After coasting through the preliminary tournament and beating national champion Lee Fullhart two out of three matches in the 185-pound Olympic Trials championship, Cael Sanderson is headed to Greece.

Sanderson was criticized by some saying his condition was not as good as it should have been, but ISU head coach Bobby Douglas said Sanderson’s conditioning wasn’t the problem.

“He made some technical mistakes at the trials,” Douglas said. “He wasn’t in the best shape, but [his shape] wasn’t that bad. He went through six tough and grueling matches to win the trials, and that shows his shape wasn’t that bad.”

The former Cyclone avenged his loss to Fullhart in the freestyle nationals on April 8-9, one of his only losses in international competition, to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team.

Douglas, an assistant for the 2004 Olympic Freestyle team, said Sanderson will be prepared for the immense competition the Olympics brings. With the Olympic Games quickly approaching, Sanderson has started to pick up his training.

Splitting time between Ames, Minneapolis and Colorado Springs, Sanderson will try to move from hunter to hunted at the Games.

Sanderson has been forced to look up to international powerhouses Yoel Romero of Cuba and Sajid Sajidov of Russia.

“There are five top wrestlers that will be competing [in Sanderson’s weight class],” Douglas said. “There are four who are favored to have a good chance of winning the gold medal.”

Sajidov, the 2003 gold medalist at the World Championships, is Sanderson’s biggest competition in Athens.

In the 2003 World Championship final, Sajidov beat Sanderson 4-3 — scoring a point with an ankle pick with less than 15 seconds remaining.

On his way to the finals, Sajidov knocked off Romero to claim his dominance as the world’s best wrestler at 185 pounds.

At only 24, Sajidov could be Sanderson’s rival for many years to come.

“There are two world champions and two silver medalists at this [weight],” Douglas said. “Cael is preparing himself for what he needs to do, and he’s ready to bring home the gold medal.”

Romero, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist beat Sanderson in both the Titan Games and the Pan American Games, robbing the American collegiate champion of gold medals in both.

“We have all the things [we need to be successful] in place,” Douglas said. “We’re ready to go.”