By BRAD KVEDERIS, Times-Herald sports writer
Their friendship has developed into a lifelong bond, but the first encounter between former Vallejo High wrestling star Mark Munoz and Olympic silver medalist Jamill Kelly was over a pair of shoes.
“We were working out at the team sections when his team made the team sections, “Munoz recalled. “I was wearing these shoes, and at the time it was the ASICS Internationalized, and I was wearing them and Jamill comes up to me and says, ‘Hey, man! Where’d you get those shoes? I’ve been trying to get those shoes for a long time, and I just can’t find them.’ … that was the first time I met Jamill.”
Kelly never got the shoes, but 10 years later he remains so close with Munoz that he was a guest of honor at the former Apache’s wedding and was there for the birth of Munoz’s children. On Wednesday, he made an appearance as a guest coach at Munoz’s wrestling camp at Vallejo High and shared his inspirational story with the 50-plus young athletes in attendance.
Kelly wasn’t always the man to beat in his sport – a fact he freely admitted to Munoz’s wrestlers on Wednesday. After finishing fourth in the state championships in his senior year of high school (he failed to make the state meet his sophomore year and missed his junior season due to injury), he enjoyed a successful career at Lassen Community College before landing in an uncomfortable position on the Oklahoma State University team.
“One thing I didn’t think of was the pressure; I think I was the only guy on scholarship that wasn’t a state champion or an All-American with all these credentials, “he said. “It’s different – you’re there to win, and if you don’t produce, somebody else will take your spot on the team.”
Kelly might never have set his sights as high as the Olympics if he hadn’t caught a lucky break before the 2000 Sydney Games: OSU head coach John Smith, who was also the coach of the U.S. team that year, introduced him to Olympian Cary Kolat, who wrestled in the same weight class as Kelly.
The two trained together, and “a week later, he calls me and asks if I can come work out with him in West Virginia, “Kelly said. Kolat was so impressed with his potential that he brought Kelly to Sydney as a training partner. After getting a taste of the Olympic experience, “I decided I’d spend the next four years of my life trying to achieve that dream, “Kelly said.
But the road to Athens wasn’t going to be easy, and few expected him to make it. He was seeded fifth at the 2003 U.S. Nationals, and he finished fifth, just as advertised. Going into the national team trials that year, “I was not even expected to contend for the top spot in the U.S., “he said. “I had to beat three guys that had beaten me before.”
But he somehow pulled off the impossible, running the table to take the top spot on the team. Still, others’ expectations of Kelly were not high at the world championships in New York – and, to make matters worse, he injured a rib muscle two days before the competition and was eliminated by his second opponent.
“I proved everybody right – it was a fluke, “he recounted. “For the next couple months, I had to do a lot of soul-searching: ‘Can I really be the best in the world?’ ”
But Kelly returned and mowed through the 2004 U.S. Open and Olympic team trials to earn his ticket to Athens. Once he reached the Games, he said, his experience in Sydney proved invaluable.
“I got to experience almost everything other than being an actual athlete – being in the back, warming up, “he said. “I got to go through that whole experience, and it made it a little easier when I got there because I wasn’t just awed by everything like I think some people might be.”
By winning his first three matches in Athens – including a controversial decision over then-undefeated Makahach Murtazaliev of Russia – Kelly advanced to the finals, where he was finally beaten by the Ukraine’s Elbrus Tedeev. The gold medal match, he said, was the only time in Athens where the pressure caught up with him.
“In the finals, I did let the moment get to me, “Kelly said. “I kind of clammed up … 20 years from now, I’ll probably look back and be proud of what I did. But I’m still (ticked).”
Getting ready for a possible run at the 2008 Games has presented another set of challenges, but Kelly has been fortunate enough to avoid major injuries, and signed a sponsorship deal with Adidas that will help him through the long spell of obscurity that comes between Olympic years.
“It’s tough, it’s really tough – that’s one reason why the decision has been so hard to keep going, “he said. “For being the number one guy in the U.S., you get a small stipend … but that’s the one thing about wrestling; it’s not something you can completely live on. You’ve got to look to others and get help.
“It sucks, but that’s what makes it so good and so bad. The sacrifices you make, that’s what makes it so hard when you don’t reach your ultimate goal. But it’s also a lot more rewarding when you do. All the hard work and struggling to pay bills was worth it.”
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