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Olympics

OH GOODY, TWO SHOES!

By BILL PLASCHKE
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Derrick Waldroup, a U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler, did a strange thing when he finished his final 198-pound match here.

He took off his shoes and left them in the middle of the ring.

As the crowd stared quizzically, the ring announcer explained.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Derrick Waldroup has just used a time-honored tradition to announce to the world that he has just wrestled his last match.

“Two shoes means he is retiring.”

The crowd gave Waldroup a standing ovation even though he did not medal.

OlympicsSports
Bill Plaschke

Bill Plaschke, an L.A. Times sports columnist since 1996, is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame and California Sports Hall of Fame. He has been named national Sports Columnist of the Year nine times by the Associated Press, and twice by the Society of Professional Journalists and National Headliner Awards. He is the author of six books, including a collection of his columns entitled “Plaschke: Good Sports, Spoilsports, Foul Balls and Oddballs.” Plaschke is also a panelist on the popular ESPN daily talk show, “Around the Horn.” He is in the national Big Brothers/Big Sisters Alumni Hall of Fame and has been named Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Big Brothers/Big Sisters as well as receiving a Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center. Plaschke has appeared in a movie (“Ali”), a dramatic HBO series (“Luck”) and, in a crowning cultural moment he still does not quite understand, his name can be found in a rap song “Females Welcome” by Asher Roth.

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