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Olympic Marathon Runner Says God is Coach; Olympic Swimmer is Eyeing Gold Again; Race for Oil, Gas in Arctic Is On; Michael Vick Considers Getting a Dog; Rick Perry Says Romney Should Release Tax Returns.
Aired July 18, 2012 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 on the West.
Syria capital, under siege. Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law and defense minister dead. More top generals on the run. How much longer can the regime actually hang on?
U.S. flight schools still flying under the FAA's radar nearly 11 years after 9/11. A big investigation involving suspicious foreign students and illegal visas.
And does this U.S. Olympian have a prayer of winning the marathon? You may believe he's destined for gold when you find out who his coach is.
We begin, though, with a natural disaster of epic proportions. That's exactly what the governor of Illinois is saying right now about the historic drought that's ravaging his state, along with 25 others across the country.
Take a look at this map. You can actually see how widespread the bone-dry conditions are. Last time it was this bad, 1956.
Rob Marciano is right there in the middle of one of the hardest hit areas, Burnettsville, Indiana. So, Rob, the corn crop is being hit especially hard.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. The corn belt really getting hit with not only drought, but the heat. Obviously, the heat kind of exacerbates the drought a little bit. When you get the string of 100-plus days like they have had here in really the past month, it just makes things so, so much worse. Just yesterday, Indianapolis hit 101, yet another record.
Speaking of records, the last 46 days, the driest on record in Indianapolis, less than a tenth of an inch. It just so happens, where we are, about an hour-and-a-half north of there, we got a quick shot of rain about two hours ago, but probably less than half an inch, just enough to kind of raise the humidity levels. It is steamy out here, once again, today.
But you mentioned corn. Yeah, spring was perfect to sow corn and they started growing it really well and then all the sudden the heat and the drought hit and then, boom, you've got stalks that are waist- and if not chest-high that should be up and over my shoulder at this point. So the growth is completely stunted because of the drought.
So from the 96 million acres of corn that was sowed this spring, that's the most in 75 years. Only 30 percent of it as of this week is considered to be good. We spoke with a number of farmers today and one gentleman who actually facilitates some of the aid that some of these guys may be getting. Here's what they had to say earlier this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG HOVERMALE, DISTRICT DIRECTOR, INDIANA FARM SERVICE AGENCY: Farmers are individual businessmen that are truly one of the last really entrepreneurs, individuals left as far as small business in the United States and they do a terrific job.
And I think there's a misconception that they are on the government payroll and that's not true anymore. There was a time period when we had low, low prices where we had payments to get a subsistence going there, but the last four or five years, the prices have rebounded. The farm life has been pretty good. This is the first setback that we've had for several years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eighty percent to 90 percent of the corn in this area has already established itself and so the rain is not going to help it at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Here's what the corn should look like. There's just a few of these around these corn fields. This is what most of the corn stalks and ears of corn look like. A dramatic -- some of this isn't even pollinated.
So, as the farmer said, even if they get a bunch of rain, Kyra, it's really a little bit too little, too late. So they're just trying to hold on to what they have and it's going to be a tough fight as the heat continues and we're just in the middle of July.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: And, you know, not just talking about corn as something that we eat, Rob, but also, I've been reading that these ethanol plants have actually had to suspend production because of the drought. I mean, there is an energy factor playing into this, as well.
MARCIANO: Yes and that couples in with the food factor. The last several years, there's been a big ethanol push and you get it from agriculture. So, we are competing with fuel and food. So, there is a huge demand for this and corn prices have skyrocketed. Soybeans, as well, are grown here, as well.
And just up the street, Chicago mercantile, beans in the teens, is what they say. That's when the price of beans gets into the teens and, when that happens, they know there is trouble in the crops. So, that's what they are dealing with.
But modern-day farmers, you know, have had some good years, so they, hopefully, have saved some money and hopefully have some insurance. But the bigger picture are the increases in food prices that you and me are going to see in the grocery store.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right, Rob Marciano, we'll keep talking. Appreciate it.
Well, a major blow to Syria's regime. An explosion in Damascus has killed four of the country's top official, one of them, the brother-in-law to the president. The government says it was a suicide bombing.
