By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor

There is no question that Ben Askren has won the hype game. Indeed, the native of Hartland, Wisc., will put his “Chin in China,” a phrase the former two-time NCAA champion from Missouri made up and had displayed on T-shirts around the Thomas & Mack Center during the recent Olympic Team Trials in Las Vegas, where he also proved that the self-hype never got in the way of his bigger goals

            “I have plenty of time in my days,” grinned Askren. “I only workout about four hours a day. That leaves, minus sleep, about 12 hours to do what I want.

            But self-promotion will only take Askren, two years removed from also earning his second Hodge Trophy, so far at Olympic Games in China this August.

            “I’m excited about Beijing,” said Askren, shortly after he swept the two matches against Tyrone Lewis for the 163-pound Trials crown, June 15. “I going to live up with what I believe I can be.”    

            And that is to win a gold medal.

            “I’ll probably have (Russia’s Bouvaisa) Saitiev in he finals,” said Askren, referring to the four-time World, two-time Olympic champion. “Next to John Smith, he’s my favorite wrestler of all time to watch. He’s amazing. He’s a guy I want to train with day in and day out because I know I’ll get better. The way he wrestles is exciting.”

            Askren’s curiosity about others’ success is why he believes he will be just as successful on the international level as he was in college when he appeared in four straight NCAA finals and won two (in 2006 and 2007) for Missouri, where he also compiled a 153-8 record and pinned 91 of his foes.

            “I work harder than other people,” said Askren, who lost just one of nine periods in four matches at the Trials. “These other (American) wrestlers don’t want to work as hard; don’t want to be the best.

            “Also, I leave my mind open,” added Askren, who spent two weeks last February in Russia and Ukraine at a pair of tournaments. “I’m looking for everybody. I’m watching the Russians. I’m watching the World champs. I’m picking everything up. I know these other guys aren’t doing that. I know I have better technique and I know that I’m going to win. I have no doubt.”

            Askren can’t remember the last time his confidence was shaken.

            “I know with the right amount of work, dedication and studying the right people that I can accomplish anything,” he said. “I may not win right away but I’m going to get after it.”

             Askren proved that in one year after completing his collegiate career.

              During the 2007 World Team Trials, Askren lost to both Donny Pritzlaff and Ramico Blackmon. During the 2008 Olympic Trials, Askren avenged both of those losses. While Askren proved to be a funk-master in college, he now focuses on what makes a great freestyle wrestler.

            “Last spring and summer, I was putting all the new stuff in,” Askren said. “Last fall, I went over to Russia to pick a lot of things up. I put them all in and made them fit together. This is now the peaking part. Now I have two months to prepare for Beijing.”

            Askren is so confident that he asked his former Arrowhead High School coach John Mesenbrink to be in his corner when he wrestled Lewis, the same man Askren beat two months ago in the U.S. Nationals final.

            “He told me today that I was going to be there and that I better be focused,” Mesenbrink said on June 15.

            Mesenbrink, who started coaching at the Wisconsin high school — 25 miles west of Milwaukee — in Askren’s freshman year as a prep, said his prized athlete is no different than when he won two state championships and set records for takedowns in a season and career.

            “The confidence level and his commitment to work ethic day in and day out is the same,” said Mesenbrink. “It doesn’t waver.  The other big thing is his mental toughness.”

            Mesenbrink said Askren was just as much a free spirit then as he is today.

            “Usually I wouldn’t know that something was coming and he’d surprise me,” Mesenbrink said. “As we got to the end of his high school career, I knew something fun and exciting was coming. I knew his focus was always on wrestling.”

            Mesenbrink said Askren started picking up from his foes back in high school.

            Askren, who turns 24 in on July 18, believes that will put him on their level.

            “Half the stuff I’m using is from those guys because I watch them and see that it works,” said Askren, who was unsure if they knew who he is.

            “I don’t know,” he continued, “but they are going to know.”