Bettendorf man off to Beijing to watch son wrestle

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By Don Doxsie | Friday, August 15, 2008 6:53 PM CDT | () comments

If you’ve seen Ben Askren in action, with the flying afro hairstyle, unorthodox moves and cocksure approach, it should come as no surprise that he’s predicting he will win an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling next week.

His father isn’t surprised. And Chuck Askren, who lives in Bettendorf, isn’t about to question what his oldest son can do, not after watching him become the most decorated wrestler ever at the University of Missouri.

“He said he’s bringing back the gold, and I’m not going to doubt him,” Chuck said. “I can’t start doubting him now.”

Chuck and his wife, Michele, will be there in Beijing to watch as Ben competes in the 74-kilogram (163-pound) weight class next Wednesday. They left Friday on a 13-hour nonstop flight from Chicago to China.

“I’m anxious but excited,” Chuck said before departing. “I don’t really know what to expect over there. I’ve been watching a lot of interviews and blogs online and getting to know Beijing that way, but I still don’t really know what to expect.”

Ben has been there since Aug. 6 with younger brother Max, another Missouri wrestler who serves as his training partner.

Ben also is close friends with Joe Garrity of Orion, Ill., who was his backup at Missouri and a frequent workout partner. He said the same thing about Askren: If he said he’s going to do it, he’ll do it.

“You don’t really doubt him,” Garrity said. “You can’t doubt somebody like him. I think he’s planning on winning it. I don’t think he’d even go over there if he wasn’t.”

Ben, 24, was born in Cedar Rapids and grew up in Hartland, Wis. Chuck Askren still has a home in Wisconsin, but he spends more of his time in the Quad-Cities, where he owns and operates Mississippi Valley Pump.

Ben was an outstanding high school wrestler at Arrowhead High School in Hartland, finishing second in the state as a freshman and winning state titles as a sophomore and junior before missing the state tournament with an injury as a senior.

At Missouri, he became only the 12th wrestler ever to make the NCAA finals all four years. He went 87-0 in his last two seasons and twice won the Hodge Trophy, the wrestling equivalent of the Heisman.

Still, he wasn’t expected to make an international impact this soon.

“They were predicting he wouldn’t be at this point until 2012,” Chuck said.

But Ben knew. He went to the World team trials in his freshman year of high school and met Garrett Lowney, a fellow Wisconsinite who made the U.S. Greco Roman team right out of high school and won a bronze medal at Sydney in 2000.

“He thought, ‘If he can do that, why not me?’ ” Chuck said.

It won’t be easy in Beijing. Among the entries in Askren’s weight class is Russia’s Buvaisa Saitiyev, a two-time Olympic gold medalist. The odds of Askren winning the gold medal are only 20-1, according to a Web site called sportingbet.com.

“I know there are a couple of Russians, but I think his style is better than any of the Americans to beat the Russians,” Garrity said.

“He’s more open. A lot of what he does was learned from watching films of the Russians.”

Under new rules, the competition in each class all will be completed within one day rather than spreading the matches over several days.

“Every time the Americans start catching up, they change the rules,” Chuck Askren said. “And they usually do it right before the Olympics.

“That’s OK, it’s only four matches. It probably favors Ben anyway. It will work in favor of the guys with the most endurance.”

Don Doxsie can be contacted at (563) 383-2280 or ddoxsie@qctimes.com.