SESKER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS JOURNAL: Short trip winding down, time to head home

Women's World Championships Photo Gallery

TOKYO, Japan - My last overseas trip lasted 28 days. This trip is 22 days shorter.

It was a good trip to Tokyo - short and sweet - for the Women's World Championships. It was a good experience for our young team. Seeing 17-year-old Tatiana Padilla finish the tournament by winning a bronze medal provided a big boost for the U.S. team.

Her comeback win in the bronze-medal match was inspiring and impressive.

I spent my last night here being treated to dinner at an excellent Japanese restaurant by journalist Bill May, who is a virtual expert on international wrestling. FILA doesn't have a communications director, and they should think about putting Bill in that role. He's answered enough of my questions over the past three days.

We had a great conversation, as usual, at dinner. Bill can talk wrestling all day long, but he's also traveled and lived all over the World. He has some great stories about some of his experiences.

I spent way too much time hitting the Wendy's and Starbucks that were near our hotel. Oh well. I'm known for doing that on these trips. It was enjoyable to hit a local restaurant for my last meal here. Who knows if I'll ever make it back here. Maybe for the 2016 Olympics, but I'm hoping it ends up in Chicago.

It's late and I need to get some rest before jumping back on a plane tomorrow. We fly approximately 12 hours from Tokyo to Minneapolis before catching a short flight from Minneapolis to Denver. Then I will see if I can remember where I parked my car and make the drive back home to Colorado Springs.

This was another great experience and it was great to see yet another culture. But I'm ready to head home.

Sunday, Oct. 12

TOKYO, Japan - If anyone deserves to be a World champion it is Clarissa Chun.

She's certainly paid her dues, and overcome her share of near-misses over the years at the World and Olympic Trials.

I first met Clarissa just over two years ago. She was preparing for a Special Wrestle-Off against Mary Kelly for a spot on the 2006 U.S. World Team. Clarissa had won U.S. Nationals, but was unable to wrestle in the World Team Trials because of an injury. As the winner of Nationals, she requested and received an extension to wrestle the Trials winner at a later date.

I was at a practice a few days before their Wrestle-Off and I noticed two girls chatting side-by-side on exercise bicycles in the wrestling room. It was Clarissa and Mary, sharing a laugh and talking a few days before their big matches. I thought it was unusual, but actually refreshing, to see two athletes chatting like that before having to face one another.

Clarissa ended up losing to Mary, who was at the top of her game, in a best-of-3 series at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Clarissa was heartbroken, but she was gracious enough to do a short interview with me for a story I wrote for TheMat.com.

Clarissa struggled last year. She failed to make the U.S. National Team for the first time in seven years after placing fourth at the World Team Trials.

But to her credit, she came back with a vengeance this year. She earned a stunning victory over Patricia Miranda in the finals of the Olympic Trials. She nearly won a medal at the Olympics before placing fifth. To her credit, she was very classy and handled herself well in defeat. She came out to meet the media after her loss in the semifinals and after falling in the bronze-medal match. That's no easy task when you're competing in the biggest event your sport has to offer.

I was very happy to see that Clarissa decided to continue training for the World Championships. She beat a very tough Japanese girl, two-time World bronze medalist Makiko Sakamoto, in the semifinals on Sunday. She scored the winning takedown in the closing seconds of the match and went on to win the World title on Sunday night.

I sat by Clarissa on the bus ride back to the arena before Sunday night's finals. She was very calm, and was joking around about a number of topics. You could sense how confident she was and you can see how she's matured as a World-class athlete.

Clarissa wrestled smart in two tight bouts in the semifinals and finals, staying in good position and staying away from giving up big points.

Clarissa also has found a coach, Keith Wilson, who she has really connected with. Keith placed a heavy emphasis on Clarissa becoming stronger and improving her conditioning. Her defense also is much-improved. All those factors paid off in a huge way.

Clarissa has said she hopes to wrestle through the 2012 Olympics. She's 27, and still as athletic and explosive as she's ever been. And now the girl who has always had the talent also has the right mindset and focus to go with it. That's a dangerous combination.

Her persistence definitely paid off. She made her first World Team in 2000, but didn't make another World-level team until making Olympic and World Teams this year. She never quit chasing her dreams. Hopefully, that will provide inspiration to other American athletes to follow suit.

It was great to see Clarissa's hard work pay off. And great to witness her golden moment on Sunday night.

Saturday, Oct. 11

TOKYO, Japan - Japan's Hitomi Sakamoto won her sixth World title Saturday night. Teammate Ayako Shoda won her fourth.

