A federal judge in Phoenix is expected to rule Wednesday on the fate of a top U.S. Olympic wrestling coach. Roman Wroclawski has been in federal custody for months. He was picked up at the request of the Polish government, which accuses him of falsifying loan documents. But Wroclawski and his lawyer say the Poles just don't want him coaching the U.S. team.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Wroclawski was the coach shouting directions next to the mat as American wrestler Rulon Gardner scored one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history, beating Russian titan Alexander Karelin.
Eight years later, Wroclawski is nowhere near the mat as his wrestlers practice in a Tempe, Ariz., gym. He is sitting in a federal prison about 50 miles south, in Florence.
"We've been coaching ourselves," says wrestler Jeff Funicello, who hopes to win the trials and go to Beijing. But without his coach, he's at a disadvantage.
Wroclawski isn't charged with a crime in the U.S. He's a Polish citizen, and the Polish government wants him extradited for falsifying a loan application there.
Wroclawski denies the charges. He and his lawyer in Phoenix, Mike Reeves, say the charges are an excuse to keep him from coaching in the Olympics. The whole thing, they say, is tied to political corruption and the Polish mob.
Greco-Roman wrestling may be low-profile in the U.S., "but wrestling in Poland and Russia is similar to our NBA or NFL," Reeves says.
In fact, a number of high-level Polish government officials competed in wrestling, boxing and judo. A few years ago, Wroclawski wrote a book tying Polish officials and their wrestling background to organized crime. Then, last year, he accused the officials again in a Polish news interview. The extradition request came shortly after that interview. Wroclawski was arrested last November.
"This is absolutely a revenge move for his exposing some of the corrupt practices back there, and also for him helping the Americans to become top-notch wrestlers," Reeves says.
A spokesman at the Polish embassy in Washington said he's familiar with the case but had no comment.
The federal judge in Phoenix will have a hearing Wednesday afternoon on a motion to allow Wroclawski to leave prison on bond or with a monitoring device like an ankle bracelet, so he can coach at the Olympic trials.
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