“He’s just been traveling here and there, but mostly he’s been working with Jesse,” Weiss said.

Of course, making the Olympic team could prove to be the ultimate goal for Frayer, whose future plans for wrestling remain hazy. Though he is unsure whether or not he will continue wrestling competitively if he doesn’t make the Olympic team, Frayer said that he “will be done” with competitive wrestling if he does make it to Athens. The retirement will allow him to focus on other goals in his life—a coaching career or family.

DAWID RECHUL

96 kg., 211.5 lbs.

Key Opponents: Daniel Cormier, Dean Morrison

A former All-American and three-time NCAA qualifier, Rechul qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials after winning the East Regional. While he is unlikely to join his countrymen in Greece, Rechul did beat Melvin Douglas—who came in fifth at the U.S. Nationals—earlier in the year.

Though he wrestled at 275 lbs. in college, Rechul’s drop to a lower weight bracket in the international competition has better suited him, considering his natural weight is only 225 lbs.

“I never considered myself a true heavyweight when I was in college,” Rechul said. “I think I’m more in my element wrestling at 211 than at heavyweight in college.”

Regardless of what happens in Indianapolis, Rechul plans to continue training in Colorado Springs for at least another year, and try and make the World Team in 2005. He has one year left on a scholarship which allows him to study at a branch of the University of Phoenix in Colorado Springs.

DANIELLE HOBEIKA

55 kg., 121 lbs.

Key Opponents: Tina George, Tela O’Donnell

Though Hobeika normally competes at the 112 lb. category—she recently took third at the U.S. National Championships in this bracket—this is not an Olympic weight class, and she has had to move up to 121 lbs.

And while Hobeika admits that the gain in weight has eliminated the pain from competing, the step up to the larger weight class has made it so that all of her competitors are bigger as well, and Hobeika admits that her chances of making the Olympic team are slim.

“I’d be happy with a top six or eighth [place finish],” Hobeika said.

Though she was training at the Olympic training center with Rechul, she was recently hired as a coach at Pacific University in Oregon. Hobeika qualified for the US Olympic trials after winning the Western Regional.

—Staff writer Evan R. Johnson can be reached at erjohns@fas.harvard.edu.