Update on GSP's Olympic notions

speeds · Dec 31, 2009

Beats BJ Penn, retains WW title
Beats Thiago Alves, retains WW title

Fighter of the Year, World MMA Awards
Fighter of the Year, Sports Illustrated
Fighter of the Year, Inside MMA (HDNet)
Fighter of the Year, MMAJunkie.com

Canadian Athlete of the Year, Rogers SportsNet (repeats)
Runner-up, Lionel Conacher Award, Canadian Press Male Athlete of the Year (first time an MMA fighter has ever been nominated)

Top 49 Most Influential Men of 2009, AskMen.com
Top 25 Fittest Guys in the World 2009, Men's Fitness Magazine

Signs Gatorade sponsorship, first fighter to get mainstream endorsement deal
Signs Under Armour sponsorship, first fighter to have two mainstream endorsement deals

Chocolove · Dec 31, 2009

Re: Great year for Ground St. Pound

That is a good year for GSP. He's taking this sport to then next level.

speeds · Jan 2, 2010

Re: Great year for Ground St. Pound [update: considering Olympic run, would vacate ti

http://mmajunkie.com/news/17398/ufc...ill-possible-would-vacate-title-to-pursue.mma

As an MMA fan I don't want to hear about a top-3 fighter leaving the sport, even temporarily. However the ramifications could be great publicity and further legitimacy for MMA...

LAS VEGAS – UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (19-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) is slated to defend his title against British slugger Dan Hardy (23-6 MMA, 4-0 UFC) on March 27 at the as-yet-unannounced UFC 111 event in New Jersey.

And regardless of the result, St-Pierre today said it may be has last title fight for quite some time.

The Canadian recently revealed he's considering a run at the 2012 Olympic Games in freestyle wrestling, and today St-Pierre said that plan would include vacating the UFC's 170-pound title.

"Right now I don't think my wrestling is good enough to be at an Olympic level," St-Pierre said at today's media gathering. "The takedowns that I use for mixed martial arts and the takedowns that are used in Olympic wrestling are totally different. The setup is different. It's a different sport.

"I'm a good wrestler, but to [compete in the Olympics], I would have to focus on wrestling and dedicate myself 100 percent for a period of time. I would not take my retirement now, but if I decide to do it, I would have to dedicate myself 100 percent I would say for a year-and-a-half or so."

It's a potentially life- and career-altering decision, and St-Pierre admits there is much to consider on both sides of the argument.

"There is a lot of positive and negative about it," St-Pierre said. "The negative is my income. I won't have as much income as I would if I keep my career. It would diminish dramatically. That's the first thing. The second thing is I would have to give up my title, of course. I would have to stay away from mixed martial arts for at least a year-and-a-half because I need to qualify.

"People don't realize that to go to the Olympic Games, just going there, is pretty hard. It's not an easy thing. You need to qualify yourself for your country, and even if you qualify yourself for your country, it doesn't mean you're going 100 percent. You need to qualify yourself for the Olympic Games, itself. It's something really, really hard. That's the negative thing."

But St-Pierre doesn't believe the potential of walking away from his title is all bad.

"The positive thing about it is I'm not a poor guy right now," St-Pierre said. "I've got good money, and I'm the kind of person that everything I do in life, it's an experience. I like challenges, and I would not like the fact that when I get older, around 60 years old, I think about it and tell myself, 'Oh, I had the opportunity to do it. Maybe I could have done it. I don't know; I didn't try.' This would make me sad.

"I don't know if I can do it. It's a challenge. But, it's always behind my head. My life is always about experience. I like to do new experiences. I like challenges. But it's something that I need to sit down and think a little bit more before I make my decision."

While St-Pierre is widely considered among the pound-for-pound best mixed martial artists in the world, his spot in the world of freestyle wrestling is far less secure. There is certainly no guarantee that St-Pierre would even qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games if he tried, but the 28-year-old said the thought of, "What if?" is a far worse option than the potential for failure.

