Tolly wrestles with poor air travel
By KEVIN EVANS, Executive Sports Editor
CEDAR FALLS — Anyone who does any traveling these days has a horror story to relate.
Traveling in the winter has always been a problem in the Midwest. Then throw in all of the security after 9-11, and now there is rarely a trip without something upsetting happening.
Northern Iowa assistant wrestling coach Tolly Thompson, one of the best wrestlers in the world, has had his share of trials traveling the world throughout the years.
But what he’s gone through the last couple of weeks to get to international wrestling events is almost unbelievable.
When I called Monday afternoon he was taking a nap. That may sound unusual for a world-class athlete, but wait until you hear about his travels of late.
He was scheduled to fly to Russia last month to compete in the Ivan Yarygin International meet.
The trip was to start on a Saturday, but the initial flight out of Cedar Rapids was cancelled by snow, so the trip was moved back to Sunday.
Of course, by leaving a day late, he missed a scheduled flight to Paris, but more about that later.
The new itinerary called for flying to Cincinnati, Detroit, Atlanta and then to Paris.
He reached Atlanta pretty well.
But about four hours out of Atlanta, smack in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, he noticed on the TV screen showing the path of the flight that the plane had circled back.
“They decided we had engine trouble and turned around, “he said.
Even though it was closer to pick another East Coast place to land, a snowstorm kept that from happening, and the plane returned to Atlanta.
“We were on the ground for 90 minutes before we got on another plane and flew for eight and a half hours (to Paris), “said Thompson.
By the time he got to Paris, it was Tuesday. He then flew to Moscow.
Finally there? No.
Next was a two-hour bus ride across Moscow to another airport for a five-hour flight to Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
Needless to say, when Tolly and traveling companion Mike Zadick arrived, they were in no shape to wrestle. Zadick had not had a chance to work out and keep his weight under control. Weight is not a problem for Tolly, but going five days without a workout is.
“I got tortured in the first round, wrestled about four minutes, “said Thompson. “It had been five days since I did anything. I saunaed in Paris.”
When it was time to come home it was another flight back to Moscow, then to Paris.
“We had to get acclimated to the sun again, “said Thompson. “We hadn’t seen the sun in seven or eight days, and it was 35- or 40-below zero in Siberia.”
The rest of the trip went pretty well for Thompson as he flew from Paris to Detroit to Cedar Rapids just in time for his daughter’s birthday.
Two days later, he was back on the road, this time to Colorado for some training. Coming home from that included a two and a half hour sit in a plane on the runway waiting for the ceiling to lift.
After one more week at home, he headed to Cuba Sunday, Feb. 20.
His first flight to Minneapolis was cancelled, so he had to fly to Detroit tand then Miami on a flight that was delayed two-plus hours. He arrived at 2 a.m. and spent the night.
Then a chartered flight to Cuba and was delayed five hours so he and his teammates arrived in Havana about 10 at night. Two days later, they headed off to Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, on a five-hour bus ride for the Cerro Pelado tournament.
As fate would have it, Thompson’s first foe in the tournament was the same one he had in Russia — Khorpyakov Oleg.
This time, though, Thompson was in better shape, and he won the match and went on to finish second in the tournament.
The problem was, he still had to get home.
Cuba to Miami went fine as did the flight to Minneapolis. But there, Thompson nearly reached his breaking point when “they decided they needed to change tires, “Thompson said. “It wasn’t Jeff Gordon’s crew changing them, either. It took forever.”
Anyway, he’s home now, for a while.
Next Tuesday he takes off on another adventure, this time to Uzbekistan for his first appearance in the World Cup.
If his travel goes smoothly, and he is due for such a trip, he will be back just in time to accompany the Panthers to the NCAA tournament in St. Louis.
By then another one of those early afternoon naps might be in order. Or maybe several of them.
Kevin Evans is the Courier’s Executive Sports Editor. He can be contacted at (319) 291-1469 or [email protected]
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