“Sorry, D.C.”
That was the identical message Daniel Cormier obtained again and again from longtime mates and teammates Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov because the outcomes from the 2024 Olympic freestyle wrestling competitions rolled on this previous week.
Heading into the Paris occasion, the lads’s staff representing america had excessive expectations to not solely win the staff competitors, however quite a few athletes had been additionally favored to say gold medals — or, at worst, depart with silver or bronze. The anticipation reached a fever pitch for a number of causes, not the least of which was the U.S. males’s freestyle staff profitable medals in 5 of the six weight courses on the 2020 Olympics.
The stage was set for American dominance, however upset after upset started taking place, and by the point the Olympic torch was handed from Paris to Los Angeles to indicate the following Video games happening in 2028, the U.S. males’s wrestling staff limped house with simply three medals — one silver and two bronze — and never a single gold for the primary time in 56 years.
“We positioned half the athletes however 5 out of six final time, you place 90 %, it’s laborious to really feel [satisfied],” Cormier mentioned of the 2024 Olympic outcomes on The Fighter vs. The Author. “For those who would have advised me we bought three out of six medals in 2008, 2012, once we weren’t wrestling as nicely, I’d have been fairly glad.
“However we’ve been profitable staff title after staff title for the final three years, so we get there and it’s like we’re going to lastly present that we’re the perfect.”
Cormier acknowledges the expectations surrounding the American staff weren’t unrealistic contemplating the dominance proven on the worldwide stage over the previous few years.
For the reason that 2020 Olympics ended, wrestlers from the staff that represented the U.S. in Paris claimed 10 medals within the World Championships of wrestling (a event similar to the Olympics that takes place throughout non-Olympic years however with extra weight courses). So as to add to that, the U.S. staff as a complete — combining women and men — captured the staff title in each 2022 and 2023.
Whereas many countries on the Olympics celebrated capturing medals no matter a first-, second-, or third-place end, Cormier says the anticipation constructed across the American staff was championship or bust.
“It’s a failure if the U.S. staff will get second,” Cormier mentioned. “Expectations, when you set the bar so excessive. And that’s precisely what we did the previous couple of years.”
That mentioned, the UFC Corridor of Famer guarantees no quantity of criticism aimed on the U.S. wrestlers comes near the dour means all of them are absolutely feeling proper now.
“If anyone’s going to be dissatisfied, I do know we’re as followers, however no person’s extra dissatisfied than these athletes,” Cormier mentioned. “These guys thought they had been going to rock these Olympics, they usually didn’t.”
Even for first-time Olympians like Aaron Brooks — a four-time NCAA nationwide champion from Penn State with restricted expertise on the worldwide circuit — Cormier says he didn’t get a lot leeway due to how he made the staff.
To earn his spot in Paris, Brooks needed to beat incumbent 2020 Olympic champion David Taylor twice within the U.S. staff trials. On the time, Taylor was extensively thought-about the No. 1 pound-for-pound wrestler on the planet, and prefer it or not, Brooks beating him led to numerous weight being added to his shoulders as he ready to compete this previous week in France.
“The craziest factor to me, I’m watching and I’m watching these guys compete they usually’re competing laborious they usually’re making an attempt,” Cormier mentioned. “However Brooks, his inexperience confirmed on the very finish, you can inform he’d been wrestling collegiately lately as a result of happening on the leg on the finish of a match collegiately is just not dangerous, as a result of they’ve bought to go all the best way behind you, they’ve bought to safe the takedown. However in freestyle, they simply sort of tilt you and it’s over.
“However him coming again and getting bronze medal is an enormous deal. This man’s younger internationally. However the expectation is if you happen to beat the person, you’ve bought to go on the market and be the person.”
On a private stage, Cormier admits he was speaking an enormous recreation in regards to the U.S. staff heading into the Olympics, which put him at odds with Makhachev and Nurmagomedov, who each hail from Dagestan — a breeding floor for a few of the greatest wrestlers on the earth.
Despite the fact that some Russian athletes had been banned from the competitors after their house nation invaded Ukraine, many Russian wrestlers ended up representing different nations, similar to 21-year-old phenom Akhmed Tazhudinov, who received gold at 97kg for Bahrain after rising up in Dagestan.
Cormier says the present UFC light-weight champion and arguably the best UFC light-weight champion of all-time didn’t let him hear the top of it when the U.S. wrestlers began to battle.
“Need me to inform you what makes it the worst? What makes it absolutely the worst? These conversations I’m having with Islam and Khabib,” Cormier mentioned. “Oh my f*cking God. As a result of you realize I brag lots. We’ve been profitable a lot, I’m bragging, I’m speaking numerous junk. And once we began dropping, [Makhachev] mentioned, ‘Sorry, DC,’ when Aaron Brooks misplaced as a result of Aaron Brooks misplaced to a Dagestani dude that’s simply wrestling for a special nation. I used to be like, ‘Bro, are you able to imagine that occurred?’ Then Spencer [Lee] misplaced, and once more he mentioned ‘Sorry, DC … DC, brother, please say one thing.’ As a result of I began ignoring him, proper?
“Then [Kyle] Dake loses. [Before that happened] my reply was, ‘How about Kyle Dake simply smashing dudes, it’s about to be straightforward for Dake!’ Then you realize what I get a few hours later? ‘Sorry DC,’ once more … ‘DC, say one thing.’ It’s loopy. That’s what’s the worst.”
All jokes apart, Cormier can solely provide phrases of encouragement for the U.S. wrestlers undoubtedly feeling down about their performances on the 2024 Olympics.
“All the pieces is studying,” Cormier mentioned. “These guys is aware of that. These guys are the perfect wrestlers on the earth and that’s why we’ve seen them do what they’ve executed for thus lengthy. They know they’re the perfect on the earth. All the pieces is studying.
“So proceed to work laborious and get higher and know that that is the kind of event, solely the best possible on the earth get to go to the Olympic video games. Once they’re the best possible on the earth, anyone can win. We as People, we’re silly to suppose something totally different.”
