by Jay D. Prince
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|  American Natalie Grainger (L) captured the women's individual Gold medal while her compatriot, Julian Illingworth (R) was a surprise Silver medalist who had beaten the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals. |
Two years ago, the sport of squash had one foot in the door of the Olympics. After the International Olympic Committee put all 28 of the existing sports to a test by voting on each of them as a means of determining whether or not to keep them on the program, both baseball and softball were dropped because they did not receive the necessary majority of votes to keep their place in the 2012 Olympic Games. You may recall that the IOC had a waiting list of five other sports that were hoping to be added if space was opened up. The five sports were golf, rugby, karate, roller sports and squash. To the delight of the squash world, squash and karate succeeded in receiving enough votes to take them to the final round of voting, but that is where the party ended. Neither sport garnered the necessary two-thirds majority of votes needed to become full-fledged medal sports.
To say the outcome of the voting was disappointing is an understatement. Squash had already been a part of the Pan American Games since 1995, and it was a medal sport in the Commonwealth Games beginning in 1998. Both international multi-sport quadrennial events have served as opportune venues for showcasing squash. In Manchester, in 2002, the Queen of England paid a visit to the squash venue during the Commonwealth Games, and Canada’s Jonathon Power took the gold. Four years ago in the Dominican Republic, Canadian Shahier Razik captured the men’s and Latasha Khan the women’s gold medals in the Pan Am Games.
The disappointment of failing to achieve full Olympic status in that 2005 vote was felt throughout the international squash community. The World Squash Federation had spent years lobbying the IOC in hopes of earning the sport’s first appearance in the London Olympic Games in 2012. And virtually every National Squash Federation, including US Squash, was right there fully supporting the effort being put in by the WSF.
And then there was the collective sigh. Or maybe it was an international pounding of the fist and wonderment as to what in the world it would take to get such an incredibly fast-paced, athletic racquet sport onto the Olympic program. That was in July, 2005.
In July 2007, just over a month ago, squash once again put itself on the map by participating in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Favored to win the men’s singles was Canadian defending champion, Shahier Razik. On the women’s side, American Natalie Grainger was the overwhelming favorite to succeed teammate Latasha Khan as the gold medalist just five months after becoming a US citizen. And the US women were expected to take the team gold with Grainger leading the way.
For Grainger, the trip to Rio brought back memories, and some comparisons, of her participation in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as a member of the South African team. “I’d say the Commonwealth Games is bigger, if you look at the number of athletes and the number of countries playing,” recalled Grainger. “But the Opening Ceremonies here were awesome, the apartments we stayed in were really nice, and I think Rio did a good job.” Of course, one given with squash is that there was a lot more depth in the Commonwealth Games with the likes of England and Australia also participating. In Rio, Grainger was on a mission, and nothing was going to stop her from going for the gold. Not even a crazy transportation schedule to and from the squash venue.
“We couldn’t take a direct route from the athlete’s village to the squash venue for security reasons,” said Grainger. “So the 25 kilometer journey that could have taken 20 minutes took nearly an hour-and-a-half. To get to our morning matches, we had to catch the 5:40 a.m. bus and, because of the playing schedule, we wouldn’t get back until 9:30 or 10:00 at night.”
No worries, however, as Grainger methodically thumped every opponent on her way to the final. A grand total of 34 minutes to win her first two matches, including the opener against American teammate Michelle Quibell, and another 20 to take the gold medal over Canadian Alana Miller. Afterwards, Grainger was beaming. “It is awesome to win this. I’m really, really excited to win a gold medal for the United States,” said Grainger. “I know I was the No. 1 seed and was expected to win, but it feels great to actually produce the goods. This is a tournament I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.” Funny thing is, Grainger nearly missed the match altogether when the bus she was supposed to take to the venue left early. Instead, the USOC hired a car to take her to the court. “The driver didn’t speak a word of english and we ended up going to the hockey stadium,” said Grainger laughing afterwards. “Luckily the Hockey venue was en route to the squash facility. We were supposed to be on the 4:30 bus for my 7:30 final, and I walked in at 7:15. On the drive over, Chris (Walker, team coach) was stretching out my legs in the back of the car.”
What was not expected was that an American player would reach the men’s gold medal match. It has never happened before and the highest seed this time around was Julian Illingworth. And he was seeded to reach the quarterfinals. End of story.
Not so fast. Illingworth, who graduated from Yale University just over a year ago, has since been training for and playing on the Professional Squash Association’s tour. Last February, the Portland, OR, native became the first American ever to win a main draw match in a Super Series tournament when he beat Australian Dan Jenson in the first round.
In Rio, Illingworth eased past the second round (having received a bye in the first round as a 5/8 seed) in four relatively straightforward games, before facing the top-seeded Razik in the quarterfinals. Few, if any, gave Illingworth a chance at taking down the expected gold medalist. But the only two that mattered were Illingworth himself, and the US Team Coach, Chris Walker. “Well, going into the match, Julian was the underdog,” said Walker. “But I’ve always believed he’s got the ammunition to beat someone like Shahier. Julian’s quick, got fast hands, very athletic, and he’s quite a smart player as well.”
Fifty-eight minutes later, the squash venue was buzzing. Illingworth had indeed pulled off the upset. Said Walker when asked what happened, “On that day, Julian played the right shots in the right order the majority of the time, and he found the kinks in Razik’s armor that were there. Julian just needed to keep going and keep his belief in the fact that he could win it. And he did. I was really pleased with his performance.”
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