Olympic gold medalist Brandon Slay delivers winning message to athletes at Olympic Training Center
Craig Sesker USA Wrestling
11/14/2008
Brandon Slay delivered one of the most memorable wins in United States freestyle wrestling history when he scored a stunning 4-3 overtime win over Russia’s Bouvaisa Saitiev at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
Slay went on to win an Olympic gold medal in Sydney before retiring from the sport.
Saitiev, who had won the 1996 Olympic Games, went on to add Olympic gold medals in 2004 and 2008. He also won six World titles and is regarded as one of the best international wrestlers of all-time in any style.
Slay, a native of Amarillo, Texas, trained at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He returned to Colorado this week to speak with resident-athletes in various sports at the Olympic Training Center.
Slay maintains a jam-packed schedule. He still travels the country doing speaking engagements along with camps and clinics for his company, Greater Gold. He now works with his church in Dallas as a mentor for community group leaders. He also helps out at as a coach for the Dallas Dynamite Wrestling Club.
Slay sat down Friday afternoon for an interview with USA Wrestling Communications Manager Craig Sesker in the USAW offices in Colorado Springs.
How important is it for you to give back to the sport?
I think it’s ultra-important. I wouldn’t have accomplished the things I did in wrestling if people hadn’t given back to me. I had some great coaches coming up through women's, high school and college. And then moving out to the Springs and having Coach Kevin Jackson work with me, that made a huge difference for me. Kevin had a tremendous impact on my career. Now I’m taking the knowledge my coaches poured into me and doing my best to pass it on to others.
Can you tell me about your trip back to the Olympic Training Center this week?
It’s great to be back. It’s fun. This is actually the second time the United States Olympic Committee has brought me in here. I talked to all the resident-athletes who were willing to come and listen to me. I spoke to them about my experiences here. I lived out here for almost three years. I told them I understand the highs and lows they go through here as an athlete. I offered them some advice that might help them. I told them they need to make sure they go, ‘All in.’ They need to commit 100 percent to the program at the OTC. They need to trust their coaches. If you’re not going to go ‘All in’ they need to find some place else to go. You need to embrace the wisdom you have in here. You also can call your college coach or someone else you’ve worked with in the past for some advice and wisdom. Get out of here once in a while. Go train at Stanford, go train at Penn, go train at Oklahoma State. Leave here and go find a fresh environment once in a while to train in so it doesn’t become too monotonous here.
I also talked about making sure the athletes have a proper World view. You can think that life is all about the gold medal, and if you win the gold it’s everything. When you win the gold medal, it’s not going to totally fulfill you. If you think the gold medal is everything, and you don’t accomplish it, you’re going to think you’re a failure. Now you still go for the gold, but you realize there is something better which is your faith, your integrity and the way you treat people. I also want them to remember to be thankful for what they have here. I’ve been on Tours to Poland and Bulgaria and Krasnoyarsk, where the conditions maybe aren’t the best. A lot of times our athletes become spoiled and don’t realize how blessed they are to train in Colorado Springs and work with the coaches we have, train in the facilities we have and work with the video equipment we have. They need to stop and smell the roses on a frequent basis, because that helps you stay grounded.
When the 2008 Olympic Games were held this summer, did you have a chance to watch any of Saitiev’s matches?
I saw all the videos of his matches on the Internet. I was cheering for him and I wanted him to win because he’s been such a fixture in the sport. He’s one of the most successful wrestlers of all-time. I wanted him to finish strong. I was so pumped up after watching the Olympics that I went to the gym and worked out.
What was your mindset going into your match with Saitiev in the 2000 Olympics?
It was obviously a big match, but I tried to act like it was not totally different from every other match I’ve wrestled. I tried to really simplify it and said here’s what I can control. ‘I’m wearing blue because I’m blue on the bracket. I’m going to put my shoes on, go out there and shake hands, and just get it on like I always do.’ That’s the simple side of what I could control. The more technical side was I had watched hundreds of hours of video of Saitiev, and had written down notes in a notebook that I had for all the guys in my weight class. I knew the strengths and weaknesses of every guy, and I had developed a strategy and a game plan for how I was going to beat each guy I would face.
What was your game plan against Saitiev?
I knew exactly what my strategy would be against Saitiev. My strategy was to not shoot singles and fire about five doubles in the match. I thought if I shot five hard doubles and got two of them, and then was able to turn him, I would win this match. And that’s what happened. That was my strategy and I stuck with it. We went into overtime and the fifth hard shot I took was the double-leg takedown that won the match.
I went into that match believing I could do it. I was very confident. I knew anything could happen in a match like that. I knew I had the spiritual, mental and physical ability to beat him. My style matched up really well with his. His weakness was probably his ability to defend hard doubles, which happened to be my strength. It was a good matchup for me.
How did you prepare for Saitiev in practice?
