August 5, 2008 7:15 AM

Sergeant Byers wants to meet Castro

If any of 167 athletes would have answered "Fidel Castro'' to the question, it would have been no big deal.

That's how many athletes Cuba is sending to the Olympics.

But it certainly was a surprise that such an answer came from U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler Dremiel Byers. And it's even more of a surprise considering Byers is a sergeant in the U.S. Army.

Byers has been quoted in USA Wrestling materials as saying the person he'd most like to meet, alive or dead, is the longtime Cuban dictator.

"I think I wanted to meet Castro to see if I could talk him into letting me get one of those hats from him,'' Byers said at a press conference.

Byers called Castro a "great guy.''

"He's a strong person, strong willed, what have you,'' Byers said. "I heard a story when I was in Cuba that one of their athletes got a medal and he got to have dinner with Castro. They were sitting at the table and (Castro) said, 'Champion, huh?' Then he reached into his wallet and pulled out a dollar and hands it to the guy... I was like, 'What did you do?' And he said, 'I acted like it was the best dollar I ever got.'''

Winning a medal in Cuba couldn't even get that guy a Castro hat.

Posted by Chris Tomasson at 7:15 AM | Comments (5)