Four late springs ago, as athletes finalized their preparation for the Beijing Games, I had the honor to work with the US Olympic Wrestling on a promotional tour of New York as they readied to go abroad. Unlike other Olympic years, the Americans were younger and largely untested and many officials were worried about their staying power once they faced older veterans on the mats of Beijing. With some time before the trip, USA Wrestling brought the team to New York to do some press and fundraising, and the result was a whirlwind two days of media visits, tours and training.
Part of the breakneck publicity chase involved some early morning media opportunities, and I piled two of the youngest wrestlers into my car for a trip into Manhattan on the final day. Both were 18, one from the Midwest, the other from the Southwest, and both were full of excitement for what lay ahead when they got to the Games. They both fell asleep on the trip into the Lincoln Tunnel, but both awoke in time for a series of spirited TV and radio interviews throughout the morning. As the day ended the two joined the rest of their teammates and left New York, on their way back to train in Colorado Springs before finally heading abroad. When I returned home that night I noticed that one of the young wrestlers had left his wrestling shoes in my car. A few calls later the officials decided to chalk the loss up to learning, and they would be able to outfit him again without an issue. I decided to leave the shoes there, and sent the wrestler a text that after Beijing he had to come get the shoes again.
Those shoes never left my back seat until after the games, when Henry Cejudo became one of Beijing’s darling’s becoming the only Hispanic American to win gold in any sport four years ago. Henry was true to his promise and returned to New Jersey following the games with his gold medal, but instead of taking the shoes back he signed them and gave them to me, and today one sits in my office and the other on a shelf in my son’s room, next to photo of him wearing the gold medal Henry let him borrow for a few minutes.
The other young boy asleep in my car was Jake Deitchler, who at 18 became the first high school Olympic wrestler in almost 40 years. Like Henry, Jake’s future was bright, and despite not medaling in the Games, he became the face of a bright Olympic future.
This past weekend in Iowa, the 2012, Olympic Wrestling team was selected, and neither Cejudo nor Deitchler, the two youngest and brightest four years ago, were not on the team. Cejudo was upset in the finals of the trials, and retired on the spot. Deitchler’s career ended in the years following the Olympics due to a series of concussions. He is now a coach in Minnesota, and was the subject of a feature article in the New York Times last weekend.
The last four year’s Cejudo and his team rode the American dream story…gold medal, sponsorships, speaking engagements, a book, a potential movie. The son of illegal immigrants from Mexico, young Henry was a star among Olympic stars. Deitchler, not so lucky in competition, but lucky to have at least lived the Olympic dream in China. I thought about their stories and where they were this past week, as the 100 days countdown to London got in full swing. The brand value of Olympians is strongest now, as the promise of the Games beckons, and will rise as the winners and their stories emerge. Make no mistake, almost every Olympic story is a great one, and the best are usually the ones that are positioned for success as the curtain rises and destiny takes over.
However the lesson from these two young men is that fame and the window of Olympic opportunity can be fleeting, with an injury or a wrong move the 24/7 world we live in is on to what’s next, not what is past. Cejudo, though not going to London, maximized his window of opportunity, and hopefully will continue to keep that window open going forward. Deitchler maybe not as much, especially without the medal to merchandise.
Regardless, these two young men, who I had the chance to meet, and who enjoyed the comfort of a Honda Accord for a little shuteye one morning four years ago, are still examples of how the Olympic opportunity can lead to endless possibilities if time and circumstance and fate fall into line. It is something worth watching again as we head toward London, as experts in the business of sport determine on many levels who wins, and who doesn’t regardless of where they end up on the platform.
The gold lifted Cejudo to marketing success, the lack of medal probably left Jake a little short in the eyes of the business world. In my mind though, just getting there made them winners.
And now back to the business.
