:4 - TM ig ,D y -W Wdnesday June 19,,9S O T OLYMPIC PROFILE: STEVE FRASER Former Wolverine wrestler makes' return to O1mpic arena as coach Bly Wilt Mc~ahIll Daily Sports Editor Indeed, it took Fraser almost four years of training around his work sched- "I kept thinking that at any moment I ule just to make it to the U.S. Olympic was going to wake up," Steve trials, and then a series of Iaser said of his time at the tough competitions to make top of the medal podium at the it onto the team itself at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic 198-pound spot. Games. And after all that, he was Twelve years ago Fraser - picked to finish only third, in a Michigan graduate and, at front of the home fans. the time, working in the ( But it was those very fans Washtenaw County Sheriff's Ci who helped Fraser defy the Department - shocked the { ; odds, urging him on from pundits as well as his compe- | 8i his inaugural match all the tition on the way to becoming * way through the champi- the first American ever to win Michigan onship. an Olympic gold in Greco- Olympic "Having the home-crowd Roman wrestling. Not only advantage was unbeliev- at, but he did it in his own Profiles able," Fraser said. "It was a country. big reason (why) I was able "For me, it was very emotional," to win. Having those thousands of peo- Fraser said. "It was the culmination of ple cheering for you, it just energizes many, many years of dreaming and you:' wishing and training and sweating." The biggest obstacle he faced along the way to the gold was Sweden's Frank Andersen, a three-time world champion and the heavy Olympic favorite. Fraser ended up beating Andersen by a score of 4-1, but the Swede didn't go down as easily as the score might indi- cate. "He was the favorite, and it was my toughest match," Fraser said. In the championship bout, Fraser wrestled to a I -1 draw with Rumania's Ellia Matea, and was able to feed off the crowd to break the tie in overtime. "Those close matches, when you have support from the crowd, you tend to be able to pull a little more effort from deep down," he said. "To win a gold medal in your home country was just spectacular," Fraser said of the experience, adding that hav- ing been the first American to stand atop the podium after an Olympic wrestling event made the triumph even sweeter. The whole 1984 experience puts Fraser in a unique position to do his current job, that of coaching the 1996 U.S. Greco-Roman squad at the Atlanta Games. After a stint with Ann Arbor-based Domino's Pizza, where he operated as many as 55 stores, and holding part- time coaching jobs with the Wolverines and at Eastern Michigan University, he was asked to apply for the head coach- ing job wit the national team. "I thought about it, and I figured that since I was getting kind of old, I would- n't have too many more opportunities to get back into coaching'" Fraser said. "I love business, but I looked at this job as a great opportunity to go out and have a little fun doing something that I really like to do." The final Olympic trials finished g r 215 5. STATE ST, BREAKFAST ANYTIME - LUNCH-DINNER SUNDAY MON. -THURS FRI. -"SAT. 8AM TO 8PM 8AM TOIOPM 8AM TO 4AM . . . S. f f 0-.". SPORTS INFORMATION-PHOTO Steve Fraser, who wrestled for Michigan from 1978-1980, became the first American ever to win an Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Fraser returns to the Olympic mat next month in Atlanta as the coach of the 1996 U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling squad. EL 11 Be an advertising Account Executive for fall/winter terms at June 2, and last Saturday saw the begin- ning of training camp for the top 10 wrestlers and 40 alternates who make up the Atlanta-bound squad. Fraser said the team will train at the USA Wrestling facility in Colorado Springs, Colo., before heading to Georgia shortly before the Games begin. "We've got our work cut out forus (at the Games)" Fraser said. "Our goal is to win six medals." The Hazel Park native cited Russia and the other former Soviet republics as the toughest competition the U.S. squad will face. The breakup of the Soviet Union has added depth across the Olympic ranks, instead of keeping it within the tradi- tionally strong Soviet squad. "Whereas before there was just one tough Soviet, now (with the breakup) you have 10 tough Soviets who all wres- tle for different countries," Fraser said. "So the depth in the Olympics has increased tremendously" As with the Los Angeles Games, Fraser said he is counting on the fact that the home crowd will give the wrestlers strength. "We've got the advantage of being in our own country," Fraser said. "If we can keep matches close, we're going to win all the close ones, because of our style, our outstanding physical condi- tion and our American-born competitive drive" Fraser played down the possibility that the pressure of performing in front of the home crowd might work again some of the wrestlers. All of the U. wrestlers have performed under stress- ful conditions before, he said. "All the pluses of being in our own country far outweigh the pressure" he said. Having been through it all before, Fraser is pretty sure he will be able to help his team deal with the feverish atmosphere sure to surround the Atlanta Games. "We try to prepare them on what expect as far as possible distractions, Fraser said. He plans to have the team train outside Atlanta until just before the wrestling competition is scheduled to begin, then move into the . Olympic Village. "We're going to stay focused on the task at hand and not let things get in our way" Fraser said. "The thing I would tell them about the pressure is to just go out and have fun and make it excitii for the crowd." "Go out and have fun, enjoy the moment, enjoy the fight, enjoy the com- petition, and the winning will take care of itself."