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"There was a great deal of pressure in that camreach to appeal to the 104-member IOC general paign, especially for kids who had a dream. That was council. That vote was between [wrestling] and a a burden. To have wrestling reinstated was a huge rejoint baseball/softball bid. lief so that the dream would continue for these kids." "You have different places around the world that But to say Battle's work with CPOW was all that have different emphasis on sports. Baseball and mattered in his life would be a softball are very big here and in disservice. Central America." "I was living in New York CPOW took a proactive apwhen 9/11 happened and it gave proach May 15 when it held me a clear vision that I had to the "Rumble on the Rails" at join the Navy and join the fight," Grand Central Station, which said Battle, who served two featured matches that pitted the tours in the Middle East in supU.S. against Russia and the U.S. port of Operations Iraqi Freeagainst Iran. dom and Enduring Freedom fly"We had 2,000 spectators and ing jets off aircraft carriers (he it was broadcast live by NBC," earned several awards, including Battle said. "It was a major the Wings of Gold in 2003). "I story. The idea was to make an had zero previous flight experiimpression on the IOC. ence. I had to take a series of "We also held a wrestling medical exams and spent 13 match in the Olympic ruins in weeks at Officers Candidate Greece, another at the MemoSchool, which is like boot camp. rial Sports Arena in Los Ange"It took almost two years of les and Red Square in Moscow. ground school, flight simulators We needed to demonstrate that and ground training. The attriwrestling was alive and well." In addition, the day before the Battle, who was a grappler at UVa tion rate is 60 percent." Battle later went on in 2008 Rumble on the Rails, diplomats from 1995‑98, was instrumental in talked about the value of wres- getting wrestling reinstated as an to serve as a speechwriter for the Vice Chief of Naval Operations. tling at a conference held at the Olympic sport. photo courtesy wes battle "That was an interesting job," United Nations. Battle said. "Admiral Patrick Walsh was a former Na"The Saturday before [that conference], repreval aviator. My job was to help the Navy leadership sentatives from the 177 countries came together to communicate those strategies and ideas to the rest of make a series of reforms in the sport," Battle said. the Navy and the public. "We were answering a lot of requests from the IOC." "I was proud to have that role." When the final vote was taken Sept. 8, wresThe same could be said of his role with CPOW. tling received 49 votes followed by baseball/softball, "I felt a clarity when the IOC kicked out wrestling which received 24 and squash with 22. in that I needed to do everything I could to help restore "I was in Buenos Aires at the time and there were wrestling in the Olympics," he said. "I had an unstotears of joy," Battle recalled. "The wrestling comried career at UVa, but it taught me a lot of lessons munity was relieved that the nightmare was over and that helped me become successful after college." ◆ we were reinstated. i26-27.Wes Battle.indd 2 11/5/13 2:08 PM