Jerry Page compared his Olympic experience to climbing a mountain.

“Once I made it up there to the top, it was a relief,” he said. “Then you digest everything that took place. That’s how it was. You couldn’t grasp it all at one time.”

Waiting on top of that mountain was a gold medal in the light welterweight division of boxing. Page reached his summit at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles after a childhood surrounded by boxing. After a short professional boxing career, the former Ohio State student is now a personal trainer in the greater Columbus area.

Boxing prodigy

Growing up on the north side of Columbus, Page began boxing at age 9.

“Kids used to box just like they play basketball (today),” he said. “It was just something to do.”

Through his adolescence, he trained with professionals who saw him as a contender. He was able to draw large crowds to his fights, up to 5,000 once in St. John Arena. After graduating from Linden McKinley High School, he chose to attend OSU and study computer sciences.

“I really wasn’t certain what I wanted to do,” Page said. “I knew I wanted to go to school though.”

He kept a steady training schedule while at OSU, but Page always knew he was a national contender in the boxing ring. His amateur record was so impressive that he was invited to join the U.S. National team and compete in the 1984 Olympics. He agreed to drop out of school to focus on his boxing.

Page gained national acclaim during the 1983 Pan American games, advancing to the final round before losing to Cuba’s Cadelario Duvergel. Although he would have loved the gold medal, Page was just as excited with silver.

“That was a major accomplishment for me,” Page said.

Later, when it was discovered Duvergel would not be competing for the summer Olympics, Page knew he was in position to earn the gold in Los Angeles.

Going for gold

When Page arrived in Los Angeles for the 1984 Olympic Games, a bracket was posted in his dorm of all the potential opponents. Like the dream of any bracketologist, he picked every opponent he would meet and defeat, all the way into the gold medal match.

“(I) Never knew who they were or nothing,” he said. “I told myself, if I win this first fight, I go here and this guy will probably win. Then I go out here and this guy will probably advance.”

Page dominated the light welterweight division, winning four of his five bouts unanimously.

“I was in the zone,” he said. “Once I got there, it was like, I might as well win it.”

After a 5-0 decision over Dhawee Umponmaha of Thailand in the finals, Page won the Olympic gold. He compared the award ceremony to a religious experience.

“So much going through your mind, man,” he said. “It was wonderful. It’s hard to believe.”

Page returned to OSU to finish his degree, ending his amateur career at 101-30 with six Golden Gloves and as a three-time All-American amateur. But the lure of professional boxing took him away again before he could complete his education.

“I went back after the Olympics and had a full-time job,” Page said. “But there was so much going on, it felt like it was a hindrance.”

Page vs. professionals

Page announced he was going professional, and his new celebrity status came with many exciting perks. Parades were held in downtown Columbus in his honor, he brushed shoulders with Michael Jordan and Carl Lewis as he toured the country and his contracts for fights reached six figures.

The highlight of his professional career was during his ninth professional fight. An undefeated Page squared off against Terrence Alli – an experienced veteran – in Atlantic City. Two days before the fight he was 145 pounds, five overweight.

“Five pounds, when you’re two days away from boxing, is huge,” Page said.

Page shed the extra weight, leaving him weak.

“When I got in that ring, I was just exhausted,” he said. “I couldn’t defend myself the way I normally could have.”

Alli defeated Page in a unanimous decision in his first 10-round fight.

“But where people see the defeat, I see the victory,” Page said. “As an athlete, you know the experience of all you went though. But as a spectator, you just see the end result. They don’t see everything that I went through.”

With all the fanfare of being a professional icon, Page still missed that purity of the Olympics.

“You really don’t grasp it all, but you’ve got those guys like Don King,” Page said. “They’re all about the money.”

Perhaps that is why Page’s professional career seemed so short. After dropping three of his last four fights, Page felt he hit a wall and could not win against his competition.

“I had a fight, and things just seemed kind of weird,” Page said. “If I can’t throw my jab precisely like I wanted to, then I’m not doing it no more. My pride would not allow me to be second-best, so I had to stop.”

He hung up the gloves in 1990, ending his career at 11-4.

Life outside the ring

Since retiring from the sport, Page became a personal trainer for several local gyms.

“It wasn’t something I wanted to do,” Page said. “But it was something I could do. It was a natural (evolution) into training people.”

Page has trained several amateur champions, some of which have become professional boxers.

Jim Flane – owner of Ohio Krav Maga and Fitness and friend of Page – gave the Olympic boxer a boxing class to teach.

“For a guy that can knock your head off, he’s a good guy,” Flane said. “There just aren’t too many of those (gold medalist) guys around, especially in a high-profile sport like boxing. So he definitely commands respect just because of his resume.”

Page does not have the physical ability to climb that mountain again, but he continues to share his knowledge of the game with aspiring amateurs.

“I know what I’m doing now,” Page said, laughing.

Nick Bechtel can be reached at [email protected].