No bigger downer at Olympics
Team USA has had its share of feel-good stories during these Olympics. Michael Phelps in the pool. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson in gymnastics. Even Oklahoma’s own, Jonathan Horton has brought a healthy dose of feel-good.
Nothing has felt quite so bad, though, what happened with Daniel Cormier. He is the hard-luck story of these Olympics.
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The former Oklahoma State wrestler withdrew from competition only hours before he was supposed to start wrestling. Instead of going to the arena, Cormier was laying in a Beijing hospital bed after developing a serious kidney problem.
From all accounts, it sounds like a case of weight-cutting gone terribly wrong.
Somewhere down the road, I’m sure we’ll turn our attention to the evils of cutting weight in wrestling, but for now, the emotions are still too raw.
No Olympian deserves such a fate, but Cormier really doesn’t. He has already endured more than his share of hard luck. Back at the 2004 Olympics, he finished fourth after blowing a 2-0 lead in the final minute of the bronze-medal match. Cormier was looking for redemption in Beijing.
Then, there have been all of his off-mat heartaches. His infant daughter was killed in a car accident in 2003. His good buddy Daniel Lawson was killed in the plane crash involving the OSU men’s basketball team in 2001. His father was shot and killed in 1986.
How could Cormier survive all of that, then lose out on his Olympic dream?
Cormier has long struggled with making weight, but his coaches felt good about him doing so this time. Cormier did make weight Wednesday for the 96 kilogram weight class, then went and laid down.
Two hours later, he still hadn’t gotten up. Worse, he hadn’t been able to drink anything.
Cormier was taken to the hospital where doctors determined that there was a problem with his kidneys. The words “kidney failure” have been thrown around, but whatever the diagnosis, it meant Cormier couldn’t wrestle.
USA wrestling coach Kevin Jackson told reporters in Beijing that Cormier “could be affected by this for a very long time.” Jackson acknowledged that Cormier has a great support system. Great wife. Great family. “But,” he said, “I think this will stay with him for the rest of his life. It’s something he’s going to have to live with now. It is definitely something he will regret forever.”
Those words are haunting, chilling even.
All of this couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Cormier is one of those people who never met a stranger. He is always quick with a smile and a hand shake. And for all he’s been through, this is one guy who you wouldn’t blame for being cynical or snide. Instead, he is as nice as can be.
Who knows why Daniel Cormier’s Olympics ended in a hospital bed instead of on the medal stand?
I sure don’t. For as many times as these Olympics delivered feel-good moments, this is gold-medal downer.
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i still cant believe you wrote that article about the college football player last year, you should be ashamed of yourself and should change professions cause your a nasty person