A lot of people don’t know this story. But after Casey Cunningham did not make the Olympic Team in 2000, just because of his servant’s heart and willingness to keep getting better, he stayed at the Olympic Training Center and did his best to become the Russian. He studied tons of video of Saitiev. He’s built really similar to Saitiev, and he tried to become Saitiev when he wrestled me in practice. He wrestled like him and acted like him. He even wore Russian shirts when he came to practice. Casey did his best to simulate how Saitiev would wrestle me and it really paid off for me. Plus I visualized beating Saitiev hundreds of times. So when I stepped on the mat against him it wasn’t like, ‘This is crazy.’ It was more like I had been there before because I trained so hard for him.
Many wrestling observers thought you had pinned Saitiev early in the match, but it was not called. Saitiev eventually came back to tie it before you won in overtime. What was your take on that?
I’m glad the match completed the way it did. I won, so I was obviously excited about that. There were no subjective calls in the match. All the calls were very clean and clear. When I gut-wrenched him early in the match, I believe he was pinned. There are pictures that show his back flat on the mat, and it couldn’t be any more clear that I pinned him. I’m really glad that they didn’t call a fall at that moment because people would have said, ‘Well, that was just a really good gut-wrench and Slay just caught Saitiev in one moment. And that Saitiev would’ve come back from down 3-0 and just destroyed Slay.’ I’m glad they didn’t call the fall because we wrestled a whole entire match and then went into overtime. To win the way I did, I couldn’t have written it any better.
I say this humbly, but when people ask what it’s like to beat maybe the best wrestler ever, it kind of gives me goosebumps. I haven’t won three Olympic gold medals like him, and I don’t want to compare myself to Saitiev at all, but to be able to beat a guy like that when you’re in your prime and in your first Olympics is priceless.
How closely did you follow the American freestyle team at the Olympics?
I tried to watch as many of our matches as I could. We didn’t have that many, so there weren’t a lot to watch unfortunately. I did follow it closely though. I was frustrated and upset, just like a lot of people were as fans. We obviously wanted to see more Americans win like Henry Cejudo did.
I was very impressed with what Henry did. I continue to sing this from the rooftops, I believe if you move to Colorado Springs and you commit to being here and take advantage of all the opportunities here, it will pay off if you make the ‘All in’ commitment. It paid off for Henry Cejudo. I believe that was what paid off for me. Guys like Kerry McCoy, Cael Sanderson and Bill Zadick, they came out here and it paid off for them. I think it’s the best way to go. I wish more guys would get with the program, literally.
How far away is the U.S. from being an international force again in freestyle wrestling?
I think we have a lot of talented wrestlers in the U.S. We are in a big transition with all of the changes right now at USA Wrestling. We’re not clicking on all cylinders yet because the coaching staff hiring is not all completed. I believe in the next four years, if the right decisions are made on all levels by USA Wrestling, the coaches and the athletes, we can be successful.
You had a chance to sit down recently and have lunch with new U.S. National Freestyle Coach Zeke Jones. What did you guys talk about and what does Zeke have to offer for the freestyle program here?
Zeke brings a lot of passion to the program. He has an intense love for wrestling. Zeke brings the ability to begin to build bridges with a lot of different coaches from across the country. He is going around and picking a lot of different people’s brains and calling a bunch of different people to get their input. Today, he asked me probably 50 different questions and was getting my thoughts and opinions on a number of different issues. He’s working on finding a Freestyle Resident Coach, so that program is in kind of a transitional phase until that happens. He’s trying to put his plan in place so we can move forward.
The quality of wrestling has improved dramatically in your home state of Texas. Do you see that trend continuing?
I believe so. I’m extremely passionate about seeing wrestling grow in the state of Texas. Anytime I sign a poster for kids in Texas, I sign it, ‘Texans can do it. Brandon Slay.’ I do that just to get these kids to believe. I ask the kids if someone who was born and raised in Texas can become the best in the World. That’s my battle cry. Sure, it’s possible because I was able to do it.
I can’t be everywhere, but we’re doing a lot of clinics around the state of Texas and I’m helping out at the club in Dallas. It’s been fun seeing wrestling grow in Texas. Jamill Kelly, who of course won an Olympic silver medal in 2004, he’s the head coach of our club. He’s doing a great job with the kids we have. It’s great to be a part of this and see these young guys develop.
What is it like to come back and speak to the athletes here at the Olympic Training Center?
It’s been an honor to have the USOC invite me back here. I spoke to athletes in a number of different sports. We had gymnasts, cyclists, volleyball players, weightlifters and shooters who came to hear me talk. There was just a plethora of athletes who showed up. To be able to stand up in front of them, as a wrestler, and share my experiences with them was an honor. Hopefully, there were some seeds planted with them that will grow down the road.
I’m staying at the OTC this week, so I’ve had a chance to talk to some of the athletes in the cafeteria and share some more of my stories and experiences with them. I don’t leave until Sunday, so I will be around the athletes here all weekend. I look forward to talking with more of them.
USA Wrestling’s Assistant National Freestyle Coach and Head Resident Coach Terry Brands has notified USA Wrestling that he accepted a position as assistant wrestling coach with the University of Iowa today.
