Oklahoma State University Athletics
Press Conference with three OSU Olympians
July 24, 2012 | Cowboy Wrestling
July 24, 2012
Photo GalleryPress Conference Video
STILLWATER, Okla.—Olympians and former Oklahoma State Cowboys Coleman Scott, John Smith and Kenny Monday met with the media Tuesday to preview the 2012 Olympic Games, featuring Scott as the 60 kg contender for the U.S. Freestyle wrestling team. Smith will serve as a coach for Team USA.
Coleman Scott
On excitement for the Olympic experience
“I'm excited to get everything started. It's been a long process. It seems like we've been waiting a while. I know I'm ready. The coaches have prepared me right, and I put all the faith in them. I'm just excited to get over there and get everything started. I think it'll all sink in once I get there.”
On preparing for the Olympics
“There has been a lot going on. I've been keeping (an) even keel as much as I can and just worrying about getting better every day in the wrestling room. It's nice to have two or three practices a day to get away from everything. There's no phone, no nothing for a couple of hours, and that's the way I've been doing it for the last month or so.”
On Coach John Smith and Coach Kenny Monday
“I just listen to what these guys say. I know they've both accomplished what they went there for and won gold medals. I can just say, 'All right, I'll do that. You've done it, so you know what you're doing.' That's really all I've been doing is just listening and doing everything possible I can to prepare myself.”
On wrestling at New York's Time Square for the Olympic spot
“It was definitely the craziest venue. I've never wrestled outside. It was literally in the middle of everything with cars honking. Our locker room, per se, was across the street under the awning at the hotel. To get to the match, we were weaving in and out of business people in suits everywhere to get to the mat. It was definitely different, but it was a great atmosphere with a lot of energy. I think it did make everything a little bit more exciting with being the last one to make the team and the circumstances. It was definitely an experience, and I was fortunate to be part of it. Like Coach said, you have to go on from here and treat the Olympics as just a tournament. That was hard to stay focused. Coach kept telling me not to worry (about) everything else and don't listen to everybody. Just keep focus and keep in mind what you're doing here. Don't get distracted, and try to stay as even keel as you can. I think it did prepare me for this. I'm ready to take this tournament head on. I'm excited about it and leaving everything out on the mat.”
On his journey to the Olympic team
“I've had a lot of struggles. The first couple of years out of college, I couldn't buy a win, it seemed like. I was just losing to guys that I didn't think I should have. I think I had to go through that to get where I am now. It was tough being third the last three years, knowing you just came up a little bit short. It's another year that you can just go to the World Championships and watch. I actually didn't go last year because I was tired of going to the first two. I just said, 'I'm tired of going. I'm tired of being a training partner. I'm going to go make the team.' With everything combined, it's been a hard four years. In the end, it all paid off. I didn't doubt myself. I went through some tough times. I was more upset with myself. It was more of, 'Why me? Why now? I know I'm better than this.' After talking to the coaches and getting feedback, it took me a while, but I put everything together. Mentally, I'm a lot better now and a lot stronger. I think that was the majority of it. I was giving these guys too much respect and they hadn't even done anything yet. That's a thing I had to keep in mind there. They're not as good as we make them out to be.”
Coach John Smith
Opening Statement
“I know Coleman is ready and looking forward to heading to London, and this is a going to be an exciting Olympics for our athlete. This is thelargest number of athletes participating ever in the Olympic Games, and for that reason, that brings a lot of excitement. I'm just looking forward to our competition.”
On how the Olympics process works
“Everything goes through the USOC in Colorado Springs for the most part, just keeping the athletes updated, and it's a little bit chaotic over there as far as people coming in and for the athletes getting to the village to getting processed to the security codes. Just a lot of administration that we want to try to avoid with the athletes, and have the staff take care of most of that, so for us it is pretty simple. We are going on over and spending a couple days in London, and then we leave immediately to Belarus. The wrestling portion of the Olympics is the last three days, so we're going to be training over in Belarus for about seven days, and then we'll come back so it'll be a quick trip in, quick trip out. We'll spend about a week in London for our events.”
On watching Scott make the Olympic Team
“It is a pretty exciting time making the team, but really you need to immediately move into 'it's just another tournament' from here on out, and that's all it is. It's another tournament, it's a one-day tournament. He'swrestled a thousand tournaments. It's a tough tournament, obviously it has the best wrestlers in the world, but it's just another tournament. If he goes and wrestles and performs well, good things are going to happen. It could be a little bit overwhelming if you let it, but in the end, what he needs to remind himself as we go forward from here is, it's just another tournament. 'I've got to wrestle tough and hard like I've done all season and the outcome is going to be what we want'.”
On Scott's weight class and competition
“Well, when you look at his competition, when you measure it up, you think about wrestling, and there's millions and millions and millions on top of millions of wrestlers that weigh between 60 kilos and 74 kilos. The bulk of wrestlers are in that middle weight, and of course, year in and year out there's a tendency that the best wrestler in the world pound for pound will be coming out of one of those weights. So keep in mind there's 19 or 20 guys in the Olympics that are going to be his weight, and that's all going through qualification. There are world champions, guys that medaled in the past Olympics that did not qualify, so you know there's no easy draw. Everybody's pretty good, whether they are from Iran or whether they are from Cuba, but he does have an individual in his weight class that has won several world championships here in a row from Russia that recently has been beat for the first time since the last Olympics. That just shows everybody that,if he can be beat, anybody can be beat. But if I start going into names of people, I think Coleman said it best, they're good but they're not people that can't be beat. Coleman is good. Coleman is wrestling better than he ever has in his career. I've coached him and seen him since he was a freshman here. His level of maturity right now on the mat and what he expects out of himself out on the mat has never been as aggressive as it has been up to this last six months. His best has come out here in the end. Like he said, it's probably part of that journey, disappointment. When you don't make the team, you've got to wait another year. It's not like in between you get to wrestle in big events. You travel overseas and you wrestle in a few events. Him clawing through it has made him really tough and put him in a position to believe the things he believes in right now.”
On if Olympic Games ever get old
“Kenny has made three Olympic teams and I know he's been on the staff this year so this is his fourth maybe fifth Olympics that he's participated in, three as an athlete. Olympics never get old. I've had a chance to go to the World Cup in soccer.I've had the chance to go to the Final Four. I've been to a couple pretty big events. This Olympics is exciting just from the standpoint of it's a proud moment for your country. We take pride in winning medals, and that's why we are the greatest country in the world. We give our athletes a real opportunity to be the best they can be in their sports and a lot of things go on behind these athletes from the USOC to help them accomplish their hopes and dreams, so that's what makes the Olympics exciting. These are special guys in their sports. They're making sacrifices for a medal, not for fame or money, but for a medal.”
Kenny Monday
On watching Scott make the Olympic team
“It was exciting going through the process. I think as coaches, we try to give him an idea of what to expect, and whatever it is that he had to go through, he just had to keep his mind focused on wrestling and doing the best he can to prepare himself. It was exciting. It was probably a little more exciting because of the venue where it was held at Times Square in New York City. That was kind of unusual. I can't imagine having to make a team in New York City at Times Square, so that was kind of different. All in all, it was exciting because of the timing of it. We had to wait, and he was the only one making the team at that time. It was really fun, especially when you train hard and you stay focused and you have to go through that process. To watch him accomplish his goal of making the team was really fun and exciting.”
