Do you regret anything that was included in the book? Is there anything else you wish you would have included?
Hopping: I don't regret anything I included. There was some other information that I could have put in the book, information that people are aware of in the wrestling community about some powerful people in the wrestling community that if I had chosen to go that route, would have put the book on the front page of The New York Times sporting section.
The USOC is a powerful organization, but had been wrought with corruption in the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games and it became very sensitive of its image as any corporation, as any individual who has a lot of power and money tends to be. Employee hotlines were set up to where you could call up and essentially rat, snitch or sell out another USOC employee who was breaking the rules.
Nicholas Hopping1. It's not any of my business who sleeps with whom.
2. It's not what I wanted the book to be about.
But there was a particular situation with several characters involved that led to some compromising situations that left many employees uncomfortable and it's likely that people are in the same positions today because nobody said anything. So perhaps, under the title of journalist, I was weak in this regard.
If I would have written The Silent Gladiators with the included bedroom or couch sex scandals, printed rumors and airplane receipts, and hotel reservations in Vegas under power people's name and under the USOC dime, it would have altered some things in wrestling's power structure. And trust me, it would have made the papers, and I wouldn't have had to drive across the country, sleep in the back of my pickup, sell books in parking lots, and wait in the lobby of the Iowa City Press-Citizen, Des Moines Register, Minneapolis Star Tribune or Pittsburgh Post-Gazette trying to get my book reviewed by a newspaper editor who never heard of me or doesn't care about the sport I wrote about. And I, nor anybody else, would have had to dig too deep. It's like they say in the movie Syriana: "You dig a six foot hole, and you'll find three bodies. But you dig twelve, and maybe you'll find forty."
You mention in an interview with Martin Floreani on Flowrestling.com that you asked Mike Chapman, who is one of the respected wrestling authors in the country, to review your book, and that he acted unprofessionally and didn't like elements of your book. What aspects of your book didn't he like?
Hopping: About Iowa. About Gable. I paid $500 to have my book spellchecked.
You mention in the same interview that you believe wrestlers should be making more money. The exploding popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) on the other hand has allowed the UFC to offer lucrative contracts with the help of innovative marketing strategies by Dana White. Is MMA good or bad for the sport of wrestling and why?
Hopping: Good. Wrestling needs MMA the same way Olympians need training partners. We are dying because nobody is pushing us. MMA is cashing in and making a name for wrestlers. Uriah Faber is doing well. Chuck Liddell killed it. And plenty others are crossing over. Mo Lawal is a perfect example. He is a star athlete waiting to happen. Yet, when he was wrestling, I never saw him in commercials trying to sell me underwear or drinking Sprite and telling me how good it tastes. I wish I could have seen him on the Late Show with David Letterman because the dude is funny. But once he lost at the Olympic Trials, he had to eat and make a living so he went to MMA where his talent is compensated. USA Wrestling lost its most exciting athlete, one of its most marketable commodities and nothing changes … and more wrestlers will do the same. I hope Lawal hits it big in MMA, cashes checks the size of a surfboard because that's what an athlete of his caliber deserves.
Dana White should be given a Wrestling Man of the Year Award for putting food on wrestlers' tables. I don't watch MMA and I don't enjoy seeing blood on TV or every guy walking around Huntington Beach thinking he's the next Tito Ortiz, but hating Mr. White or the MMA for poaching former NCAA stars is the wrong mentality. I rarely, if ever, watch MMA, but if table tennis outperformed us in NBC coverage at the Beijing Olympics, which it did, how can anybody say the situation is anything but pathetic?
The U.S. wrestlers aren't pathetic. The coaches aren't pathetic. (You can play hangman with the rest) U _ _ W _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ promotion is pathetic.
Your employment and subsequent termination from USA Wrestling has become a topic of discussion on public wrestling forums across the country. Describe your experience at USA Wrestling.
Hopping: Here is USA Wrestling's phone number: 719.598.8181. Call them. Pretend you're a manger at El Pollo Loco doing a background check because you want to hire me as the Chicken Mascot for your fine fast-food establishment. Ask them, if at anytime during Mr. Hopping's internship was he terminated?
I was never fired from USA Wrestling and I enjoyed my short time while working there as a USOC intern. My boss, Larry Nugent, was nothing but good to me. The executive director, Rich Bender, who I didn't really work with, was a very nice, family man who treats others with respect. Travis Shives and Andre Gibson were some others who were good people, cared about the sport, and worked hard.
Has there been a backlash from USA Wrestling since the book was published? If so, do you care?
Hopping: I have not heard from anyone from USA Wrestling and I don't expect to. I don't have anything to care about and I imagine they don't either when it concerns me.
You dedicated two chapters of the book to the Russian wrestling scene and its most accomplished wrestler in Bouvaisa Saitiev. Did you spend any significant time with Saitiev? If so, what sets him apart from the most successful wrestlers in the U.S.?
Bouvaisa SaitievHis reliance on faith gives him the strength to beat temptation and distractions that tempt any man and allows him to train hard, digest the finest coaching and perform when the lights come on. His environment (Chechnya) has hardened him. He is, as they describe Mickey (Brad Pitt), the Irish-Gypsy bare-knuckle boxing champion in the movie Snatch: "Tougher than a coffin nail."
Many people would consider the performance of the U.S. freestyle team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing a disappointment. Did you watch the 2008 Olympics online? And if so, why do you think they underperformed?
Hopping: I watched a few matches on TV, mainly Henry Cejudo and Mike Zadick. Cejudo obviously wrestled out of his head and had the tournament of his life. He attacked, he defended well, but mainly he fought it out situation to situation, point for point, and if he hadn't there were several times where he could have lost in each match, but he didn't lose, he went after it as if losing was the last thing on his mind, and God bless the kid ... he's the Olympic champ now and forever.
