Maryland Wrestler Seeks Spot On 2012 Olympic Team

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -- Akil Patterson has a vision in mind. It's not exactly confined to sports.

"Can we talk while I do this?" the Frederick High graduate asks as he climbs on exercise bike on a recent morning in the
University of Maryland's red-trimmed wrestling room.

Patterson, 28, is hoping to land a spot on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team as a Greco-Roman heavyweight. That's why he trains seven days a week and travels the country looking for training partners, some more high-profile than others.

They're not exactly easy to find for someone who is 6-foot-3 and weighs 280 pounds.

This is about as happy as Patterson has been in his life. He says his binge drinking days are over. He no longer has scrapes
with the law. And, in the last year, he has publicly admitted he is gay, a brave thing to do, especially in a sport such as wrestling.

"It's just what he believes in. It's just how he feels. It doesn't make him different from anybody else. He is still the same
person," said Spencer Myers, a regular training partner for Patterson who placed sixth in the nation as a heavyweight and true freshman for Maryland last season.

But Myers has witnessed first-hand that not everyone feels that way. He said some wrestlers have been standoffish toward Patterson since his revelation and a few have refused to wrestle him.

"They don't know what to think or what to expect," Myers said.  "They are not sure what's going on."

That's why a spot on the Olympic team would mean far more to Patterson than the chance to represent his country.

He is interested in breaking down doors and shattering stereotypes, as well as creating opportunities, for those like him.

Patterson knows he's not the only athlete to compete in sports like football and wrestling who was scared to admit who they are.

He works as a youth advocate and answers letters from other gay athletes seeking advice.

"I know I change lives because when a mother calls you and says, `Thank you for saving my son or my daughter,' that's pretty special," he said.

Patterson never had such support to lean on when he made his decision to come out. He said he learned who his true friends were when he disclosed his tightly held secret. He no longer felt burdened by the life he was leading.

After leaving Maryland in the fall of 2003 following an indefinite suspension from the football team for violating a team
rule, he went to California University of Pennsylvania, where he played two years of football and earned a degree in sports marketing.

He returned to College Park to take an unpaid position with the Terrapin Wrestling Club.

The former state champion for Frederick High does everything from sparring with other wrestlers to clerical work in the club's office.

He knows his odds of making the Olympic team are long. There is one spot for a heavyweight and Patterson currently sits on the fringe of the top 10 in the latest rankings for USA Wrestling.

But he is still highly motivated by the opportunity and the breakthrough it would represent.

In June, he had the chance to spar with 2000 Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner at the New York Athletic Club, a session he described as "an (butt) kicking."

Patterson would need to win a qualifying tournament in December and then earn the spot at the U.S. Olympic Trials on April 21-22 in Iowa City.

"Ultimately, the most important thing for me is the change and the drive that it's given me in my life. I now have a goal," he said. "I want to reach a higher level than I ever thought was possible."

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)