Sanderson, Williams seek wrestling medals

By BRYCE MILLER

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - They're not on the cover of People magazine. They're not trading TV one-liners with Katie Couric on "Today."

Cael Sanderson and Joe Williams each could end up with a medal as the Olympics fades into its final weekend. But when the sport is freestyle wrestling - not track and field, swimming or gymnastics - there's often more toil than attention.

And that's OK with both Iowans.

``I don't want to win so I can get some kind of status,'' said Sanderson, the NCAA's first unbeaten four-time champion at Iowa State. ``I want to win because I want to win. I want to be the champion.''

Freestyle wrestling begins Friday at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall with Sanderson opening at 185 pounds.

Williams, a three-time NCAA champion at the University of Iowa, will begin his competition at 163 pounds on Saturday.

They've carved out a common goal from uncommon backgrounds: Sanderson, who grew up in a humble, hardworking Mormon family in Utah, has a spot on the same seven-man Olympic roster as Williams, from a tough suburban neighborhood south of Chicago.

They also share uncommon talent.

Sanderson, 25, won a world silver medal last year in New York, falling 4-3 in the championship match to Sazhid Sazhidov - Russia's entrant in Athens.

Williams, 29, captured a 2001 world bronze. He, Sanderson and Kerry McCoy are the only Americans with world-level medals.

Both Williams and Sanderson already are publicly deflating the Olympic-sized pressure.

``This is just another tournament,'' said Williams, who wrapped up his Iowa career in 1998 and lives in Iowa City. ``That's how you've got to think about it.''

The U.S. team is trying to keep a run of Olympic golds that stretches back to 1968 - excluding the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games - and rebound from a lukewarm performance in Sydney in 2000.

The United States ended up with one gold four years ago when Brandon Slay moved up from his silver medal after Germany's Alexander Leipold had his gold medal stripped for a failed drug test.

Sanderson, Williams, McCoy and others on the roster, including the Oklahoma State trio of Eric Guerrero, Jamill Kelly and Daniel Cormier, have fueled optimism that the Americans could experience a breakthrough Olympics.``They're the most talented team that we've ever had,'' said U.S. assistant coach Bobby Douglas, Sanderson's college coach at Iowa State.

The gnarled ears of wrestlers present a stark contrast to the PR-groomed and TV-ready looks of athletes such as swimmer Michael Phelps and the pixie-like cuteness of gymnast Carly Patterson.

U.S. assistant coach Tom Brands, a 1996 gold medalist in Atlanta, said perceptions are skewed.

``They're the show as much as these other people are,'' Brands said.

Sanderson said the U.S. freestyle team only cares about the looks of the scoreboard at the end of matches.

``I know I've got to wrestle the best tournament of my life if I want to be Olympic champion,'' he said.

The normally reserved Sanderson hinted in a round-about way that he could be a good bet for gold a year after coming within one point of a championship.

``I'm definitely better than I was last year,'' he said.

Four of the seven United States wrestlers will begin competition on Friday at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall in Athens. A wrestler must win round-robin pool matches to advance to the medal round.

Here are the pool groupings announced Thursday:

- Stephen Abas, 121 pounds. The former Fresno State wrestler drew the toughest pool of the four starting Friday. It includes Cuba's Rene Montero, the 2002 world champion, but Abas beat him in the finals of last year's Pan-American Games. Moldova's Ghenadie Tulbea, the 2003 world silver medalist, stopped Abas in last year's world quarterfinals.

- Jamill Kelly, 145.5 pounds. Waiting in Kelly's pool are Moldova's Ruslan Bodisteanu, who has not finished in the top eight of a world-level event, and Azerbaijan's Elman Asgarov, fifth at worlds in 2001.

- Cael Sanderson, 185 pounds. The only undefeated, four-time NCAA champion competes in a three-man pool with Kazakhstan's Magomed Kurugliyev, whose top world finish was fifth in 2003, and Siarhei Borchanka of Belarus, fourth at worlds a year ago.

- Kerry McCoy, 264.5 pounds. The former Penn State star, landed in a four-man pool with Kazakhstan's Marid Mutalimov (sixth in 2003 worlds, 2003), Kyrgyzstan's Yury Mildzihov and Francesco Miano-Petta of Italy. Neither Mildzihov nor Miano-Petta has finished in the top 8 at the world level.