Bailey Remembered at the Olympics
8/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | General
Aug. 18, 2008
Ryan Bailey, the center on the United States water polo team, stood with tears in his eyes on a podium over the pool at Yingdong Natatorium during pregame introductions.
Bailey is considered the strongest and toughest of the American players. He can bench press 385 pounds and throw the ball 54 miles per hour, and he relishes the punishing nature of his position. Bailey is often punched in the testicles battling for position in front of the goal and has received countless stitches in his face from underwater
knee smashes throughout his decorated career.
But the pain that Bailey is enduring during the Olympics cannot be sewn up or soothed with an ice pack. He and his teammates are still reeling from the death of his father, the water polo trainer Dan Bailey, who died from complications after knee surgery in November.
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