COLUMN: 2008 Olympic Trials promises to be exciting event

I've only been to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials twice - in Dallas in 2000 and in Indianapolis in 2004 - but I've seen enough great wrestling to be certain of one thing.

I never plan on missing another one.

There has been a lot of talk recently that Olympic wrestling is dead and there has been talk that the international rules that were changed by FILA in 2005 have ruined freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.

That couldn't be further from the truth. And anyone who plans on attending the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials on June 13-15 in Las Vegas will discover that this will be a very entertaining, exciting and intense event. The Trials determine our team that will compete at the 2008 Olympic Games from Aug. 12-21 in Beijing, China.

When Olympic berths are on the line - something a lot of these athletes have been working 30 years to achieve - you can bet the intensity level will be very, very high. And the action on the mat will be outstanding. This is it, win or lose, for a lot of these athletes. This is their last year of competition as this four-year Olympic cycle ends.

Just look at what has happened in the last two Olympic Trials.

Some of my best memories of the 2000 Olympic Trials came when Sammie Henson outlasted Eric Akin in a thrilling, hard-fought freestyle finals and when Terry Brands won a fierce battle with Kerry Boumans to land a spot on the Olympic Team.

Seeing how emotional Brands was and what making the Olympic Team meant to him was one of the most memorable and inspirational athletic moments I've ever witnessed in person. Terry won the 1993 and 1995 World titles, but was beaten out for a spot on the 1996 Olympic Team by eventual gold medalist Kendall Cross. Terry did not compete while his twin brother, Tom, capped his career by winning the 1996 Olympics. To see Terry come back and make the team in 2000, where he was an Olympic bronze medalist in Sydney, was very impressive and moving.

Then there was the relatively unknown farm boy from Wyoming named Rulon Gardner knocking off Olympic silver medalist Matt Ghaffari to make his first Olympic Team in 2000. As everyone knows, Gardner went on to beat Russian legend Alexander Karelin to win the Olympics.

The heavyweight finals in freestyle were interesting at the 2000 Trials. Stephen Neal won a World title in 1999, but lost to Kerry McCoy in the finals of the Olympic Trials. Neal ended up giving football a try and eventually became a multiple Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots. McCoy went on to win a World silver medal and is now doing an excellent job as the head coach at Stanford.

The great moments kept coming at the 2004 Olympic Trials.

One of best matches I've ever seen, in any style, came when Dennis Hall won a marathon match over Brandon Paulson to make the Olympic Team in Greco-Roman. The standing ovation the fans at the RCA Dome gave them was definitely deserved. They wrestled for nearly 17 minutes.

The brutal, three-match slugfest where Cael Sanderson pulled out the title over Lee Fullhart was worth the price of admission alone. Sanderson went from being very close to not making the U.S. team in freestyle to winning an Olympic gold medal in Athens. Sanderson is the best American wrestler that I've seen in person in my lifetime. How can you not love a guy who wrestled with so much energy and fire, and was constantly looking to attack and score?

The battle between Gardner and fellow World champion Dremiel Byers included plenty of drama as the two close friends tried to land a spot on the team. Gardner won, took Byers to the Olympics as his training partner, and went on to win a bronze medal in Athens.

The first time for women's wrestling in the Olympics offered its share of compelling storylines as Sara McMann and Patricia Miranda went on to win medals in Athens.

And you can't forget about the inspiring story of freestyle wrestler Jamill Kelly. He never won a state title in high school and was never an NCAA All-American, but Kelly kept chasing his dream. He earned a spot on the 2004 Olympic Team in Indianapolis and went on to win an Olympic silver medal in Athens.

I was not initially a fan of the rules changes in freestyle that started awarding a wrestler one point for a pushout. But as coaches and wrestlers have adapted to the rules, there are less pushouts and more action. Wrestlers stay in the center of the mat and there are more takedowns, more turns and more scoring. A takedown should be worth more than a pushout, but that's the reality of the current rules.

