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Spencer Interview

He has the right attitude. No one remembers 2nd place. I hope he comes back in 2028, but he has a great future beyond the day to day grind and the toll it takes on your body. Maybe the Hawkeyes get an assistant coach sooner than you thought.
 
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Hoping he processes things better over the next few weeks. Feel for him right now

I hope he realizes people do care. People care that Terry fought back for Bronze too. It’s certainly devastating but he should be very proud of what he’s accomplished in the sport. Hope he is able to get there at some point.
 
He has the right attitude. No one remembers 2nd place. I hope he comes back in 2028, but he has a great future beyond the day to day grind and the toll it takes on your body. Maybe the Hawkeyes get an assistant coach sooner than you thought.
Would be very surprised if Spencer retired early, he’s just now entering his wrestling prime
 
Would be very surprised if Spencer retired early, he’s just now entering his wrestling prime
I agree but we don't walk in his shoes. He has rebuilt knees, and he knows his health best. I hope he continues but I would never second guess him if he decided to move on. It's tough to win your first time on the very big boy stage. I expected gold, and next time he won't be denied. Willie must have known something. He picked the Japanese guy to win over Spencer. Maybe a style issue.
 
Hoping he processes things better over the next few weeks. Feel for him right now

Yeah, he had to go to Japan to clear his mind before. He will need just time off to sort through his feelings.

I think he'll be back. Higuchi today was just better. Better at the hand fighting, better at attempting shots, better at the one scramble they had, and better with the rules, knowing the later pushouts while grounded don't count. I don't think Spencer will eventually want to end knowing the other guy was just better. This is his first world competition at the senior level. He's got room to grow. The Olympics in the U.S. in '28 will be too hard to resist if his body hasn't given out.
 
He has the right attitude. No one remembers 2nd place. I hope he comes back in 2028, but he has a great future beyond the day to day grind and the toll it takes on your body. Maybe the Hawkeyes get an assistant coach sooner than you thought.
Respectfully disagree.
What do Dan Hodge, Rick Sanders and Stephen Abas have in common?
They all won silver medals at the Olympics. Never gold.
Hopefully, with time, Spencer may come to recognize how extraordinary his achievements were this year. An all-time American great and Iowa legend, he turned out to be everything they said he would be coming out of high school. Against all the odds, he fulfilled his immense promise.
Bravo Spencer.
 
Respectfully disagree.
What do Dan Hodge, Rick Sanders and Stephen Abas have in common?
They all won silver medals at the Olympics. Never gold.
Hopefully, with time, Spencer may come to recognize how extraordinary his achievements were this year. An all-time American great and Iowa legend, he turned out to be everything they said he would be coming out of high school. Against all the odds, he fulfilled his immense promise.
Bravo Spencer.
Aije, well-spoken. Bravo indeed.
 
Respectfully disagree.
What do Dan Hodge, Rick Sanders and Stephen Abas have in common?
They all won silver medals at the Olympics. Never gold.
Hopefully, with time, Spencer may come to recognize how extraordinary his achievements were this year. An all-time American great and Iowa legend, he turned out to be everything they said he would be coming out of high school. Against all the odds, he fulfilled his immense promise.
Bravo Spencer.
I agree. Be grateful and proud. No one wants to lose but cmon Spencer, you have to know you have thousands of kids looking up to you. We know you wanted to win Gold and you handled it so well after. Then a few hours later your Social media post comes out.
 
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I agree. Be grateful and proud. No one wants to lose but cmon Spencer, you have to know you have thousands of kids looking up to you. We know you wanted to win Gold and you handled it so well after. Then a few hours later your Social media post comes out.
What was his social media post? Are you referring to the above mentioned interview?
 
Respectfully disagree.
What do Dan Hodge, Rick Sanders and Stephen Abas have in common?
They all won silver medals at the Olympics. Never gold.
Hopefully, with time, Spencer may come to recognize how extraordinary his achievements were this year. An all-time American great and Iowa legend, he turned out to be everything they said he would be coming out of high school. Against all the odds, he fulfilled his immense promise.
Bravo Spencer.
It’s both true and untrue. His fans, certainly Iowa fans will remember it. Obviously he’s an all time great light weight for USA. So big time USA fans will remember. But internationally I would argue he is right. No one really remembers/talks about second place, in a historical context. For example Higuchi, him winning vaults his career from very good to a different stratosphere internationally. He will be remembered very differently. I say all this as someone who loves Spencer. He’s my favorite wrestler of all time. And if he goes out and wins a few world golds that does shift his international legacy, but Olympic gold is like a Super Bowl for NFL quarterbacks. Doesn’t mean you can’t be a hall of fame great without, but you’ll be remember differently without vs with and Spencer is saying that here.
 