The opposition says it was a strategic attack with a bomb planted in a meeting of cabinet ministers that was set off by remote control. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reacted with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The violence there has only gotten worse and the loss of life has only increased, which tells us that this is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Ivan Watson joining us now. Ivan, how do you react to exactly what Leon Panetta said with regard to spinning out of control and the impact now of Assad's defense chief and also brother-in-law being killed?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the noose is clearly tightening around the Syrian strongman. In one fell swoop, at least four of his most senior security and defense officials killed by what Syrian state media says was a suicide bombing.
Not only was the defense minister, the interior minister and a security adviser, but also, as you mentioned, a member of his inner circle, his family, his brother-in-law himself, Assef Shawkat.
And what's more important is, aside from there having been some incredible intelligence and security failure on the part of the top people in his security apparatus, at the same time, you have had at least three days of fighting, Kyra, in the streets of the Syrian capitol as rebels have infiltrated and taken on the Syrian security forces, head-to-head.
This is another powerful, symbolic blow to any authority that the Syrian regime still claims to have over its country, where the Syrian government has had to employ helicopter gun ships actually opening fire on neighborhoods in the Syrian capital in an attempt to flush out the rebels. That shows you how much weaker it has gotten, how much bolder the rebels have gotten.
I imagine that this is probably one of the hardest days ever in the career of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad whose family has ruled the country with an iron grip for more than 40 years and that grip appears weaker than it has ever been before.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: And, Ivan, as we have watched regimes fall in the past year, in the past two years, what do you think? I mean, is this the beginning of the end of his hold on power?
WATSON: I'm going to direct you to some video we've seen activists post from within Syria on the Internet. This should be video of people celebrating in the streets about news of what Syrian state TV says was a suicide bombing, Kyra.
In my 15 years covering this part of the world, I have never seen people celebrating a suicide bombing before and that just gives you a sense of how much people hate their own government in this country.
We are seeing scenes of celebration, not only from the northern city of Idlib in northern Syria, but all the way down to the southern border of the country in the southern city of Darwa, where this uprising began some 16 months ago.
And why are they celebrating? Because more than 15,000 people have been killed over the course of the last 16 months and the opposition there, which has grown into a very organized insurgency with almost no Western support, I might add. These people are desperate for weapons, guns and money.
They firmly accuse the Syrian government of carrying out a war on the Syrian people and that's backed up by the United Nations commissioner for human rights who has repeatedly accused this government of committing crimes against humanity.
That's why you are seeing people celebrate news of the deaths of at least four senior defense and security officials in one fell swoop.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Ivan Watson out of Istanbul. We'll be talking again tomorrow, Ivan, for sure.
And while the fighting is continuing in Syria, the U.N. security council is debating whether to keep observers actually on the ground there. Late word is that Special Envoy Kofi Annan has now asked the council to delay a vote on a draft resolution.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: And just a quick note for those of you headed out the door. You can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone or, if you are headed back to work, you can also watch live from your desktop. Just go to CNN.com/TV. Well, it's been more than a decade since 9/11 when terrorists came into our country, trained at our flight schools, and murdered thousands of innocent Americans. We learned a lot of lessons since then about our national security, but according to a new report, it looks like we still are not doing enough.
Chris Lawrence live from the Pentagon with more on the national security hearing that's actually happening right now. Chris, tell us what's being discussed at this moment. Also, what exactly does this report say?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It says some very scary things, Kyra. Basically what we are hearing out of this hearing in Congress right now is that there very may well be foreign nationals right now in the United States training in American flight schools just like Mohamed Atta, the man who crashed his plane into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
I want you to listen to this chilling exchange between Representative Mike Rogers and an official at the Government Accountability Office who conducted this report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPRESENTATIVE MIKE ROGERS (R), ALABAMA: Based on your report, the Transportation Security Administration cannot assure the American people that foreign terrorists are not in this country learning how to fly airplanes, yes or no?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time -- at this time, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: At this time, no. That should be chilling to any Americans who are flying or going through this and amazing to hear so long after the September 11th attacks.
