Eddie Borysewicz

Edward 'Eddie B' Borysewicz was a cycling coach who brought the United States to world prominence - even though at first he barely spoke English. The US team under his direction won nine medals at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984. It was the first time Americans had won medals since 1912.

Background

Borysewicz was born in north-eastern Poland, in a region now part of Belarus. He was originally a runner. He changed to cycling in his youth, quickly showing talent in races and twice becoming national junior champion. Two years of national service followed, during which the army denied him a place in its sports batallion because, he said, his father was not a communist. He contracted tuberculosis after leaving the army but recovered to win two national championships. The effects of tuberculosis stopped further progress and he took a degree in physical education at the university in Warsaw. He claims 30 national and world championships for his subsequent coaching<, among them Miczyslaw Nowicki, later minister of sport.

He went to the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976 as assistant for the Polish team. He went from there to New Jersey, USA, to see friends with whom he had raced for Poland. There he became associated with the North Jersey Bicycle Club, whose jersey he was wearing when he met Mike Fraysse, chairman of the American cycling federation's competition committee, in a cycle shop.. The federation had gained money for coaching and support of athletes from President Jimmy Carter's inquiry into the domination in sport by what were perceived to be state-sponsored amateurs from communist countries. Fraysee spoke to Borysewicz about bringing his experience of Polish sports schools. They spoke in French because Borysewicz spoke no English. Next year the US federation took on Borysewicz as its first full-time coach. His riders referred to him as "Eddie B" because they could not master his surname, pronounced bor-i-SHAY-vitz.

National coach

Borysewicz opened an office at the Olympic Training Center in Squaw Valley, California. He said:

When I started, was nothing. No office, nothing. I was the first guy, who don't speak English. I have only a telephone and have even to buy a desk. That was '78, OK? We make big steps. I have so many riders who win the Olympics, world championship medals.

His lack of English meant he had to use the son of a Polish friend, another cyclist, as translator. "It really cuts your authority when you want to be commanding and you have to speak through a 12-year-old," he said. He told all but one member of the national team that they were overweight and observed that America was "a land of fat people." He dispensed with established riders such as John Howard. Historian Peter Nye said:

Many suddenly former national team members became outspoken critics of the new national coach, claiming that he didn't understand the philosophy of US riders. Borysewicz's lack of English helped him miss much of the criticism as he introduced the concept that the team, not the individual, is what counts in racing. American racing over the years was marked by individuals going for the win rather than team tactics.

Among the first riders Borysewicz developed was Greg LeMond. He called him "a diamond, a clear diamond." That year, 1977, Sue Novara came second in the world sprint championship on the track and Connie Carpenter came second in the world road championship.

The USA did not sent a team to the Olympic Games in Moscow. The Russians and most other communist nations then stayed away from men's cycling at the Games in Los Angeles four years later. That lessened competition but the four gold, three silver and one bronze medal were the first Americans had won since 1912.

Blood doping scandal

America's successes at Los Angeles were coloured by revelations that riders had blood transfusions before their events, a practice known as blood-doping. The transfusions were to increase red blood cells in riders' blood. That would take more oxygen to their muscles. They received the blood of others with similar blood types.

The French coach and former world champion, Daniel Morelon, told the sports paper L'Equipe that American medical treatment was "extremely elaborate". He added: "I didn't say they were taking drugs but on the other hand we and many others were still at the stage of trying our little vitamins." Steve Hegg, won a gold and a silver; Rebecca Twigg, Pat McDonough and Leonard Nitz won silver medals. They were identified in the subsequent inquiry as having had transfusions. The others were John Beckman, Mark Whitehead and Brent Emery. The rest of the team refused.

Fraysse, who had brought Borysewicz's appointment as national coach, said: "We've been looking into this stuff for years and years and years. We weren't gonna fall behind the Russians or East Germans any more." The practice was not against Olympic rules although Games medical guidelines discouraged it. Borysewicz and a colleague, Ed Burke, set up a clinic in a Los Angeles motel room and four of the seven athletes who had transfusions won medals. The US federation banned blood-doping in January 1985. Borysewicz and Burke were fined a month's pay. Fraysse was demoted from first to third vice-president.

Professional coach

Eddie Borysewicz resigned as coach of the American national team in 1987 partly because of disagreements with members of his squad. He started his own amateur team in 1988. Sponsorship by a Korean electronics firm ended after a year and Borysewicz sought a replacement in Montgomery Securities. Its chief executive, Thomas Weisel, agreed to a team of 15 that included Lance Armstrong. That in a sequence of sponsors became the US Postal Services and Discovery Channel teams for which Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times.

Borysewicz claimed Lance Armstrong as his discovery and not that of Armstrong's later coach, Chris Carmichael. When Carmichael said of his work at the US federation that he wished had "five Lances," Borysewicz replied, "Why doesn't he produce Lances? That's his job. And anyway, Lance is not his product. Lance is my product."

Personal life

Borysewicz was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1996. He was awarded the Super Master of Sports title, the country's highest award to athletes. He lives in Ramona, California. His house was burned down in fires in the state in November 2003.