It’s both true and untrue. His fans, certainly Iowa fans will remember it. Obviously he’s an all time great light weight for USA. So big time USA fans will remember. But internationally I would argue he is right. No one really remembers/talks about second place, in a historical context. For example Higuchi, him winning vaults his career from very good to a different stratosphere internationally. He will be remembered very differently. I say all this as someone who loves Spencer. He’s my favorite wrestler of all time. And if he goes out and wins a few world golds that does shift his international legacy, but Olympic gold is like a Super Bowl for NFL quarterbacks. Doesn’t mean you can’t be a hall of fame great without, but you’ll be remember differently without vs with and Spencer is saying that here.
The Japanese guy didn’t get his gold until the 3rd Olympic cycle he was eligible for. He didn’t even make the team last cycle because he didn’t make weight at their trials. This surprised me, because he looked on the small side for the weight. It all comes down to how burnt out on the sport Spencer is, and how his knees feel over the next year or two. If the knees continue to improve, and he can do more heavy squats, deadlifts and cleans to get more explosive from the feet again. He has amazing ground game, but in freestyle you seldom start below the other guy, so you need to be great on the feet. Would have been interesting if he could have gotten a few turns if he could have taken him down. I don’t believe anybody took him down the entire tournament. Spencer was the only one to score on him
 
I don't think Spencer has the exact same attitude about the rare times of losing that Tom and Terry had.

TnT were more modest and showed just sadness after losing. People may say Terry just was a punk briefly after losing to Jason Kelber, but I dont think he ever whined about how the match went to the public, or the loss to Kendall Cross. He just showed authentic heartbreak. Spencer on this interview said he had a poor effort and even spit out the words "but that's OK".
 
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I don't think Spencer has the exact same attitude about the rare times of losing that Tom and Terry had.

TnT were more modest and showed just sadness when losing. People may say Terry just was a punk briefly after losing to Jason Kelber, but I dont think he ever whined about how the match went, or the loss to Kendall Cross. He just showed authentic heartbreak. Spencer on this interview said he had a poor effort and even spit out the words "but that's OK".
Spencer definitely takes losses just as hard as Terry. In the interview Spencer said he might move on and go into seclusion…. just like Terry did after he lost to Cross.
 
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Spencer definitely takes losses just as hard as Terry. In the interview Spencer said he might move on and go into seclusion…. just like Terry did after he lost to Cross.
I guess my point is he takes the losses as hard, I just think in kind of a different way.
Dad Brands, or Yogi, told Terry after losing to Cross that "you got what you earned" and Terry never forgot that statement.
 
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Spencer has always been this hard on himself. I remember him beating a really good kid but the match went the whole distance. He came off the mat pissed and was like “How am I going to dominate foreigners if I can’t even tech that kid?” I think he was a freshman in hs or something like that.
 
Spencer has always been this hard on himself. I remember him beating a really good kid but the match went the whole distance. He came off the mat pissed and was like “How am I going to dominate foreigners if I can’t even tech that kid?” I think he was a freshman in hs or something like that.
It’s crazy to me that people still don’t see how damn competitive Spencer is. He’s a perfectionist in a sport where perfection rarely exist. The closest to reach that level of perfection may have been Gable on his Olympic run.

Spencer is gonna take this hard, but he’s got people in his corner that will help him crawl out of his dark hole. What happens we he gets out of that hole is anyone’s guess. It could push him to become even better, or it might convince him to try something else. I could honestly see it going either way.
 