But neither wrestler was good enough to make the Japanese Olympic Team in 2008. Both compete in non-Olympic weight classes and were unable to gain one of the four spots in the Japanese Olympic lineup.

That's how powerful Japan is in women's wrestling. This is nothing new to those who follow the sport, but you can't help but marvel at what Japan has accomplished.

It will be interesting to see how many of the Japanese wrestlers stay on the mat in the next four-year quad leading up to the 2012 Olympics in London.

There are a number of young teams, including the U.S., looking to make their mark here and start building for this next Olympic cycle.

The U.S. fell short of winning a medal on Saturday, but Olympian Clarissa Chun and World University medalist Alaina Berube are looking to change that on Sunday. Chun has a legitimate shot of winning a World title.

The U.S. has only had four World champions in its history in women's freestyle.

My friend Bill May - a wrestling journalist who grew up in Minnesota, lived in Japan for 20 years and now lives in Prague, Czech Republic - provided me with an interesting tidbit on Saturday. Bill told me that Yoyogi National Stadium, where the World Championships are being held, was built for the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Olympic swimming competition was held in this stadium 44 years ago.

Tokyo is in the running to host the 2016 Olympics. Chicago also is in the mix along with Madrid, Spain and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Friday, Oct. 10

TOKYO, Japan - One of the beautiful parts about athletics is you can rarely predict what is going to happen in a sporting event.

As ESPN's Chris Berman often says, "That's why they play the games."

The 2008 Women's World Championships is a prime example.

After glancing at the pairings when the first three weight classes were drawn on Friday afternoon, it was really tough to project how the wrestling would play out when the event starts on Saturday morning.

There are so many hungry young athletes, mixed in with a number of veterans, that this tournament will be interesting to watch.

The U.S. has three promising youngsters - Helen Maroulis, Deanna Rix and Elena Pirozhkov - ready to go for the first day of the three-day event.

I rode over on the bus with the U.S. team to the venue - Yoyogi National Stadium - on Friday afternoon. It's a nice facility. I'm just wondering what kind of access we are going to get to take pictures and do interviews. I have a bag full of pins ready if I need to make any new friends tomorrow.

I was able to walk around the downtown area a little bit today. The weather was perfect, with blue skies and temperatures in the 70s. I ate breakfast on a patio outside Starbucks. The downtown area was packed, as you might expect in a city of 16 million people. Everybody seemed like they were in a hurry, either on foot or on one of the many bicycles zipping down the street.

We had dinner in the hotel. We joined Elena Pirozhkov, and then Helen Maroulis came by and sat with us. Clarissa Chun and her coach, Keith Wilson, then came by a little bit later followed by U.S. coaches Terry Steiner and Izzy Izboinikov. Clarissa said she is going to stay in Japan after the Worlds to teach English to elementary school students here. Hopefully, Clarissa can cap a superb season with a strong finish at this tournament.

Thursday, Oct. 9

TOKYO, Japan - Overseas travel is always an adventure.

And today was no exception.

I knew my trip from Colorado Springs to Tokyo on Wednesday/Thursday was going to be long. Going halfway around the World is never easy.

I'm exhausted, but relieved, to finally be at our hotel in downtown Tokyo as we prepare for this weekend's Women's World Championships.

Here is a quick synopsis of my trip over here:

I left my apartment in Colorado Springs at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday and drove the 75 miles to the Denver International Airport. I've never seen I-25 so quiet. It made for an easy drive up to DIA.

Everything was rolling along smoothly until I boarded the Northwest Airlines plane for the 7:40 a.m. flight from Denver to Detroit. Shortly after boarding, the captain came on and announced they were doing repairs on the sink in the bathroom in the back of the plane. Yes, the sink. That was a new one.

About 90 minutes later, we still hadn't departed. And they still hadn't fixed the sink. They just put two large pieces of tape over the sink that formed an X. Nice. Some people on our flight were not real happy. Delays, unfortunately, are commonplace in these situations. Even on days when it's 75 degrees and sunny outside.

With just over 90 minutes between my two flights, it looked like I was going to miss my flight from Detroit to Tokyo. We were able to make good time and the pilot did a great job getting us into Detroit ahead of schedule.

We landed in Detroit at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time and my flight to Tokyo was scheduled for 2:10. We still had to taxi for 10 minutes before reaching the terminal. As I quickly walked into the terminal, I heard the announcement of the final call for Northwest flight 25 from Detroit to Tokyo. I was standing at Gate C1 and my flight was at C40.

