Baumgartner Will Carry Flag, Memories Gold-Medal Wrestler Will Remember Murdered Teammate At Ceremonies
Bruce Baumgartner, a two-time Olympic gold-medalist in freestyle wrestling, was chosen Wednesday night to carry the flag at the head of the U.S. team in the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta Games. He’ll also carry the memory of a slain teammate and friend.
Baumgartner, honored earlier this year with the Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete, was chosen in a vote of captains from the various U.S. sports.
The captains also chose basketball player Teresa Edwards, like Baumgartner a four-time Olympian, to take the oath for all athletes during Friday’s ceremonies.
Baumgartner is the first wrestler picked to carry the U.S. flag at the games, and he beat out an unusually large field that also included track’s Carl Lewis and swimming’s Janet Evans.
Baumgartner said he was thrilled by his choice, but that he would share the moment of glory with thoughts of Dave Schultz, a longtime wrestling teammate who was shot to death under bizarre circumstances last January.
“I’m constantly thinking that he was here just last year,” Baumgartner said. “I’m sure he’ll be in my thoughts as I carry the flag.”
A three-time world champion at 286 pounds, Baumgartner, 35, from Cambridge Springs, Pa., is a solid favorite to add to his U.S. record collection of three wrestling medals.
A gold medal would complete an amazing span of longevity and skill. Baumgartner won his class at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and added his second Olympic title in Barcelona four years ago.
He also won the silver medal in Seoul in 1988.
As flag-bearer, perhaps the highest honor an Olympic athlete can attain from his teammates, he will carry the Stars and Stripes into the Olympic Stadium at the head of the hometown U.S. squad, the last to enter the arena.
“I never expected this to happen, that I would wrestle for so long and now to carry the flag in opening ceremonies of an Olympic Games in my home country,” Baumgartner said.
Edwards, in turn, will share her 32nd birthday with 83,000 close friends in the stadium and millions worldwide.
She will take the Olympic Oath for all the 10,000 athletes in the games to compete “in the true spirit of sportsmanship, and for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams.” The oath traditionally is taken by a star of the home team.
Edwards was a member of the gold-medal basketball squads in ‘84 and ‘88, and on the bronze-medal team from the United States in 1992.
Born on July 19, 1964, in Atlanta, Edwards said it would be an unusual celebration.
“For someone who likes to have a simple birthday, it’s a pretty big to-do,” Edwards said.