It’s both true and untrue. His fans, certainly Iowa fans will remember it. Obviously he’s an all time great light weight for USA. So big time USA fans will remember. But internationally I would argue he is right. No one really remembers/talks about second place, in a historical context. For example Higuchi, him winning vaults his career from very good to a different stratosphere internationally. He will be remembered very differently. I say all this as someone who loves Spencer. He’s my favorite wrestler of all time. And if he goes out and wins a few world golds that does shift his international legacy, but Olympic gold is like a Super Bowl for NFL quarterbacks. Doesn’t mean you can’t be a hall of fame great without, but you’ll be remember differently without vs with and Spencer is saying that here.

Everybody remembers Dan Marino.
 
Spencer has always been this hard on himself. I remember him beating a really good kid but the match went the whole distance. He came off the mat pissed and was like “How am I going to dominate foreigners if I can’t even tech that kid?” I think he was a freshman in hs or something like that.
Yep. I remember his senior year at Powerade he ‘only’ majored a kid in the finals and he chucked his headgear across the mat and sprinted off. Some people love to see it in an athlete as its more in line with the Brady/MJ “mentality”, others dont. But its who he is.

Spencer gave an interview once where he said when he first got to Iowa his dad warned TnT that if Spencer ever has a bad match or loses to just give him some space because he’s gonna say some things you don’t wanna hear (i.e. ab quitting). Me thinks this is a product of that as this is the highest stakes loss he’s ever taken and that after some time he’ll be back to wrestling.
 
Everybody remembers Dan Marino.
Answered above. Also Marino and Charles Barkley are widely know in the USA for being greats who don’t win the big one. So… any wrestler who is good but does not win Olympic gold fits that mold, from an international wrestling historical context.

I’m hoping Spencer commits to 2028, and maybe finally gets injury luck on his side. Would be SOOO fun if he would win 2-3 world golds and then an Olympic gold to finish his career!

Then the ultimate dream, transition to head coach of the Hawks!
 
I thought of Spencer as I watched the 74 KG medals ceremony. Jamalov. Takatani, and Dake were all so overjoyed and grateful. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Takatani couldn't stop smiling and clowning. Dake fought so hard for that Bronze. He was very content and just thrilled to be on the stand. Maybe Spencer will be proud of his accomplishment someday - hopefully soon.
 
I thought of Spencer as I watched the 74 KG medals ceremony. Jamalov. Takatani, and Dake were all so overjoyed and grateful. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Takatani couldn't stop smiling and clowning. Dake fought so hard for that Bronze. He was very content and just thrilled to be on the stand. Maybe Spencer will be proud of his accomplishment someday - hopefully soon.
There is only one silver at 57kg every 4 years. So in the last 10 Olympics covering 40 years that's 10.
No small freaking feat!!
As David Taylor put it, it's tough to be the 1% of the 1% of the 1%!
 
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Just because he doesn't throw a tantrum like TnT when he loses doesn't mean he doesn't care. I respect that Spencer can be disappointed, angry and not act like a toddler.
 
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If spencer wants to do something different might I suggest greco?

Ew. No.

Yep. I remember his senior year at Powerade he ‘only’ majored a kid in the finals and he chucked his headgear across the mat and sprinted off. Some people love to see it in an athlete as its more in line with the Brady/MJ “mentality”, others dont. But its who he is.

Spencer gave an interview once where he said when he first got to Iowa his dad warned TnT that if Spencer ever has a bad match or loses to just give him some space because he’s gonna say some things you don’t wanna hear (i.e. ab quitting). Me thinks this is a product of that as this is the highest stakes loss he’s ever taken and that after some time he’ll be back to wrestling.

After his loss at Big Tens to Rivera, he told Brands, "one more and i'm transferring"
 
My congratulations to Spencer, don't know if he reads on this site. But, if he never wrestlers another match it has been nothing short of spectacular watching him in his career with the Hawks and HWC. 3 NCAA titles and a silver medal is something 99.9% (Im not changing it to 83%) can only dream of. Him and ADS leading off the Hawks lineup was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
 
Spencer’s silver reminded me of the opening of the ELI story on BTN.
“Wrestling is a sport which demands so much and gives so little in return.”
This sport rips your guts out and leaves you in the abyss. The great ones keep coming back for the elusive moments of glory, which last a lifetime.
Spencer deserves his distance as he claws back and will someday achieve his glory.
Thank you Spencer Lee. Go carve that bow now.
 
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