I was on the 1980 Olympic team that suffered not going to the Olympics because of the boycott. I had quit my job, sold the little I had in life, left Milwaukee to go to the Olympic Training Center with $300 in my pocket and the dream to make the Olympic Team and race in Moscow. I worked so very hard for that single spot in the 1km TT event. I remember the entire team bringing USA cycling to a new level with a dedication and suffering in training that I am proud to be a part of. The day the boycott was announced, a number of athletes from various sports went out to a local Colorado Springs bar to kill the pain of our dream being taken away from us. We crawled over the fence of the locked training center to get back to our barrack style rooms in the middle of the night. The next day was back to training, hoping the boycott would break in the coming weeks and months. It did not. While the Olympics are a BIG event, there are many other competitions in any Olympic year nationally and internationally. We raced the equivalent of the World Cup Circuit in the weeks before The Olympic Games. The USA team was successful across events for the first time in the modern era, not to take away from the incredible performances of the racers from previous decades that had world level performances individually, but not as a collective team. A number of our US CyclingTeam would have had some breakthrough performances at the Olympics,but most would have not been medal winners. My best event was the points race, and it was only a demonstration event in Moscow. Yes, I won a variety of points race and omniums against the best in the weeks and months leading to Moscow ahead of the Olympics, as did some of our other greats of that day, but an gold is never a given in that event. In the 1km TT, Id have likely been 6-12th. Still, it was an opportunity lost. Instead of going to Moscow, they threw a party for us at the White House. Since we had raced against all the other Olympic teams in Budapest, Berlin, Munich, Hanover, Brno, we had the chance to exchange Olympic trinkets with racers from other nations. I got a few sheets of stickers of the Olympic mascot, the bear. When at the White House, I would take a drink out of a fountain and put a sticker on the back of the tank. When going up the stairs,a sticker would find its way under the hand rail. when going to the bathroom, low and behold, a sticker would be on the back of the water tank. It was my silent protest. Some of the athletes were at a life situation that their one and only shot to compete in the Olympics was that one and only time. A number of the US bike racers from our 80 team as well as many in other sports stayed amateurs because the 1984 Games were in the USA. If not, most would have turned pro or stepped back a bit and remained amateurs, while moving on with careers or families. The success we had in 1984 was directly because we had a more mature team age wise because of the holdovers from 1980. I was 26 at the 1984 Games. I like the saying that life is like a kaleidoscope... every turn makes things look different. We all have a choice to make of our future what we want of it. I chose to focus on not being bitter, to focus on bettering my abilities on and off the bike. I mention this because a number of people are asking me today about the dad of the soldier exchanged this week. He said he was on the 1980 Olympic Team and he was not. He has blamed his bitterness on that twist of fate. Everyone has situations beyond their control and my hope for myself and all of you is that when things are bad, you do not get bitter, you do not let it twist you. I always say that I hope I never have some of those bad reactions come from me, and we never know what the future holds, but with faith and friends, we can try to keep each other afloat. Do not let others poison who you are.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 03:32:20 +0000
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