No bigger downer at Olympics

Team USA has had its share of feel-good stories during these Olympics. Michael Phelps in the pool. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson in gymnastics. Even Oklahoma’s own, Jonathan Horton has brought a healthy dose of feel-good.

Nothing has felt quite so bad, though, what happened with Daniel Cormier. He is the hard-luck story of these Olympics.

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The former Oklahoma State wrestler withdrew from competition only hours before he was supposed to start wrestling. Instead of going to the arena, Cormier was laying in a Beijing hospital bed after developing a serious kidney problem.

From all accounts, it sounds like a case of weight-cutting gone terribly wrong.

Somewhere down the road, I’m sure we’ll turn our attention to the evils of cutting weight in wrestling, but for now, the emotions are still too raw.

No Olympian deserves such a fate, but Cormier really doesn’t. He has already endured more than his share of hard luck. Back at the 2004 Olympics, he finished fourth after blowing a 2-0 lead in the final minute of the bronze-medal match. Cormier was looking for redemption in Beijing.