I didn't see the athletes train in this cycle. Nor can I speak of the coaches. But I believe it is getting harder to recruit athletes to the OTC (Olympic Training Center) to commit four years for one shot at the Olympics. The facilities are awesome but there is very little to offer in terms of family housing or money that is comfortable to live off and the competition for college coaching jobs and the MMA movement cuts into the numbers as well.
Did they underperform? Yes, but only because the US expectations are always very high and the day they aren't then the entire program has a problem. But ask yourself this question: Does it matter?
It certainly didn't to NBC. I never saw much coverage in the paper. When the 2004 USA basketball team lost in the Olympics, there was an outcry and things changed immediately with the U.S. program. Jerry Colangelo got involved, Mike Krzyzewski signed on, and the U.S. was built into a team. What is being done with USA Wrestling? Are the same people in place? Is more money coming through? Are sponsors being lined up? Is there a drastic overhaul of the situation? Or do the same people keep showing up at tournaments, patting each other on the back, sharing pleasantries at the free buffet, and four years later the same thing happens … only now half the graduating NCAA wrestlers who still have a desire to train are stepping into an MMA octagon instead of attempting to win gold at the Olympics.
What will it take for the sport of wrestling to be respected as much in the U.S. as it is in Russia?
Hopping: That's a tough question … but if it happens, the solution will undoubtedly have two things going for it … a whole lot of money and new blood. It may never be like Russia because of the cultural differences in how we view the sport and the Olympics and the amount of competition for entertainment in the U.S.
In your book, you describe Daniel Cormier as someone who "trains in cycles, pushing hard for several weeks at a time before a competition, and generally eating whatever he wants." What was your reaction when he heard that he was ruled medically ineligible for the 2008 Olympics?
Hopping: For someone I don't know very well … I was crushed. I spent a lot more time watching these athletes than I did interviewing them for my book and one thing I noticed about Daniel was that people like the loyal crowds that follow Oklahoma State wrestlers loved Daniel. They viewed Cormier as a son, with love, they wanted so desperately for him to win because of all the personal struggles he had been through.
When he lost in Athens, John Smith was muttering to himself as he walked away, Bobby Douglas shook his head as well and when I left the arena a small contingent of wrestling followers were crowded around Cormier's wife as she was the only person still sitting in the empty arena, drying her eyes because she couldn't stop crying.
Daniel CormierI wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy because he can never get that back. He can never know how he would have done in Beijing.
In a blog entry dated July 2, 2008, Jason Bryant, one of the most respected journalists in the sport, wrote that your book "really struggles with some vital elements -- grammar and facts." Do you wish you would've done a better job of editing the book?
Hopping: The writer you mentioned, who you describe as one of the most respected journalists in wrestling, is in reality, one of the few journalists in wrestling. So the talent pool is small in this regard. There are far more great wrestlers in this country than there are wrestling journalists. Why? Nobody wants to cover it because nobody cares, knows, or understands the sport outside of a familiar circle. America has the athletes. America has the coaches. But America doesn't have an organization that is doing the job so that sponsors want to get involved, athletes get exposure and media want to cover the action.
So while the writer you mentioned, one of the "most respected" in your words, is also tied into the very same people who I strongly believe are letting this sport die or at least are failing to be a part of its resurrection. His comments were predictable.
Were there mistakes in my work? Absolutely. Did it take away from the story to the point that he makes? I have 1000 supportive letters that says, "No." And this writer and a couple other people who I can count on one hand who say, "Yes."
I have no problem with anyone nor the writer you mentioned disliking my book, and I told him so over the phone when I was calling him in regards to a posting he put out that said I was fired from USA Wrestling. As a critic, he is entitled to his opinion, but if he wants to spread false rumors saying that I was fired without asking me if it was true, then his words carry very little weight with me.
He can continue deterring people from The Silent Gladiators, but I believe he would be best served with all the respect he has garnered in his 14 years as a journalist, and the titles that accompany his name, to stop spending time writing about my book and write his own. I would also suggest that he go back to school and compete for an NCAA wrestling team so he gains a better idea of what wrestling is about and come back with his own story when he has the scars to prove it.
As far as the mistakes go … it is what it is. I switched files with the typesetter. I rushed to have it printed for the Olympic Trials. As a result, mistakes were made. It's on me. And let this be a thank-you letter to this writer for diligently pointing that out so I can correct it.
Do you plan on writing more wrestling books?
Hopping: After I publish Making It or Faking It, which is a novel about Los Angeles, the only wrestling book I would be interested in writing would take place in Russia. If I learned the language and were granted access to places like Chechnya, if I could attend tournaments in Siberia and spend some time interviewing figures like Mimashvilli and Beloglazov, then I would do it. It would not solely be about wrestling, it would concern their culture, their society, and attempt to uncover why, perhaps, they are the toughest people in the world.
Russia is undergoing a tremendous transformation in their sporting ranks. The KHL hockey league is poaching NHL players. Professional as well as the national soccer team are finding success and money is being thrown around. Big things are happening, and the world seems to be in a time of change, so it would be interesting to see America from the other side, what the Russian coaches and athletes really think of us and what are the variables that consistently drive their athletes to top of the podium at the World Championships and the Olympics.
Vladimir Putin is behind this Russian sporting renaissance, pushing the oligarchs to donate enormous amounts of cash into facilities, coaches and top salaries for the athletes. Many of the American wrestlers wish they had it so good. They wouldn't have to go to MMA to get paid. They wouldn't have to wish they were made. And they would definitely … never mind … have a good one, RevWrestling.com.
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