"Even if I try it and don't make it, at least when I get older, I'm going to think about it, and I'm going to tell myself, 'You know what? I gave everything I had, but I didn't make it,'" St-Pierre said. "My mind would be clear. But if I don't try it, when I'm going to be 60 years old and thinking about it, I'll be like, 'Maybe I could have done it, but I'll never know because I never tried it.'

"I don't like things like that. It already happened before in another situation where I could have done stuff, but I didn't take the opportunity, and now days I always wonder if I could have made it. I don't want to be caught in that situation."

St-Pierre said he currently rates his chances of pursuing his Olympic dreams at "50-50." The process would not be a simple one, and "Rush" would have a multi-tiered qualification process to pass before he could book his travel plans to London, site of the 2012 Olympic Games.

But despite the certain drawbacks to his MMA career, St-Pierre says he sees potential benefits for the sports of MMA and wrestling.

"It could be good and bad," St-Pierre said. "It could be bad because I leave the sport for a year-and-a-half. But it could be good in another way to make [MMA] even more mainstream. If I do well, and I get into the Olympic level, it could be very good. It could be very good for the sport of wrestling, as well."

St-Pierre wasn't quite ready to commit to a full-fledged Olympic qualification effort, but he hardly attempted to discount the possibility.

"I have a decision to make, but I don't know if I'm ready to do it," St-Pierre said. "I just need to think about it right now.

"I'm going to have to make my decision pretty soon."
Click to expand...

speeds · Jan 5, 2010

Randy Couture recently had an autograph signing event for Affliction with Tom Atencio and Georges St. Pierre. During the event Randy and Georges got to talking about the Olympics. Randy recently told reporters that Georges is frustrated that the story broke out the way it did--GSP meant to express his interest in the sport as a possibility and not a plan. If he was going to do it he would have to take the time off, etc.. Randy thinks Georges is committed to MMA and the UFC. If you recall, Georges thought about this once before and canceled to instead replace Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes when Serra got injured.

speeds · Jan 7, 2010

http://www.tsn.ca/mma/story/?id=305148

WRESTLING CANADA OFFICIALS UNDERSTAND CHALLENGE FACING GSP

Wrestling Canada officials are intrigued by Georges St-Pierre's interest in wrestling at the Olympics but, like the mixed martial arts star himself, are tempering their enthusiasm with a dose of realism.

The 28-year-old UFC welterweight champion from Montreal says he is mulling over giving up his title and walking away from MMA to spend 18 months devoting himself to making a run at the 2012 Games in London.

Canadian wrestling coach Dave McKay, a two-time Olympian who finished fifth at the 1988 Olympics, has never met St-Pierre or seen him wrestle. But he is no stranger to MMA and speaks highly of his skills.

Still, he says getting to the 2012 Games will be a tall order for St-Pierre, who would have to win the Canadian Olympic trials and hope that he or someone else earns Canada a berth in the 84-kilogram Olympic weight class.

"Without a doubt. Time is not on his side," McKay told The Canadian Press. "I mean we're talking about athletes who typically go through about eight to 10 years of preparation before they can hit the international scene . . . The greatest impediment in this story or this scenario is time to accumulate that experience.

"It is not lack of ability, it is not lack of desire . . . He's a top international champion, but to make it to the top level in wrestling, he's going to need time and we're not just talking just months, we're talking years."

Still McKay would like to see him give it a shot.

"I think it would be really exciting for our sport to have him in the program. Personally I'd be really excited to see how it does. I think it could only be a positive for wrestling."

Wrestling Canada president Clive Llewellyn, a supporter of mixed martial arts, has high hopes should GSP devote himself to wrestling.

"He's got incredible talent, balance, focus, drive, direction, and in amateur wrestling he could actually harness all of that in such a way that he would be a formidable opponent," he said. "He would have to learn to shut down the attack against him and then he'd have to learn how to score in a particular way.

"Do I think he's capable of that? Absolutely."

Mike Jones, wrestling coach at Simon Fraser University, would also welcome St-Pierre to the sport.

"He is a very good athlete with a high profile in the MMA world," he said in an email. "He certainly would not be starting from scratch and the difficulty would be in adapting to sport-specific rules and technique."

