• Main
• Roster
• Coaches
• Schedule
• Statistics
• Archives

 

	Olympic Central
	Visit Olympic Central for complete coverage of the Sooners in London and print/download the calendar so you don't miss any of the action: Olympic Central | Calendar | NBC
	Follow Hazewinkel
	Sam Hazewinkel Olympic Bio | @SamTheHaze 2012 Pan Am gold medalist Third at 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials Four-time All-American
	History & Tradition
	7 National Championships 65 Individual National Titles 265 All-Americans 23 Team Conference Titles Wrestling History & Tradition

NORMAN, Okla. -- The blue-eyed, blond-haired, flesh-wrapped powder keg often slipped the coat over his back and the ring on his finger. He burst from room to room as his heart pounded in rhythm with his brisk footsteps.

Head up. Hips down. Staggered stance. He visualized a shot and exploded into the takedown that resonated in harmony with the deafening chant of "U-S-A, U-S-A!" He stood in silence with his arms reaching into the sky over his imaginary foe.

The kid was born for it.

Sam Hazewinkel had been a wrestler for longer than he could remember. His father, Dave, and uncle, Jim, were the first twin brothers to wrestle Greco-Roman on the same Olympic team, doing so twice at the 1968 and 1972 Games. Their names were listed on the rosters for a record six-consecutive world championships and reside in no fewer than seven halls of fame. They still coach together at the Marion Military Institute in Alabama.

"Growing up, I used to play with his Olympic ring and put on his jacket and run around the house," Hazewinkel remembered. "It was always something I thought was attainable, something I thought was reachable. It was never this, you know, big thing in the sky that only a few people get."

"It" was following in his father's footsteps. He had been at the pinnacle of the sport, but Olympic glory had dodged Sam twice. A third place in 2004 and second in 2008 at the U.S. Olympic Trials had sportswriters referring to Hazewinkel as the Buffalo Bills of wrestling.

If they only knew how many years he had suffered with silver medals.

After recording a 140-0 record to go with three Florida high school state championships, Hazewinkel had a stellar career at the University of Oklahoma. He placed third in his first three NCAA Championships and was runner-up in his senior season. He won the Greco-Roman title at the 2005 U.S. Nationals and finished second at world championship team trials in 2005 and 2006 and third in 2009.

In his mind, however, Hazewinkel too often looked up at the top step instead of down from it.

"Suddenly, I'm realizing why people are saying it's something that's not attainable, that only a few people get. You keep getting second and second and second. It starts becoming its own little monkey, its own battle."

Discouraged with results, he made an unprecedented change. At 26, Hazewinkel switched full-time to freestyle wrestling. Yet his mental state continued to be a constant battle.

"It's huge, going from not being able to use your legs to use your legs. I knew the stuff, but my body just didn't react fast enough. I hadn't sprawled and stopped a shot in three years since college. It was really frustrating that first year and a half. I really felt like I should be beating some of those guys and couldn't quite reach it."

He visited often with coaches, his pastor and a sports psychologist as he worked on his mental toughness. But the tipping point on sage advice came from his father.

"He did a good job of never putting his shadow on me. I never felt like I had to reach his goals or catch up to him. He did a really good job of just instilling little things along the way and I have so many little rules I live by in wrestling -- and live my life by, too -- that he's instilled in me.

"He definitely instilled in me that you've got to enjoy it. When you stop enjoying it, it becomes a job and wrestling is too hard to be a job. Just to go to practice and work hard. You've got to enjoy it, keep that fun in it."

Becoming a wrestling champion had taken Sam away from his own life. For the 2008 Olympic Trials, Sam trained at the Olympic Training Center, living away from his wife, Rachel, who was still taking classes at OU. The past year, Hazewinkel did not leave Norman.

"They talk about people making sacrifices and that's how you make the team. And that works for some people but I think it just put a lot of pressure on me. This year, I got to stay around my family and train here at OU. I think that made a big difference. Getting to be relaxed and having fun, I really think it made a difference for me."

After simplifying his goal to enjoy training, he thrived. Hazewinkel took another second in the 2011 U.S. World Team Trials, but won the U.S. Open. In February, two months before his third Olympic Trials, he was the Pan American Games gold medalist.

But standing in his way of his Olympic dream was the perfect antagonist: the wrestler who stood above Hazewinkel one year earlier.

"Nick Simmons and I wrestled in the finals. We've wrestled maybe 18 times now. We wrestled eight in college and at least six matches just in the last two years before the finals.

"When I had him again, I was kind of happy."

Simmons took the first match in the best-of-three championship series and was leading in the second period of the second match. It looked to be in the books when Hazewinkel's coaches successfully challenged a referee's call and reversed a scoring decision. Hazewinkel captured match 2. Then, the two split the first and second periods of a decisive third match.

"It's kind of odd it came down to where we did the opposites of last year. Last year, I won the first match. The second and third matches at the trials last year, I won the first period. So, I only needed one more to get him. This year, he won the first match and he won the first period of each thing. It was kind of nice. It was something I kind of held to like, 'Alright, this is where I was last year and he came back and got me so I can come back and get him."

In overtime of the third period, Hazewinkel won the ball draw for position on a leg clinch and collected a pair of points for the win.

"You're trying not to get depressed. Going into the third match, I was thinking, 'Well, I'm not just going to be down this year if I lose. I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to do what I have to do to support the team.' It had been a long time coming."

Finally atop the podium with his physical and mental foes conquered, Hazewinkel celebrated in equal parts excitement and relief.

"I always thought I could do it, but really in the last two or three years I realize how big of a deal it is. It is not just something that happens. I think that actually helped me a lot. I realized that I may not make it and it's a dream that may not come true.

"When that comes to fruition, when you make that team, you can't put it into words. That kind of excitement, we don't have a word in our vocabulary yet for it."

And Hazewinkel knows that in a sport where attention is cast on the individual that this victory was a team effort.

"I've got all these people who every time I fell just short of my goal, they're helping me up. When you've got all these hands that are helping you, catching you, it stays attainable. I'm happy to say perseverance paid off."

The Sam Hazewinkel support group will arrive strong overseas. He'll have two Sooner assistant coaches there in the former of his personal coach Michael Lightner and U.S. teammate Jared Frayer, who will wrestle at 66 kilograms. Rachel and his mom will attend. And, most importantly, he'll have the man who has been in his corner since birth.

"(The other wrestlers) have coaches trying to help them and past Olympians, and I have a dad. And, having him there if something does come up, I can ask how he dealt with it and that's going to be huge because it's more personal that if it is a coach.

"You're always wondering if a coach is telling you what they think you need to hear. My dad is just going to tell me. It will be real answers, which I appreciate."

After 28 years of imagining, the chants Hazewinkel will hear will finally be audible. Following a childhood of wrestling gold-medal bouts in his living room, he'll stand on a real Olympic mat and wrestle for his country. Just like in his dreams, there will be no thoughts of second place.

"This is the chance of a lifetime ... we're going to win gold. We're going to win, no doubt about it."