VIDEO: MICK BYRNE PREVIEWS BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP
and 30 of the last 35 since 1977. "It's passed on from one group to the next, one recruiting class to the next,'' said Byrne, who took over the program in 2008 and won his first na- tional championship last season.
"Our seniors are passing it on to the younger
guys. They respect the history. They get excited about it, and they enjoy the challenge.'' Ahmed, Darling and Reed Connor are the prin- cipal torchbearers. Ahmed, the defending Big Ten champ, conceded that when he got on cam- pus, "I had no idea we had such a huge history and tradition.'' But it didn't take him to long to figure out "what we were protecting.'' The streak. "And once you really become a Badger and taste
that first win,'' said Ahmed, a member of the 2012 Canadian Olympic team and a native of St. Cath- arines, Ontario, "you always want to feel that.'' Ahmed didn't medal in London, but he still took away something from the Summer Games. "He walked away with just a different beat to
his stride; just a little bit of swagger that I haven't seen before,'' Byrne said, "and an attention to de-
tail that I haven't seen from him in a long time. "The growth that I've seen in Mohammed in
the last four months is just incredible. He's tak- ing care of a lot of the little details that the good athletes should be taking care of.'' Byrne listed a renewed commitment to the
weight room, daily ice baths, nutrition and sleep, among other things. "All of a sudden they've be- come much more important to him,'' he said. Ahmed completely agreed. "I came back from the Olympics with a relent-
less motivation in the way I approach workouts and pay attention to details,'' he said, comparing the" before and after'' Ahmed. "It's something that the old Mohammed didn't have.''
Although he brought home a lot of gear from London, he still came away empty-handed. That emptiness — from not medaling — is a driving force, too. "To be honest, I've tried to make myself forget,'' he said. "Every once in awhile someone will come up to me while I'm walking on campus and say, 'Hey, Mohammed, good job in the Olympics.'''
43