In fact, one thing that came out in both the report and the hearing was that just a couple years ago immigration officials busted a group of illegal immigrants, 25 of them, in fact. All 25 had been cleared by the TSA to attend flight school, but eight of them were in the country illegally, never even came into the United States legally. The other 17 had overstayed their visas and, of those, at least three had full pilot licenses, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Unbelievable. I mean, what are your sources telling you, Chris, with regard to how the heck these kinds of gaps can still exist? And you also mentioned, too, the visa issue. I thought we made major changes as a country with regard to the student visa situation.
LAWRENCE: That's right. What we are hearing in the hearing is that there have been steps made to button down the hatches, you know, button things up, so to speak. But again, eight years ago, there was an audit ordered for all universities, all colleges that basically issue student visas, which is a prime way that foreign nationals come into the United States to study.
Well, eight years on, only 19 percent of those schools have been recertified, so that's a glaring omission. And, you know, it's not to say that foreign nationals would come into the United States, illegally or legally, that all of them are trying to go to flight school, that they are necessarily trying to commit a terrorist act. That's not what this is saying.
What it is saying is there are some serious gaps and it takes only one to have a major catastrophe.
PHILLIPS: Yes, we know that, all too well. Chris Lawrence, I know you will be monitoring the entire hearing. Thank you so much. We'll talk some more tomorrow, as well.
And you can read the complete Government Accountability Office report, by the way, if you just visit gao.gov.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, one of the most admired men in the world turns 94 today. Former South African president and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela is celebrating with friends and families in Qunu, his home village in South Africa.
And as birthday greetings and well-wishes pour in from all around the world, one good friend of Mandela's made the trip to do it in person. CNN's Robyn Curnow was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his daughter, Chelsea, came to listen to some of the poorest children reading from newly donated books in a makeshift library, given in honor of Nelson Mandela's 94th birthday.
Later, Clinton also planted a tree near to Mandela's rural homestead, all part of his contribution to Mandela Day, a global movement which urges people to give more time to those less fortunate.
What has Mandela meant to you, personally?
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: Oh, personally, he's been a wonderful friend to me. You know, when we were working together, we were both presidents of our countries. We actually had a lot of business to do and we often had to do it in telephone calls where it was very late in America and very early in South Africa. I always tried to do the late side because out of deference to him.
But he didn't call me a single time, not once, when he didn't ask about Hillary and Chelsea and, if it wasn't too late, he'd ask me to go get Chelsea, bring her to the phone to ask her about her homework, was she keeping up, you know, so, I saw in him something that I tried not to lose in myself, which is, no matter how much responsibility he had, he remembered he was a person, first.
CURNOW: Do you think you taught him anything?
CLINTON: I doubt it. I was a pretty good politician. I might have helped him, but he was a pretty good politician when I met him. I don't know. We did a lot together.
CURNOW: These last pictures of Mandela were taken in May where he seemed confused, but at least stronger than earlier in the year when he had abdominal surgery.
How's he doing?
GRACA MACHEL, NELSON MANDELA'S WIFE: He's doing well. After the crisis last year, how could you imagine that he would be so well? But he is -- he recovered remarkably well.
CURNOW: Now, the children of the village can dance in celebration of another birthday.
In a rare glimpse inside his home, we meet two of his grandchildren.
MBUSO MANDELA, MANDELA'S GREAT-GRANDSON: How are you doing? Good to see you, again.
CURNOW: Mandela was no longer resting, but having lunch with President Clinton, as we spoke.
NDILEKA MANDELA, MANDELA'S GRANDDAUGHTER: For us, as his grandchildren, we have a huge task on our shoulders and -- but I think we are all in our different ways stepping up to the plate.
CURNOW: In this house, how does he spend his days?
M. MANDELA: The one time I was sitting here, I had just got here and it had been raining, so then he was looking outside and I'm sitting there quiet. I'm on my phone.
He said, you know, Mbuso, when I was young, I used to run outside naked in the rain. I think you should go and do that now. I started laughing.
CURNOW: What a great piece of advice from Nelson Mandela.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: What a fabulous interview. Robyn, you had such great access and time to spend with the family, very different from reports we have been able to see in the past. What a treat.
CURNOW: Thank you. And you know what? We got a little bit more access today. I have actually just seen Nelson Mandela having his birthday party in his house behind me. We were inside the compound, surrounded by not only his wife, but his ex-wife, his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
And it was a long day for him. I think the image of him sort of joyfully celebrating his birthday might be a little bit misguided because, just remember, he's 94. He had a tough year. He's had a bit of health problems, as I mentioned. So he looked tired.
