Doug Reese: No Sheep to Count at the Olympics

Before Dan Henderson was a UFC championship fighter, he was an Olympian. He is a former Strikeforce and Pride Fighting Championship title holder. Henderson is famous for his big right-hand punch labeled the "H-Bomb" and for his granite chin. He has never been knocked out  in his 15-year career.

The only thing that ever came close to knocking out Dan Henderson was the stress of the Olympic Games.
  
On the eve of the 1996 Olympic Games, Henderson felt overwhelming anxiety.  After years of training for this one moment, the Arizona State graduate found he could not sleep the night before the biggest event in his competitive career. The heat of Atlanta, the pressure to perform, the worry to make weight, and the stress of being a part of the world’s biggest stage had him tossing and turning in a restless sweat.

He couldn’t take a sleeping pill—he might fail an Olympic drug test. There were no sheep to count. Sleep induction and hypnosis were not successful. Reading didn’t help. Frustrated and almost beyond the point of mental exhaustion, Henderson was desperate.

The trainer for the Sunkist Kids wrestling club team offered a suggestion: She wanted to administer acupuncture. I have to admit my first reaction was to laugh, but these were desperate times. I watched Vicki, the trainer, go to work with a bag full of needles. By the time she was done, Dan Henderson looked like a Dr. Frankenstein experiment gone wrong. There were needles in his face, ears, head, shoulders, arms, hands and chest.

The situation reminded me of a Three Stooges short where Moe tries to pull Curly’s tooth. That is how ridiculous it looked to me.

Amazingly, when Vicki was done pushing in the last needle, Henderson fell into a deep sleep.

Dan Henderson found an unconventional solution to his insomnia, but the stress and anticipation of performing on the biggest stage in the world are keeping many athletes awake. As you lay down tonight, think for a moment of the hundreds if not thousands of athletes in London who are tossing and turning. It is as common as the playing of national anthems at medal ceremonies.

About the blogger: Doug Reese is a 1975 graduate of and a member of the Geneva Athletic Hall of Fame. He is the author of the book "Take it to the Next Level, Performance Principles for Life." Reese is a member of the USA Wrestling national coaching staff and has coached elite U.S. teams in five world championships, the Pan American Games and was on staff for the '96 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He has also worked for the International Olympic Committee as a clinician for developing countries under the Olympic Solidarity program.