Six weeks after U.S. freestyle wrestler Brandon Slay lost the 167.5-pound gold medal to Germany's Alexander Leipold at the Sydney Olympics--and a month after the International Olympic Committee recommended that Leipold be stripped of the gold for testing positive for two anabolic steroids--Slay will be recognized as the Olympic champion Wednesday at New York's Rockefeller Plaza.
NBC will televise the ceremony during the "Today" show. Anita DeFrantz of Los Angeles, an IOC vice president, will present a gold medal to Slay, silver to third-place finisher Moon Eui-jae of Korea and a bronze to Adem Bereket of Turkey. U.S. freestyle wrestling great Bruce Baumgartner, who won two gold medals, a silver and a bronze in four Olympics, will present flowers to the trio, following Olympic protocol.
All three will probably receive new medals. Leipold didn't return his medal to the IOC until last week, and a source said it was no longer in pristine condition. A new silver medal will be awarded because the original was damaged by careless handling, a spokeswoman for DeFrantz said.
Several possibilities had been discussed for the ceremony. Slay favored holding it in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas. Another plan, to give him the medal on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," was vetoed by the IOC. Slay and officials of the U.S. Olympic Committee, the IOC and USA Wrestling decided "Today" would provide the widest possible audience and a suitably dignified setting.