I had actually seen him earlier on in the day when he was sitting up in his favorite chair with a blanket around his feet reading the paper and I think by now, as you can see the sun is just setting now in South Africa, I'm sure that Nelson Mandela wants to perhaps go to bed.
But either way, a happy day for everyone here in the Mandela compound, as well as across South Africa. He's a deeply loved figure. And the fact that everybody can celebrate and commemorate Nelson Mandela and his legacy, I think is very special for many people here.
PHILLIPS: Yeah, and what a great assignment for you. Robyn, thank you so much.
And, you know, we mentioned that the last time Mandela appeared in public was in 2010 at the World Cup in South Africa.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Lesia Cartelli has been to hell and back. When she was just nine-years old, she was a few feet from a furnace in her grandparents' basement when it exploded into a ball of fire.
Well, the house was flattened, but somehow Lisa made it out alive and, today, she runs a camp for little girls with scars just like hers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Ruby Muno and I was burned at three- years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in a car crash. I'm fine now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in a house fire and I'm good now. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was burned with hot grease. I'm fine now, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had a fire-burn accident on Halloween. I'm healing fast, so I can't complain.
GUPTA: Take a close look at each one of these beautiful girls. Some of their scars are more apparent than others, but they have all gathered here to heal, together.
LESIA CARTELLI, FOUNDER AND CEO, ANGEL FACES: I see them arrive and they are wounded. They have a social armor on them. And, in each of those girls, I see me.
GUPTA: For Lesia Cartelli, this is personal. She was just nine- years old when she was badly burned in a natural gas explosion at her grandparents' home in Detroit.
CARTELLI: There was a gas leak that had been leaking for a few days. And my sister and I arrived at the home for dinner and I went down to the basement to play hide and seek.
GUPTA: Lisa was in the wrong place at the wrong time when the gas met the light on the furnace.
CARTELLI: The explosion goes off and I hear the screams of my family, the horrific screams. And a sense of urgency, of survival kicks in. I saw a hole in the back of the house at the top of the stairs with really bright light and I started climbing over bricks and nails and furniture and everything to get out.
I got out of the house, still on fire, my back and my face and my hair.
This is where the rubber meets the road, girls.
GUPTA: Lesia founded the Angel Faces retreat, now in its ninth year, to teach these young woman in just one week what took her two decades to come to grips with.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so proud of you girls.
GUPTA: They begin by sharing the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.
CARTELLI: I want to hear from you girls, just bring it on, all out, some of the names that you are called. Hideous? Burn face? Crusty crab? Burn bitch?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They called us burned toast.
GUPTA: Each girl participates in individual and group therapy. They make arts and crafts, play sports, even learn how to enhance their appearance with corrective cosmetics.
CARTELLI: There is nothing wrong, we tell the girls, in taking what beauty you have and making it more beautiful. And you know what? Sometimes that's all it takes for them to sit up a little taller.
GUPTA: To feel comfortable in their own skin, Cartelli urges her girls to share their stories so they can better respond to the uninvited stares and questions from strangers.
CARTELLI: It is important that the girls know they are not burn survivors. It is important that they know they are not the burn girl. They're girls, first, and that's my message to the girls that I want them to take back.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And Lesia says the most important thing for these girls is good eye contact and a simple smile. Like all of us, they just want to fit in and be acknowledged for who they are on the inside.
And our thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta for the report. And don't forget. Set your DVR right now to record "Sanjay Gupta MD." That's Saturday, 4:30 p.m. Eastern, and Sunday at 7:30 in the morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, T-minus nine days until the London Olympics. And you know the difference between winning or losing, between gold or silver. When it comes down to the marathon, it could be a millisecond or a millimeter that will earn the top medal. Behind those awards, well, it's usually a pretty extraordinary coach.
Ryan Hall knows what I'm talking about. He's among the best long-distance runners in the world. He'll tell you he does have the ultimate coach. But the thing is, Ryan's coach isn't there with a timer, yelling at him about his footwork or getting on him about his diet or even telling him he better make curfew. But Ryan says his coach is always there, everywhere, and basically knows everything that he's doing.
