Opposites attack: Duo has Olympic wrestling dreams

Wrestlers Joe Warren and Tommy Rowlands are opposites in many ways.

They attended rival colleges.

Warren is about a foot shorter than the 6-foot-4 1/2-inch Rowlands.

Warren, 30, is brash and eager to defend his self-proclaimed title of "baddest man on the planet."

"I was asked how I felt after I won the worlds last year, and that just slipped off my tongue," he said. "I've known I was a world champion since I started wrestling; I just hadn't won it yet."

Rowlands, 26, is more laid-back and looking for his first world title.

They're friends even if Warren graduated from Michigan and Rowlands from Ohio State, where he works as an assistant wrestling coach.

But they have more in common than differences. Both are reigning national champions, former NCAA champions and leading candidates to be teammates for the United States at the World Wrestling Championships in September in Azerbaijan, barring an upset today in their respective classes at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Warren, at 132 pounds in Greco-Roman, won three NCAA championships in freestyle before shifting disciplines when he began training in 2001 at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

In Greco-Roman, unlike freestyle, a wrestler can't attack below the waist and is not permitted to use his legs for offensive moves.

"It's a power sport," Warren said. "It's hard-nosed and in your face, just the way I like it."

The biggest change for Rowlands since college was moving from 211 to 252 pounds, which is 12 pounds below the maximum allowed for his super heavyweight category.

"My assets are better served in this weight class as being a mobile wrestler," he said. "I'm most efficient at this weight.

"It's about wrestling for six minutes."

Each wrestler refuses to look past his goal of leaving Beijing with gold after the 2008 Olympics.

"I'm not going to think seriously about anything until I'm done in 2008," Warren said, alluding to having discussions about joining the growing professional world of mixed martial arts competitions.

He said MMA stars Randy Couture, a Las Vegas resident and the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion, and Dan Henderson, who holds two titles in the Pride Fighting Championships, are former Greco-Roman champions.

"My goal is to win the Olympics," Warren reiterated. "I'm making the most of every practice, and each day I'm getting closer to my dream."

Rowlands scoffs at the notion of becoming a professional fighter after the Olympics and plans to continue working with Ohio State's program or to put his degree in business management to work.

He also might consider another alternative.

Although the last time Rowlands played football was in the eighth grade, he was invited to participate in the New York Jets' rookie camp last month and said he was invited back to join the team's practice squad after the Olympics.

One of the other 50 athletes in the camp was Minnesota's Cole Konrad, 23, who finished second to Rowlands in this year's nationals.

Konrad, who has two NCAA wrestling titles and last played football as a high school freshman, is ranked second to Rowlands for today's competition. They were roommates at the Jets' camp.