MR TWISTER
08-11-2008, 09:28 PM
I saw this and thought I would share some thoughts from an Illinois Olympian.
T4L
Mixing business with sport
By the Associated Press
Sunday, August 10, 2008 9:38 PM ET
BEIJING (AP) - Nobody takes a client to the mat like T.C. Dantzler (http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=1318/bio/index.html).
While countless athletes talk about taking care of business at the Olympics, Dantzler does it. One of America's top Greco-Roman wrestlers, Dantzler spends his few off-the-mat hours in Beijing running from afar a software business that recently expanded to 29 employees.
"I can't come here and get out of my normal business mode. I'm doing a little bit of work, making sure the worker bees are on task and doing everything they're supposed to be doing," a sweat-drenched Dantzler said Sunday, the first of several workouts finally over.
A gold medal obviously isn't all that motivates the 37-year-old former Northern Illinois athlete, who has been driven to succeed since he put on a coat and tie each Saturday as a youngster to work for his ex-athlete father's insurance business.
Back home in Colorado Springs, his average work day runs from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. and includes a full day at the office, two workouts and some must-have time with his wife, Tanya, their own three youngsters and a 20-month-old girl they are adopting.
A few Olympians are lucky enough to parlay a gold medal into millions of dollars in endorsements or public appearances. Dantzler's business, TC logiQ, already is worth an estimated $4 million and may go public in a few years.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/mm/photo/sports/general/19/33/63/193363_m03.jpgAmerican T.C. Dantzler will make his Olympic debut this week in the 163-pound Greco-Roman class.
U.S. Greco-Roman coach Steve Fraser, himself a former Domino's Pizza executive, marvels at how Dantzler juggles two full-time jobs and a big family.
Fraser doesn't know how he does it. Dantzler said he must do it.
"I'm a smart guy," Dantzler said, and not with any braggadocio. "I do it with ease because I surround myself with smart people and with people interested in me succeeding."
Dantzler has been a success since his peewee football and wrestling days in Harvey, Ill., near Chicago, an athlete good enough to both wrestle and play football in college although he never won a state high school or NCAA wrestling championship. After college he worked for MCI, FedEx and the USOC before starting his business.
His big break in wrestling came following the Athens Olympics, although he did not compete there because the United States did not qualify at his 163-pound weight class. Greco-Roman's rules were rewritten so each period begins with one wrestler on all fours in a reverse lock position, rather than having both wrestlers on their feet.
Dantzler is skilled at scoring from the down position, and the rule change kept his wrestling career going even as his business - which performs background checks on job seekers for a variety of corporate and government clients - was taking off.
Dantzler has beaten three current or former world champions in the last year, including returning world champion Yavor Yanakiev of Bulgaria in Chicago six months ago. He was fifth in the world championships in 2006 and has a legitimate medal shot in Beijing.
"This is about my legacy when I'm gone, for my kids and grandkids. That's why I want to make sure I do something real big," Dantzler said.
Watching Dantzler work out with training partner Peter Hicks illustrates this businessman of the mat's intensity and self-discipline.
While 18-year-old teammate Jake Deitchler is working out on a nearby mat in relative silence, Dantzler intentionally practices as if he's in a match, with grunts, groans, staredowns and unrehearsed theatrics.
"I try to make the same faces I make during a match, try to make the same sounds, so I can keep myself focused," Dantzler said. "So when I step onto the mat, I've already done this a thousand times."
Not that he's done it on a stage this big, 26 years after Dantzler began his amateur career with the Harvey Twisters youth team and about 10 years after most wrestlers have peaked.
"I've been blessed and I've been lucky and I've read the right books and the right articles. I've surrounded myself with the right people and selected the right mentors," Dantzler said. "I try to put myself in the right position and I've been lucky enough to do so and, man, I'm really looking forward to the future."
Especially Wednesday, when he fulfills a lifelong goal by competing in the Olympics. He even promises to turn off his cell phone and laptop, if only for a few hours.
