Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier is never at a loss for words.

And before the former Oklahoma State standout left for Beijing, I discovered that he’s never at a loss for answers either. He was front and center today in The Q&A, and here is more from my conversation with him:

Jenni Carlson: Didn’t I hear something about you having a key to your hometown of

Lafayette, La.?

Daniel Cormier: Yeah, yeah, I’ve got a key to the city. It’s in my trophy room.

JC: Pretty cool.

DC: I like it. It’s nice, too. It’s gold.

JC: So, how does that happen? Big ceremony?

DC: They called me after I made my first (Olympic) team. It was the city councilman, and we started talking, and he said, “Daniel, we want to do something special for you.” They had a big ceremony at the courthouse, and they handed me the key. It was pretty sweet.

JC: Do you go back to

Lafayette and do camps?

DC: I normally go once a year. You know … the beginning of my senior year was the ’96 games, so I would sit there and I would watch. I got to see Kurt Angle win a gold medal, I got to watch Kendall Cross win a gold medal, and I got to see Tom Brand win a gold medal. I was like, “Wow, wouldn’t it be amazing to meet these guys?” Now I think to myself, “I can go back to

Louisiana,and I can give these guys some technical skills.” These are things they never see at home. That really was the focus of it, to try to let these kids to wrestling at a different level and hopefully they can stick with it. Once you start seeing it at a different level, it makes it real. You start to realize, “I can wrestling with these guys. I can keep going if I want to.”

JC: I would think seeing you makes this possible for kids, too.

DC: It makes it real. Instead of being just a figure on the TV screen … I know these guys. I’ve talked to them. I’ve shook their hands.

JC: You and Steve Mocco wrestle the same day at the Olympics. Any advantage in that?

DC: It’ll feel good because he’s my friend, knowing that he gets to win on the day he gets to win. But in terms of training, it doesn’t help that much because we don’t train together.

JC: Now you’ve got me wondering — who’s your training partner? Who’s the guy that has to go against you all the time?

DC: Kurt Backes is going with me this year. A hundred and ninety-seven pounds for

Iowa State last year. NCAA finalist.

JC: How do you get hooked up with a training partner?

DC: You try to find someone that’s going to meet your needs, somebody that’s going to be willing to do whatever you need them to do. Normally, I’d take someone from

Oklahoma State. This year, this wasn’t anybody. Jared Rosholt, he’s my guy at home, but he’s too big for me whenever I start making weight. Clayton Foster’s just a little too small. So I said, I need someone that’s gonna weigh about 217, 220 pounds, a guy that can wrestle with me. Kurt was the guy. He’s got some good offense and he can score. Last time, I took Muhammad (Lawal), and Mo had wrestled me for so long, he was beating me right before I wrestled in the Olympic games.

JC: Not exactly a confidence boost.

DC: It’s not like (Kurt) and I have wrestled much, so it’s not like he knows exactly how to wrestle me.

For more on Cormier and his Olympic hopes, check out Wednesday’s edition of The Oklahoman and our Olympic coverage on NewsOK.com.

Posted: 16 Aug, 2008 | No Comments
Categories: Uncategorized By: jennicarlson.