it in for nothing." "They're just two great competitors and two great people. Words cannot describe how much desire and competition they have," U.S. Army coach Shon Lewis said Saturday afternoon of the U.S. Army wrestlers who have now retired. "I don't have the vocabulary to put this feeling into words. It's like college graduation times a hundred," Lewis said. Joe Seay, who coached Douglas for the Sunkist Kids wrestling club and currently serves as an assistant coach at the University of Virginia, thought Douglas coming back at age 40, and just being out there was "mind boggling." "He's truly amazing. His mat awareness and strategy is innate with him. I was really privileged to be his coach for that long period of time," Seay said. With Black and Douglas, two stalwarts of the U.S. upper-weights for the last decade and then some, it now is up to the younger wrestlers to fill that void. "I've been coaching Dom since 1998 to now. He made his first world team 1999. It was a similar feeling (when he retired after Douglas)," Jackson said. "I followed his career over the last 10 years. (He) and Melvin have been the stones in that weight class for the last eight years and they dominated that weight class." Douglas sees Daniel Cormier as the heir-apparent at 96 kg. "The key is this, he (Cormier) hates to lose. Dave Schultz told me one time, 'You've got those wrestlers who win, and those wrestlers that know how to win.' He said I was one of those that know how to win. Cormier gets out there and he's going to win. If he gets behind, he's going to come back hard. That's what I see in him," Douglas said. Coming back at 40, Douglas wasn't even aware that a few competitors in the event weren't even born when he won his first NCAA title in 1985 at the University of Oklahoma. The youth movement also hits close to home at Ohio State University, where Douglas' daughter, Christina, is a freshman on the softball team. "If I would have wrestled (Ohio State 2004 NCAA Champion Tommy) Rowlands, his sister (Meghan) is on the same softball team as my daughter, and they are always talking about (us wrestling)," Douglas said. There aren't too many places where a college athlete can ask a teammate, "Hey, what if your brother wrestles my dad." For now, Douglas plans on spending time with his family and raising his kids. Coaching still