"The only way to leave here," he said, "is to leave with the gold."
T4L
Mixing business with sport
By the Associated Press
Sunday, August 10, 2008 9:38 PM ET
BEIJING (AP) - Nobody takes a client to the mat like T.C. Dantzler (http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=1318/bio/index.html).
While countless athletes talk about taking care of business at the Olympics, Dantzler does it. One of America's top Greco-Roman wrestlers, Dantzler spends his few off-the-mat hours in Beijing running from afar a software business that recently expanded to 29 employees.
"I can't come here and get out of my normal business mode. I'm doing a little bit of work, making sure the worker bees are on task and doing everything they're supposed to be doing," a sweat-drenched Dantzler said Sunday, the first of several workouts finally over.
A gold medal obviously isn't all that motivates the 37-year-old former Northern Illinois athlete, who has been driven to succeed since he put on a coat and tie each Saturday as a youngster to work for his ex-athlete father's insurance business.
Back home in Colorado Springs, his average work day runs from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. and includes a full day at the office, two workouts and some must-have time with his wife, Tanya, their own three youngsters and a 20-month-old girl they are adopting.
A few Olympians are lucky enough to parlay a gold medal into millions of dollars in endorsements or public appearances. Dantzler's business, TC logiQ, already is worth an estimated $4 million and may go public in a few years.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/mm/photo/sports/general/19/33/63/193363_m03.jpgAmerican T.C. Dantzler will make his Olympic debut this week in the 163-pound Greco-Roman class.
U.S. Greco-Roman coach Steve Fraser, himself a former Domino's Pizza executive, marvels at how Dantzler juggles two full-time jobs and a big family.
Fraser doesn't know how he does it. Dantzler said he must do it.
"I'm a smart guy," Dantzler said, and not with any braggadocio. "I do it with ease because I surround myself with smart people and with people interested in me succeeding."
Dantzler has been a success since his peewee football and wrestling days in Harvey, Ill., near Chicago, an athlete good enough to both wrestle and play football in college although he never won a state high school or NCAA wrestling championship. After college he worked for MCI, FedEx and the USOC before starting his business.
His big break in wrestling came following the Athens Olympics, although he did not compete there because the United States did not qualify at his 163-pound weight class. Greco-Roman's rules were rewritten so each period begins with one wrestler on all fours in a reverse lock position, rather than having both wrestlers on their feet.
Dantzler is skilled at scoring from the down position, and the rule change kept his wrestling career going even as his business - which performs background checks on job seekers for a variety of corporate and government clients - was taking off.
Dantzler has beaten three current or former world champions in the last year, including returning world champion Yavor Yanakiev of Bulgaria in Chicago six months ago. He was fifth in the world championships in 2006 and has a legitimate medal shot in Beijing.
"This is about my legacy when I'm gone, for my kids and grandkids. That's why I want to make sure I do something real big," Dantzler said.
Watching Dantzler work out with training partner Peter Hicks illustrates this businessman of the mat's intensity and self-discipline.
While 18-year-old teammate Jake Deitchler is working out on a nearby mat in relative silence, Dantzler intentionally practices as if he's in a match, with grunts, groans, staredowns and unrehearsed theatrics.
"I try to make the same faces I make during a match, try to make the same sounds, so I can keep myself focused," Dantzler said. "So when I step onto the mat, I've already done this a thousand times."
Not that he's done it on a stage this big, 26 years after Dantzler began his amateur career with the Harvey Twisters youth team and about 10 years after most wrestlers have peaked.
"I've been blessed and I've been lucky and I've read the right books and the right articles. I've surrounded myself with the right people and selected the right mentors," Dantzler said. "I try to put myself in the right position and I've been lucky enough to do so and, man, I'm really looking forward to the future."
Especially Wednesday, when he fulfills a lifelong goal by competing in the Olympics. He even promises to turn off his cell phone and laptop, if only for a few hours.
"The only way to leave here," he said, "is to leave with the gold."