I used to have some sprinter's speed back in my glory days in track and field, but not anymore. I took off anyway and ran nearly the whole way to the gate. Finally, I could see the gate, C40, in the distance. I yelled ahead and they held the gate for me to go through. I was on the flight, and I wouldn't have to re-book and possibly have to stay the night in Detroit.

The 13-hour flight from Detroit to Tokyo was as smooth as silk. I watched three movies - Speed Racer, Swing Vote and Leatherheads - and that chewed up a good chunk of the flight. None of the movies will win an Oscar, but none of the movies was as bad as Mr. Bean's Holiday or anything like that.

The young lady sitting next to me was on her way to Tokyo and then on to Shanghai, China, where she grew up. She attends college in Canada. She speaks excellent English. She was excited to hear I had been in Beijing for the Olympics. She said she's going to Beijing to see all the venues, namely the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest. She also told me she's never been to the Great Wall, which I thought was funny because I've been there twice. Of course, I grew up in Iowa and I've never been to the Field of Dreams or the Bridges of Madison County.

I met up on the flight to Tokyo with one of the coaches, Ron Tirpak, and one of the officials, Eric Fajerman, who also are here from the U.S. for the tournament. I figured there was no way the suitcase I checked would make it on time, but my big blue bag with large red USA letters on it came rolling around the corner right after I came down to Baggage Claim. It wasn't such a bad day after all.

We boarded a shuttle with a number of wrestlers and coaches from Canada and Italy, and then spent the next two hours making the long trek by bus from the airport to our hotel. It wasn't too bad. It was a nice new bus with the air conditioning cranked up. It was a scenic trip into the city as the sun was going down.

All the headaches of a long trip like this are more than worth it when you receive the rare opportunity to travel to a place like this. In my two and a half years at USA Wrestling, I've been to China twice along with having the chance to travel to Japan, Brazil, Azerbaijan and Germany. As I've said before, it's fascinating and interesting for me to see and experience what another culture is like.

Downtown Tokyo looks pretty amazing with all the bright lights and everything. It's one of the biggest cities in the World, and as expected, looks very Westernized. We saw a Starbucks and a McDonald's, and we laughed when we saw a Denny's and a Sizzler near our hotel.

Looks like there is plenty to see, but there's time to check that out later. We're here until the 14th.

I dozed off a few times on the plane, but I've gone about 30 straight hours now with basically no sleep.

It's time to get some rest.

The first three U.S. wrestlers weigh in tomorrow with the tournament set to begin Saturday morning.

Tuesday, Oct. 7

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - It seems like I just got back from the Olympics in Beijing, China, but it's time to jump back onto an airplane for another long overseas trip.

I'm headed to Tokyo, Japan, tomorrow for the Women's World Championships. They are having this event since only four of the seven weight classes in women's freestyle were contested in the Olympics.

Tomorrow is going to be a very long day. I will have to get up in the middle of the night to drive up to Denver so I can be on a 7:40 a.m. flight to Detroit on Northwest Airlines. Then comes the fun part - boarding a Boeing 747 for a flight from Detroit to Tokyo that is estimated to be in the air for 13 hours and 10 minutes.

The flight from San Francisco to Beijing for the Olympics also was about 13 hours.

It should be an interesting tournament. As many of you may already know, only one of the four U.S. Olympians in women's freestyle is competing in Japan. Clarissa Chun, who came within an eyelash of reaching the Olympic finals in Beijing, is back on the mat for the Worlds. Clarissa is wrestling the best of her career. Expect her to make a run at a gold medal in Tokyo.

Many of the teams, including the U.S., will be young with numerous athletes either retiring or taking a break after the Olympics. This is a great opportunity for the American girls to gain some experience and make a run at winning a World medal on the Senior level. Don't be surprised if some of these young girls on the American team make an impact this weekend.

The U.S. team took off on Sunday for Japan, so it can have time to acclimate and prepare for the tournament. The event is scheduled for Saturday through Monday in Tokyo. The atmosphere at the event should be electric with Japan's huge level of interest in women's wrestling.

It's my first trip to Tokyo, so I'm very excited about checking out one of the World's biggest cities. It's always fascinating for me to see another culture. My aunt and uncle lived in Japan for eight years when my uncle was stationed there during his time in the U.S. Air Force. I know they loved it over there, and they enjoy going back there to visit. I will be in Japan for six days.

I will do my best to keep you posted on some of my experiences during my trip.

We will do our best to keep you posted with stories, photos and results from the competition in Japan.

Time to finish packing and making sure I didn't forget anything for the long journey to Japan.