I know athletes are disappointed when they lose. Especially in the marginally popular Olympic sports — and women’s freestyle wrestling certainly falls into that category.
A lot of these guys and girls have been training four years — or a lifetime, really — to get here, and their minds are filled with images of standing on the podium as the national anthem is played.
And when it doesn’t happen, when defeat knocks them down … it’s tough. It must be little short of a shock to the psyche.
But most of them, after maybe 30 minutes to compose themselves (and sometimes less) … come out and talk to reporters about what happened.
Marcie Van Dusen, however, did not.
Van Dusen is the women’s freestyle wrestler from Twin Peaks who attended Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead.
She was touted to take a silver at 55 kg (121 pounds) at the Beijing Games, but she crashed out in the second round today to a Colombian, and that was that.
A teary Van Dusen went through the “mixed zone” — the area where athletes pass by journalists — without saying a word. And that’s not necessarily unusual, because everything is so fresh. The wounds are raw.
She would talk in a bit, her USA Wrestling handlers said. And reporters respect that. Even those on deadline.
Then, a half-hour or so later, word came out that she would speak only after she found out if she were still alive in the repechage. Which meant waiting to see if the Colombian made the gold-medal match.
The meaningful match came … and went … and Van Dusen’s last hope of winning a (bronze) medal disappeared. In theory, she was going to come out now and spend, oh, maybe five minutes with reporters. It’s not like it’s a long period of time. And it’s not as if the handful of American reporters at the wrestling venue were going to rake her over the coals.
Other athletes I’ve dealt with — at these Games — have mastered themselves and come out and talked.
Valerie Gotay was shattered when she lost in judo, but after an hour or more she came out and spoke, even while she was still fighting back tears. Brenda Shinn was depressed when she finished 37th in her shooting event, but she talked to me within minutes of the event ending. A Greco wrestler named T.C. Dantzler was one-and-done, but he talked with great composure (and even humor) within minutes of his defeat.
Van Dusen, then, is alone so far in my dealings with athletes. Alone in hiding out.
What makes this unfortunate is that 1) she is 26, no longer a kid and 2) she was talking tough a week ago, and only too keen to talk to anyone with a microphone or a tape recorder.
(You can read about that episode here, on an earlier blog post.)
Athletes don’t owe journalists anything. But I do think they owe the people back home who supported them over the years, with some sort of basic thoughts about what they went through. Journalists are the conduit for that, whether in print or online.
The people back home now may never know what Marcie Van Dusen was thinking, an hour after her Olympic dream went “poof.” That’s not a way an athlete ought to be remembered. Or not remembered.
8 responses so far ↓
1 cindy // Aug 16, 2008 at 11:21 AM
What’s a shame is she could be such a role model — and is for young girls now wrestling, but that kind of behavior really falls under poor sportsmanship. Wouldn’t want anyone to emulate that. You’ve got to win and lose with grace. Obviously her handlers forgot to tell her that. Too bad. She doesn’t seem to understand is she could have made such an impact on young girls, just like Dara Torres. Success isn’t about winning, but picking yourself up after a tough time (loss) and walking away knowing you gave it everything you had. Her best wasn’t good enough today (yesterday) but it was the best she had at the moment, where’s the shame in admitting to being human? As you say, while she was disappointed, and rightfully so, where is her ability to be a winner in life and maybe in part onto younger athletes what she is feeling and making an impact on them and perhaps motivating others.
2 Toni // Aug 17, 2008 at 5:27 PM
What a poor show of sportmanship she displayed. Other atheles have lost but still came out to talk to the press who in good times they can’t wait to speak to. I think this girl need to grow up and stop being such a baby.
3 Diana // Aug 17, 2008 at 6:19 PM
It’s a shame that this athlete chose not to speak to reporters after her match. She should be proud just to have made it to the Olympics. Not everyone that gets to go to the Olympics comes home with a medal. Clearly she thought she would. She showed a lack of sportsmanship to both her team and her country. I hope the young wrestlers that will some day follow in her footsteps show more sportsmanship and finis than she did. We need athletes that can accept defeat as well as they accept winning. She is a bad roll model for all future women wrestlers. As an American I can say I’m not proud of this athlete.
4 Melanie // Aug 17, 2008 at 10:11 PM
Shame on you. You showed what sportsmanship should not be when you didn’t talk to journalists after you lost. Not everyone can win but you should have shown more class buy giving all those people who supported you a little insight as to what you felt after your lose. I’ve watched many of the events and even the Olympiad’s that lost had enough courtesy to come out and talk to reporters. I guess you think your to good for that. Like I said shame on you.
5 Gina // Aug 19, 2008 at 1:10 AM
I just came across this article and was really disappointed that Marcie choose not to speak to the media. Like Cindy above said that kind of behavior really falls under poor sportsmanship.It also shows a lack of respect for here sport and her country. Her trainers should have sat this young lady down and told her to stop being so immature especially since last week she was talking tough, and only too keen to talk to anyone with a microphone or a tape recorder.
I hope in the future she shows more maturity than she did at these games.
6 George Alfano // Aug 19, 2008 at 8:52 PM
Playing Devil’s Advocate (and I am a New Jersey Devils fan), I think you have to consider the fact that it is an individual sport. When there is a team, they share the joy or sadness of the event.
She should have spoken to the media, but it is a little different in an individual sport.
7 Kalee // Mar 24, 2010 at 11:46 AM
If I went to the Olympics, and lost, I would not want to talk to anyone either. Since when is sportsmanship a reflected in talking to the media. The amount of time, energy, determination, sacrifice and risk a Olympic athlete gives to their sport in unimaginable; a defeat is earth-shaking. It wasn’t like she didn’t shake her component’s hand either.
Let’s put ourselves in Van Dusen’s shoes. As far as I know, she still talked to the media but not necessarily when they wanted her to.
8 Estera // Sep 30, 2011 at 3:20 PM
hey now, everyone. a athelete can choose to talk to the press or not. She is my coach now and she is an amazing person, wrestler, friend, and coach. I am honored to have met her for even a min. She has great repsect for every person and has sportsmanship. She may have come out to talk to the reporters, so what. Lossing is an emotional thing to go through and if she had talked to the reporters than she may have had said something that may be taken out of context or she didn’t mean.
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