RTRS-Olympics-Wrestling-Taub proves the power of persistence – By Alan Baldwin

BEIJING, Aug 6 (Reuters) – A less determined man than Ari Taub might have felt he was destined never to become an Olympic athlete.

The Canadian super-heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler has suffered more blocks and body blows outside the ring than in it over the past two decades.

A first time Olympian at an age when most wrestlers have retired, the 37-year-old’s presence in Beijing marks him out as the embodiment of the ideal that the taking part matters as much as the winning.

In 1992, Taub qualified for the Barcelona Olympics as the youngest member of Canada’s freestyle team.
“Then one of the other guys threatened to sue the federation and they ended up giving him a wrestle-off, which I proceeded to lose a couple of weeks before the Olympics,” the Calgary lawyer told Reuters at the athletes’ village on Wednesday.

“I had already gotten all my stuff and the letter from the prime minister saying congratulations. So I didn’t go to ’92.”