A dollar says he could pin Fidel

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BEIJING -- If Greco-Roman wrestler Dremiel Byers could meet one person, living or dead, he’ like to hang with Cuban President Fidel Castro.

‘I don’t know, it just seems like he’d be interesting,’ Byers said when pressed.

He then related a story about a Cuban athlete who told him about winning an international championship, which earned him a private dinner invitation with the communist firebrand. At the end of the meal, Castro reached into his wallet and presented the athlete with a dollar.

‘What did you do?’ Byers asked.

‘I acted like it was the best dollar I ever got,’ was the reply.

Don’t get the wrong idea about Byers, a former world champion. Not only does the heavyweight compete for the U.S. Army, but there’s only one anthem he wants to hear during the wrestling medal ceremonies.

‘Get my hand raised and our song played,’ he said. ‘That’s the focus.’

Although Byers has never competed in an Olympics, he went to Athens with the U.S. team four years ago as Rulon Gardner’s practice partner. That experience, he expects, will help him here.

‘When I went with him to Athens...all the pressure was off of me. All I had to do was help him,’ Byers said. ‘I was watching and still learning. I saw how badly he wanted it and how badly I wanted it for him. He didn’t win a gold medal, but a bronze. He touched the podium and I saw that. Now it’s my time. I’m going to use that as fuel to accomplish my goal.’

The U.S. Greco-Roman team comes into the Beijing Games as the reigning world champions, which means the Americans won’t be sneaking up on anybody. But they won’t be lacking for confidence either, said coach Steve Fraser.

‘Needless to say that winning the World championship was a great accomplishment,’ Fraser said. ‘It gives us the confidence we need to go into this Olympics to do it again. Each one of our six athletes competing has the potential to win a medal, if not the gold medal.’

-- Kevin Baxter