– UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre recently spoke about making a run at the 2012 Olympic Games in freestyle wrestling, here are the highlights…
On His Wrestling: “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.”
On The Negatives: “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.”
On The Positives: “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.”
On Why He Is Doing It: “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.”
On The Decision: “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.”
Credit: MMAJunkie.com