If they implemented the pushout in college wrestling, Brent Metcalf's backpedaling opponents would be in trouble. Big trouble. Speaking of the Iowa standout, don't be surprised if Metcalf's in the mix in a very wide-open freestyle class at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. Metcalf is the best college wrestler, in my opinion, since Sanderson. He wrestled a lot of freestyle last year and is not a guy you can overlook at this year's Trials. Metcalf is back training again and could be a factor where a weight class is now wrestled in just one day. He has an enormous gas tank and never seems to wear down.

Ben Askren, who won the Hodge Trophy in the two years before Metcalf captured it this year, has a realistic shot at being on the Olympic Team in 2008. Askren has made a smooth, and rapid, transition to freestyle. He already has knocked off a number of top Americans at 74 kg/163 lbs., including 2006 World bronze medalist Donny Pritzlaff. Askren is one of the most charismatic and flamboyant wrestlers we've ever had. He's always fun to watch. He is supremely confident and believes he is going to beat whoever steps on the mat against him. He's in a very tough class with Pritzlaff, Casey Cunningham, Tyrone Lewis, Ramico Blackmon and Travis Paulson among the other contenders for a spot in Beijing.

Another wrestler who is still in college, Northwestern's Jake Herbert, will be in contention to make the Olympic Team in freestyle at 84 kg/185 lbs. Herbert, a 2007 NCAA champion, is taking an Olympic redshirt this season. Herbert won the Dave Schultz Memorial International earlier this year.

Who will make the U.S. freestyle team at 55 kg/121 lbs.? Will it be 2007 World Team member Henry Cejudo or 2004 Olympic silver medalist Stephen Abas? We're talking about two of the most exciting and talented lightweight wrestlers we've had over the past few years. Is 2000 Olympic silver medalist Sammie "the Bull" Henson thinking about jumping back in to wrestling after winning a World bronze medal in 2006?

The Trials also will feature the compelling story of women's freestyle legend Kristie Marano looking to make her first Olympic Team. Marano is a two-time World champion and nine-time World medalist. She's one of the toughest competitors I've ever seen in any sport. She's in a strong weight class that includes World champion Iris Smith, World medalist Katie Downing and top young prospect Stephany Lee.

Marano's Olympic teammate could be Miranda, a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist who may be the smartest person I've ever worked with. She recently graduated near the top of her class from Yale Law School. She's very determined to go out with an Olympic gold medal in Beijing. She is doing everything the right way with her training and dieting, and plans to make the most of what likely will be her final year on the mat.

I love the Greco-Roman rules now. The implementation of the reverse lift has heightened the level of action considerably. Of all the wrestlers I watch in all the styles of wrestling, I'm not sure any of them can top Greco stud Harry Lester. This guy is so powerful and explosive. I can't believe I'm in a job where I actually get paid to watch his matches and cover him. The two-time World bronze medalist is primed to achieve Olympic gold this year.

Let's face it. No offense to Gardner and other great champions of the past, but the old Greco-Roman rules led to a lot of matches as boring as watching paint dry. That is rarely the case anymore. Just ask the guys Lester and Byers send flying into the air.

Our U.S. Greco-Roman team could be even better than 2007 when they won the team title at the World Championships. None of our guys won individual gold medals and that is driving each one of them every day in practice. Coach Steve Fraser's squad is a close-knit, veteran group that knows what it takes to be successful.

One of those top Greco wrestlers is Brad Vering. Nobody works harder or is more coachable than the hard-nosed Vering, a guy who paid his dues for years before breaking through to win his first World medal last year. That medal was silver, and anyone who knows Vering knows that's not what color of medal he trains so hard to achieve.

But all of these athletes are fully aware they have to make the Olympic Team first before they can start thinking about winning a gold medal in Beijing.

There are plenty of other storylines that I didn't even mention. Each weight class has its own unique story and that will be interesting to follow.

Yes, the rules are different now. And they are noticeably different from the folkstyle rules that are so popular in high school and college. But it's still wrestling and these athletes are some of the toughest and most tenacious competitors on the planet in any sport.

I can't wait to see who makes the United States Olympic Wrestling Team in 2008. Come on out to the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on June 13-15 and witness it first-hand. Flights to Vegas and hotel rates are reasonable, and the event is being held in a city where you never run out of entertainment options.

I promise you won't be disappointed.