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Monday, October 23
Leipold loses gold; Slay declared champion
Associated Press
DENVER -- Brandon Slay says his Olympic wrestling gold medal
is even sweeter because he knew "the agony of defeat before the
thrill of victory."
The International Olympic Committee in Geneva on Monday disqualified
Germany's Alexander Leipold, who had beaten Slay in the 167½-pound
freestyle final in Sydney, for using a banned steroid.
|  | | Brandon Slay, left, of Amarillo, Texas, battles Alexander Leipold in the gold-medal match. |
Leipold was the third gold medalist from the Sydney Games to be disqualified because of the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Slay, in a telephone interview, forcefully turned aside any
suggestion that his victory was any less worthy because it took
intervention from the IOC after he lost on the mat, 4-0.
"I do feel sorry for him. But we all have choices," Slay said.
"He made his choice and I made my choice. I made my choice to be
clean and he made his choice to be dirty.
"I believe God was watching out for me. I believe he watches
out for all of us. I've learned so many lessons from how this has
taken place. I experienced the agony of defeat before the thrill of
victory. That made me so much more of a stronger person, mentally
and spiritually."
Slay said that even though he first learned of Leipold's likely
disqualification last week, it had "been frustrating waiting so
long. They said it was 99 percent sure, but you know in life that
things can change."
The IOC executive committee said it had ordered the German
Olympic Committee to "withdraw and return" Leipold's gold medal.
South Korea's Moon Eui Jae will move up from the bronze medal to silver, while Turkey's Adem Bereket will go from fourth to third.
"It is great for the United States to have another gold
medalist in wrestling," said Jim Scherr, executive director of USA
Wrestling. "Brandon has worked very hard to become an Olympic
champion and we are very proud of him. We are also encouraged that
the IOC continues to be diligent in its efforts to eliminate the
use of banned drugs from the Olympic movement."
The IOC said Leipold's urine samples indicated the presence of
norandrosterone and norethiocholanolone -- signs of the use of the
steroid nandrolone -- in concentrations 10 times higher than the
maximum permitted under IOC rules.
The IOC's medical commission recommended last week that Leipold
be stripped of the gold.
Leipold had denied using the drug, saying it would have been no
use to wrestlers in general and him in particular because his style
did not emphasize strength.
Leipold is the fifth athlete from the Sydney Olympics to be
stripped of a medal for a doping offense, the third to lose gold.
No American was caught using drugs at the games, where 11 athletes
failed drug tests.
Slay is the second American to move up from a silver to a gold
as a result of a disqualification. Tara Nott of Colorado Springs,
Colo., got the gold in weightlifting in the 105-pound class after
the apparent winner, Izabela Dragneva of Bulgaria, was stripped of
her medal for failing a drug test.
Slay, who often speaks at schools, said now he will be able to
use his own story and the disqualification of Leipold as real proof
of what can happen to those who use drugs.
"For Alex Leipold, his name will be erased from the books and
it will be like he was never there," Slay said. "For me, this is
a total victory. I put the time and the commitment in. I wrestled
year-round since I was 8 years old."
Slay appeared headed for the gold medal in Sydney after beating
four-time world champion Bouvaissa Saitiev. But Swedish referee
Borje Schoug awarded Leipold three penalty points in a final-day
decision that U.S. wrestling officials criticized. They said Schoug
refused to allow Slay to wrestle.
"Of course, everybody in the entire city of Amarillo and the
Panhandle is jumping up and down that we have a gold medal Olympian
here," said Johnny Cobb, Slay's coach at Tascosa High School in
Amarillo, Texas. "We realize it is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity. ... We are just going to revel in the glory of the
moment now."
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