Eddie Borysewicz
Encyclopedia
Edward 'Eddie B' Borysewicz (born March 18, 1939) is 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.
. He was originally a runner. He changed to cycling in his youth, quickly showing talent in races and twice becoming junior national champion. Two years of military national service
followed, during which the army denied him a place in its sports battalion because, he said, his father was anti-communist. He was misdiagnosed with tuberculosis
after leaving the army but recovered to win two more national championships. The effects of tuberculosis treatment, however, adversely affected his liver so he stopped racing and sought a degree in physical education
at the University of Warsaw
. He claims 30 national and world championships for his subsequent coaching, among them Mieczysław Nowicki, later appointed Minister of Sport in Poland.
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 amateur
s 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.
. He said:
His lack of English meant he had to use the son of a Polish friend, another cyclist, as translator.
He dispensed with established riders such as John Howard
. Historian Peter Nye said:
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 send 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.
or blood boosting. The transfusions were to increase red blood cells in riders' blood, thus taking 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. Transfusions were suggested by Eddie, by staff members or by the physician who oversaw the boosting, Dr. Herman Falsetti, a professor of cardiology at the University of Iowa.
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. Ed Burke, without Borysewicz's knowledge or approval, set up a clinic in a Los Angeles motel room. Four of the seven athletes who had transfusions won medals. The US federation banned blood-doping in January 1985. Although Borysewicz denied involvement, both he and Burke were fined a month's pay. Fraysse was demoted from first to third vice-president.
, 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 team, after several sponsorship changes, became the US Postal Service 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 he had "five Lances," Borysewicz replied,
. His house burned in the 2003 Cedar Fire
that devastated San Diego County. Eddie received over 600 letters from friends and cyclists worldwide in response to his loss. Donations totaling $120,000 allowed him to rebuild his house.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to world prominence, even though at first he barely spoke English. The US team, under his direction, won nine medals at the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1984. It was the first time Americans had won medals since 1912.
Background
Borysewicz was born in northeastern Poland, a region now a part of BelarusBelarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. He was originally a runner. He changed to cycling in his youth, quickly showing talent in races and twice becoming junior national champion. Two years of military national service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
followed, during which the army denied him a place in its sports battalion because, he said, his father was anti-communist. He was misdiagnosed with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
after leaving the army but recovered to win two more national championships. The effects of tuberculosis treatment, however, adversely affected his liver so he stopped racing and sought a degree in physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
at the University of Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. He claims 30 national and world championships for his subsequent coaching, among them Mieczysław Nowicki, later appointed Minister of Sport in Poland.
He went to the Olympic Games in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in 1976 as assistant for the Polish team. He went from there to New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, USA, to see friends with whom he had raced for Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
There he became associated with the North Jersey Bicycle Club, whose jersey he was wearing when he met Mike Fraysse
Mike Fraysse
Mike Fraysse was president of the United States Cycling Federation from 1979 to 1981 and from 1994 to 1998. Fraysse was a member of the USCF's board of directors from 1969 to 1994. He managed US Olympic cycling teams in 1976 and 1984)...
, 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
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
's inquiry into the domination in sport by what were perceived to be state-sponsored amateur
Amateur
An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....
s from communist countries. Fraysee spoke to Borysewicz about bringing his experience of Polish sports schools. They spoke in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
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, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He said:
His lack of English meant he had to use the son of a Polish friend, another cyclist, as translator.
He dispensed with established riders such as John Howard
John Howard (cyclist)
John Kennedy Howard is an Olympic cyclist from the United States, who set a land speed record of 152.2 miles per hour while motor-pacing on a pedal bicycle on July 20, 1985 on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats...
. 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
Greg LeMond
Gregory James LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California and raised in Reno, Nevada....
. 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 send a team to the Olympic Games in Moscow
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
. The Russians and most other communist nations then stayed away from men's cycling at the Games in Los Angeles
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
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 dopingBlood doping
Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity and...
or blood boosting. The transfusions were to increase red blood cells in riders' blood, thus taking more oxygen to their muscles. They received the blood of others with similar blood types.
The French coach and former world champion, Daniel Morelon
Daniel Morelon
Daniel Morelon is a French former racing cyclist, eight times world champion and triple Olympic champion and a knight of the Legion d'Honneur. Morelon was a police officer before becoming a cycling coach....
, told the sports paper L'Equipe
L'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...
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
Rebecca Twigg
Rebecca Twigg is an American former racing cyclist, who won six world track cycling championships in the individual pursuit...
, Pat McDonough and Leonard Nitz
Leonard Nitz
Leonard Harvey Nitz is a retired track cyclist from the United States. He won the silver medal in the 4000m team pursuit and bronze in the 4000m individual pursuit at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.-References:*...
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. Transfusions were suggested by Eddie, by staff members or by the physician who oversaw the boosting, Dr. Herman Falsetti, a professor of cardiology at the University of Iowa.
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. Ed Burke, without Borysewicz's knowledge or approval, set up a clinic in a Los Angeles motel room. Four of the seven athletes who had transfusions won medals. The US federation banned blood-doping in January 1985. Although Borysewicz denied involvement, both he 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 SunkyongSK Group
SK Group is the third largest conglomerate in South Korea. The SK Group is composed of 92 subsidiary and affiliate companies that share the SK brand and culture....
, a Korean electronics firm, ended after a year and Borysewicz sought a replacement in Montgomery Securities
Montgomery Securities
Montgomery Securities was a west-coast investment bank based in San Francisco, California, that specialized in high technology and health care sectors. The firm was founded in 1978 by Thom Weisel....
. Its chief executive, Thomas Weisel, agreed to a team of 15 that included Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
. That team, after several sponsorship changes, became the US Postal Service and Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team was a United States-based professional road bicycle racing team. It was the continuation of the 2004 U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team. Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner, was its leader until July 2005...
teams for which Armstrong won the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
seven times.
Borysewicz claimed Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
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 he had "five Lances," Borysewicz replied,
Personal life
He lives in Ramona, CaliforniaRamona, California
Ramona is a census-designated place in San Diego County, California. The population was 20,292 at the 2010 census.The term Ramona also refers to an unincorporated community that includes both the Ramona CDP and the adjacent CDP of San Diego Country Estates CDP...
. His house burned in the 2003 Cedar Fire
Cedar Fire
The Cedar Fire was a human-caused wildfire that burned out of control through a large area of San Diego County, in Southern California, in October 2003...
that devastated San Diego County. Eddie received over 600 letters from friends and cyclists worldwide in response to his loss. Donations totaling $120,000 allowed him to rebuild his house.
Honours
- Borysewicz was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1996.
- Borysewicz was awarded the Super Master of Sports title, the country's highest award to athletes.
- Borysewicz received the "Father of Modern American Cycling" award at the Endurance Sports Awards in San Diego.