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cavalier profile TIM FOLEY Alum • Wrestling Never let it be said that former Virginia wrestler Tim Foley ('04) has led a dull life. If Foley wasn't riding a bicycle from New York City to New Orleans to interview voters prior to the 2008 Presidential election, he was traveling to Mongolia to compete in that country's folk-style wrestling completion. If he wasn't wrestling in India, China, Vietnam and in the Wrestling for Peace Tournament in South Sudan, he was climbing 14 of Colorado's 54 14,000-foot mountain peaks. "It encompassed 50 days and 50 voters," Foley said of his 1,167mile trip to New Orleans. "I stopped every day and interviewed a different voter. It was a journalistic foray and was as random as could be. I chose a broad, socio-economic diversity of people. "I think I got a clear head and it taught me what it's like to be extremely busy. You're riding, you're wrestling and you're taking photos." Foley was quick to admit that his five-day excursion to Vietnam in 2010 was "a form of self-exploration." "I Googled Vietnam wrestling and said maybe I'll do an article on it," said Foley, who earned a master's in journalism from Columbia. "I had no idea what folk-style wrestling was like. It was crazy and I got lost. But I found this wrestling village in Vietnam. I've heard professors discuss a blinding flash of the obvious. "In Mongolia, I competed in different tournaments and trained with different groups of guys." At the risk of stating the obvious, wrestling and climbing mountains are two disparate activities. "That was the first thing I did," Foley said. "I went there with Paul Bowman, who was a Virginia wrestler. I did it for a couple of years and continued to do more traveling. Then, I moved into the international wrestling scene." Foley walked a fine line in South Sudan, a country that's on the verge of a civil war. "I just got evacuated out of South Sudan in a time of crisis," he said. "We had our first Wrestling for Peace event there. It's something I'm proud of." — Mike Scandura ◆ Photo by Andrew Shurtleff i30.CP-Tim Foley.indd 51 1/16/14 10:57 AM