Michael Phelps, the great American swimmer, won eight gold medals in a record-smashing performance at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In the 26-year-old Phelps? lifetime, the United States has captured six gold medals in boxing, including only one in the last three Olympiads.
The reasons are as long as Dwight Howard?s inseam, but one of the biggest is a lack of commitment.
?There are some things we need to look at in terms of what we offer our kids,? USA Boxing national coach Joe Zanders said. ?Look at the rest of the world and look at us. Look at the rest of the world and look at the government support of their program. They train year-round. They?re able to identify their team in a reasonable time and give everyone a shot. Whoever wins, they move forward with and coach them and prepare them.
?If you go to most of the countries we compete against, they have reasonable training sites. If you go to an Olympic training site in America, you can easily identify where the swimming training center is, because there is a swimming pool. If you go to any U.S. Olympic facility and you look around, you can see a lack of support for the [boxing] program. Unfortunately, the government doesn?t support us and in terms of what we get, it?s embarrassing.?
It will take a commitment on a number of levels to turn it around. From the fighter standpoint, it will take a boxer who is committed to chasing the Olympic dream, who respects what it means to wear the American colors and who is dedicated enough to earning a medal to devote his life to it, if necessary.
Fortunately for Team USA, that sounds suspiciously like a description of flyweight Rau?shee Warren.
The Cincinnati native will compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials, which begin with the draw on Saturday in Mobile, Ala., looking to become the first American ever to compete on three Olympic teams.
He?s an overwhelming favorite to win the light bantamweight division in Mobile and advance to the Olympics in 2012 in London ? ?If someone beats him at the Trials, we certainly have a great reason to be very excited about that young man,? Zanders said ? and thus become USA Boxing?s first three-time Olympian.
Warren could have turned professional after a first-round loss in Beijing, a fight he likely should have won but did not. And though it had to have crossed his mind that he might be more suited for the professional game than the amateurs, Warren never wavered.
He was determined to compete in London and chase that elusive medal.
?I?ve had this dream for years, and I?m not about to give up on it just because times were tough,? Warren said. ?I?ve dreamed of putting a gold medal around my Mom?s neck. She taught me to compete. She taught me never to give up. She taught me to work hard and chase my dream and so I owe this to her. I was going to go for it because I didn?t want to quit.?
Warren was 17 and the youngest American Olympian in 2004 when he was eliminated in the first round by China?s Zou Shiming. In 2008, as captain of Team USA, he thought he was winning and stayed away late in the final round of his opening-round bout with Korean Lee Ok-Sung.
He could have given up on the dream because there was a lot of money to be made in professional boxing. Warren is a fast-handed and elusive boxer who hits hard for his size. Had he turned professional after Beijing, he likely would have fought for a title already, or been on the verge of it.
But nothing was going to deter him from pursuing an Olympics gold. .
The decision didn?t surprise those who know him the best and understand his competitiveness, dedication and discipline. His 2008 teammate, Cleveland?s Raynell Williams, is also back for another crack, hoping to make the team this time as a lightweight after having compete in Beijing as a featherweight.