Olympian and marathoner, Ryan Hall, joining me from Flagstaff, Arizona, where he's now training for the games.
Ryan, tell us about your coach and why you've got so much faith in him.
RYAN HALL, OLYMPIC MARATHON RUNNER: Yes. My coach has been around for a long time. You know, straightforward, my coach is God. I call it faith-based coaching. I supply what I've learned from my faith in the Bible and worship through other people and I apply it to my run.
PHILLIPS: In fact, after you won second place last year in the U.S. half marathon championship, I was seeing that you actually wrote down on a drug test form -- because that's standard operating procedure after you place -- that your coach is God.
(LAUGHTER)
HALL: Yes. That was a pretty funny moment. It was my first race under faith-based coaching. I saw the line and it said, coach. It was blank and I said, I have to be honest, so I put down "God," and it was a big controversial thing. Now whenever I see the blank I just leave it blank. I let that one slide by. It was funny.
PHILLIPS: All right. I want you to explain your faith-based coaching. How it works, every day when you wake up. Just to point out, you ran your personal best, I was told, last year at the Boston Marathon 2:04.58. Explain how God trains you.
HALL: Well, I'm still in process. I'm still figuring this thing out myself. I don't have it all figured out yet. But it's pretty simple. I get up every morning or whenever I'm praying, God is always around us, always talking to us. I ask him questions. I think a lot of times people have faith but they don't really integrate it into day-to-day living. For me, I got to point in fall of 2010, I was like, I want to put myself in a position where I'm desperate to hear from God. I felt God calling me to do faith-based coaching. I asked, how far do you want me to run? I remember before the Olympic trials, these last trials, I was asking God, how do you want me to prepare the last week before trials. I felt like he was telling me, you need to rest more than you have ever rested before. I did that and, as a result, I was able to qualify for my second Olympic team.
PHILLIPS: You are obviously a really amazing runner. You're doing really well. I'm going to play devil's advocate for a second. You're still not number one, like "the" best runner in the world. So why not add to your faith-based coaching and take on a traditional coach as well? Why not do that?
HALL: I'm just doing what I feel God is calling me to do for this season of my life. I have been intentional when I talk about faith-based coach to some people. You know, this might not be something I do for the rest of my career. I feel God is calling me to do it right now. I'm going to do it for the meantime. If he brings another coach into my life, I have no hesitation to start working with a coach. For now, this is what God's telling me to do.
And I don't think it's for everyone. My wife is a professional runner and she has a traditional coach. That works great for her. I encourage her to keep doing that. I realize God is calling us all to do different things. I'm trying to be obedient and follow him.
PHILLIPS: Ryan, what do you say to skeptical runners that say, OK, I respect him, that's cool, but, OK, he's nuts.
(LAUGHTER)
HALL: I love the skeptic. God loves the skeptic. It's OK for people to disagree with what I'm doing. I don't expect everyone to understand. In fact, probably very few people totally understand. For me, I'm just going after God with everything that I have. It's a really fun journey. As I have gone out on the faith-based coaching, I have experienced a ton of peace, joy. It's just brought a new level of just life to my running. Like every day, I wake up excited for training and believing that my training is making me better than I could have been. I wouldn't compromise anything, even if the results aren't what I hoped to achieve. My day to day living is full of joy. That's something God offers to all of us. That's the cool thing about God. There is only one guy that can win the Olympic marathon but we can experience him every day and experience that same joy every day.
PHILLIPS: Let me ask you then on that note. When you don't get the time you want or you don't make it as far as you wanted to go or you don't get first place, do you blame God?
HALL: It's easy to do that. I have done that at times. I'm still figuring it out myself. I still get bummed out and disappointed after races. I don't think God causes me to fail in races. I don't think he's up in heaven just striking me down, like I want you to do bad today. But there are natural consequences when, say, for example, I don't hear him correctly and I don't apply what he's telling me to do correctly. And I may not get the result I'm hoping for, and, you know, that's OK. I'm learning to give myself grace to mess up, to fail. I think that's really the whole thing for me in this faith- based coaching. I'm not afraid to fail. As I said before, Jesus is the greatest prize I can have. A medal in the Olympics, fast times, all those things are wonderful and super exciting and things I would love to achieve. All those are just icing on the cake for me.