St-Pierre is considered the best wrestler in mixed martial arts, able to take opponents down to the ground and control them there. But amateur wrestling is different from the wrestling that is incorporated into MMA.

"One is a sense of beating up your opponent until he submits," said Llewellyn, referring to MMA. "The other is controlling the opponent in such a way that you're scoring points."

No modern-day UFC fighter has scored more takedowns that St-Pierre, according to FightMetric which tracks the sport.

He has succeeded on 63 of 80 takedown attempts for a success rate of some 79 per cent. The UFC average is 45 per cent.

Opponents, meanwhile, have succeeded on just five of 40 takedown attempts against GSP. That puts his takedown defence rate at 87.5 per cent, compared to the UFC average of 55 per cent.

No one is questioning St-Pierre's athletic skills or desire.

"All indications are he certainly is a super well-conditioned athlete, that's pretty obvious," said McKay. "He's very strong mentally. . . . He shows the physical capacity, the mental capacity. And pretty good wrestling skills, from what I've seen. Certainly he has a lot of what it takes to be an accomplished wrestler."

Rob Moore, who helps coach St-Pierre at the Montreal Wrestling Club at the George Reinitz Wrestling Centre, says the fighter has a lot going for him.

"One, he's extremely coachable, two, he learns fast and, three, he trains very hard. He has an outstanding work ethic."

St-Pierre's coaches in Montreal include Victor Zilberman, who assisted McKay at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Making the Olympics as a wrestler is a two-tiered process. Canada would have to qualify in that weight class and St-Pierre would have to win the Canadian Olympic trials in December 2011. That would include beating the national champion -- twice.

The current Canadian title-holder at 84 kilograms is Travis Cross, a 30-year-old firefighter from Port Alberni, B.C.

"He's been reasonably close in cracking into top five and medal contention," McKay said of Cross's status internationally. "And Travis is a veteran in the program and certainly a front-runner."

Earning an Olympic berth can be accomplished by finishing top eight at the world championships or excelling at the continental championships where Canada must contend with strong competition from the U.S. and Cuba.

Cross earned Canada a spot in his weight class at the Beijing Games when he finished eighth at the 2007 world championships.

Olympic qualifying can also be achieved by winning one of several wild-card tournaments, which like the continental championship come after the Canadian trials.

No matter who earns the Olympic qualification spot, it will go to the wrestler who wins the Canadian trials.

Just making it to the Olympics is a feat for any wrestler. The Olympic field is restricted to 16 wrestlers in each of the seven weight divisions.

On the men's side, Canada sent one Greco-Roman and five freestyle wrestlers for the 2008 Games.

No matter what GSP decides, Llewellyn sees the ties growing between the two sports.

"For example if you want to do amateur wresting at Red Deer, Alberta, you're going to have to do it at an MMA club because there's no local senior men's wrestling club. Because most of those are at universities and the University of Red Deer doesn't have a team," said Llewellyn, a lawyer who coaches amateur wrestling at the BDB Martial Arts gym in Calgary.

Should St-Pierre elect to follow his Olympic dream, wrestling will benefit whether he makes it or not. But McKay is realistic in the interim.

"Until somebody weighs in and steps on the mat, we're just talking about it. . . . Everybody speaks with their performance on the mat in these sports. But I mean it's a great story and it'll be interesting to see how it turns out and develops."
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Update on GSP's Olympic notions

speeds $2.50 highball, $1.50 beer Staff Member Administrator GFX Team

Chocolove Active Member

speeds $2.50 highball, $1.50 beer Staff Member Administrator GFX Team

speeds $2.50 highball, $1.50 beer Staff Member Administrator GFX Team

speeds $2.50 highball, $1.50 beer Staff Member Administrator GFX Team

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Update on GSP's Olympic notions

Moderators

speeds $2.50 highball, $1.50 beer Staff Member Administrator GFX Team

Chocolove Active Member

speeds $2.50 highball, $1.50 beer Staff Member Administrator GFX Team

speeds $2.50 highball, $1.50 beer Staff Member Administrator GFX Team

speeds $2.50 highball, $1.50 beer Staff Member Administrator GFX Team

Share This Page

Useful Searches