Wrestled Away: The Lee Kemp Story

Imagine working your entire life for one single goal, to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Along the way, you become the world's best wrestler. And then, due to circumstances playing out on a global stage, your dream is suddenly snatched from you...changing your life forever. This penetrating documentary explores the rise of one of the countries greatest Olympic athletes of all time, wrestling legend Lee Kemp. The film chronicles Lee's enthralling journey from birth with a serious physical handicap to his legs, to escaping the dangerous streets of Cleveland immediately following the Hough Riots (1966) when Lee was uprooted to an all-white neighborhood. Faced with a new war of racial adversity, he discovered his calling and solace on the wrestling mat, where he could take control and find victory over the demons staring him in the face. Rising meteorically through the collegiate and international wrestling ranks, he never wavered from his ultimate goal of Olympic gold - until it was stripped away from him. On January 23rd, 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced America's boycott of the Olympic Summer Games in Moscow, stunning a nation and leaving one wrestling legend staring into the abyss of a match he could not win.