US boxer Russell collapses, out of Olympics

[August 08, 2008]  BEIJING (AP) -- Bantamweight Gary Russell Jr. will miss the Olympics after collapsing while trying to make weight, leaving the American boxing team without one of its top medal hopes.

U.S. coach Dan Campbell said Russell, a two-time national champion, was found unconscious and severely dehydrated early Friday morning by his roommate, light flyweight Luis Yanez.

Medical personnel at the athletes' village rehydrated Russell, but he wasn't healthy enough to participate in Friday's weigh-in. Russell was resting Friday after failing in a dangerous final effort to reach the 119-pound limit.

"We became alarmed a couple of days ago when we saw he wasn't sweating like he should," Campbell said after Friday's draw. "When these kids try to make weight, sometimes they cut corners. What we believe is he did not increase his fluid intake after we told him to."

Russell hadn't competed at 119 pounds since the world championships in Chicago last fall. He has fought at 125 pounds or more in every test event and dual meet since, but Campbell and Russell both thought he would have no trouble making weight.

The Americans have been working out in a university gymnasium in Beijing where the excessive air conditioning has upset Campbell, who likes his gyms hotter to facilitate sweating.

The U.S. team has just eight remaining boxers, its smallest contingent since the 1948 London Olympics. World champions Demetrius Andrade and Rau'shee Warren both made weight Friday.

"We thought he was a very good shot at a medal," Campbell said. "We try to tell the team when we have these types of adversities, we still have eight guys in there, and we're going to try to concentrate on what we've got."

The team must move on without Russell, perhaps its most charismatic and exciting fighter. Ever since he was a 2-year-old prodigy putting on shadowboxing shows at fight clubs in Washington D.C., Russell has dreamed of wearing an Olympic medal even more than a pro career.

"I've just always thought winning a gold medal would mean more than being a world champion, or winning all that money, or anything," Russell told The Associated Press last month. "There's just something about it."

[Associated Press; By GREG BEACHAM]

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