PHILLIPS: I tell you what, if we all extended ourselves grace, now and then, we would be better people. Tell me how people react when they see you and how good you are or they are competing against you and there are coaches around and people, oh, Ryan, who's your coach, and you say, God. How do they react to you?
HALL: I don't pay a lot of attention to a lot of the reactions I get. I'm just trying to stay focused on what I'm doing. Yes, you get some varying reactions for sure. Some of my peers are surprised that I'm willing to take a risk. Some of my best friends are like, wow, that's a bold move you're making. I'm like, well, that's what God's telling me to do. Like I said, I'm just being obedient. I don't put it on anyone else. I don't expect all Christians to have God for their coach. For me, that's where I'm at, at this point.
PHILLIPS: Sounds like you have two missions -- to win the gold and to witness everybody you meet.
We'll watch you as you compete in the Olympics, Ryan. Best of luck. Hopefully, we'll talk again. If you bring back the gold, a lot of people may want a piece of your coach.
(LAUGHTER)
HALL: Hopefully, they'll want a piece of him anyway. But, yes, I appreciate it.
PHILLIPS: Ryan Hall, thanks so much.
Ryan will compete in the marathon on August 12, the last day of the Olympics.
Well, at just 19, Anthony Ervin was one of the world's swimming greats, winning the gold in Sydney. But then he gave it up. He auctioned off his medal on eBay for $17,000 to help tsunami victims. Ervin said he wanted to find a deeper meaning in life. Fast forward a dozen years, you guessed it, he's back, a changed man and eyeing Olympic gold once again.
Here's George Howell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. Olympic swimmer Anthony Ervin may stand out for the tattoos on his arms but it's the time he spent away from the sport that has people talking. Just don't ask what he did. ANTHONY ERVIN, OLYMPIC SWIMMER: Next question.
HOWELL: As the first athlete with African-American heritage to ever compete on a U.S. Olympic swim team, he won gold in the 50-meter freestyle in 2000. Three years later, fed up with competing, he quit the sport and began searching for more meaning in life. He has no regrets.
ERVIN: I thought I had accomplished all my goals and there was nothing that was holding me any longer to the sport.
HOWELL: With his Olympic career over, Ervin sold his gold medal for $17,000 to help with relief efforts after the 2004 tsunami that devastated south Asia.
ERVIN: I was profoundly affected by the devastating loss of life from the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. In an effort to do what I thought I could, I tried to raise as much money through my medal so I could donate it to the relief effort.
HOWELL: That selfless act made a difference in him as well.
ERVIN: That gold medal hangs heavy in metaphorical and literal ways. So by putting that distance between myself and it, it allowed me to kind of have my own rebirth.
HOWELL: That rebirth ultimately led him back to the pool, teaching kids. It was the catalyst for his return to competitive swimming.
ERVIN: Seeing them grow helped me discover what that was for me as well. I had forgotten. It had been so long. I had become quite jaded with just competition and performance at the time that I had completely lost track of why I loved to do it in the beginning. So by teaching the kids, it brought that back to me.
HOWELL: At 31 years old, Ervin surprised himself by making the Olympic team.
ERVIN: I didn't know that I was going to be able to perform so well. But at the end of the day I realized it didn't have anything to do with me so much as all the great people, all the great support I had over the years from the time I stopped. There were people who didn't support me when I decided to walk away and then there was those that did. And they supported me all the way through.
HOWELL: Giving him another shot at Olympic glory.
George Howell, CNN, Atlanta.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All week we have been going "In Depth" on the battle for oil in the Arctic. It may be the last frontier, but with high reward, comes high risk. CNN's Miguel Marquez shows us what one American company is doing to drill where no man has drilled before and what people who live close to the area think about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The race for oil and gas in the Arctic is on. Way out ahead, the Russians, Norwegians, Danes, even Canada.
When Shell Oil drills exploratory wells off Alaska's North Slope this summer potential U.S. oil fields, too, will be in the game, a game that will test Shell's technical abilities. Above all, ice will be one of the biggest challenges.
PETE SLAIBY, VICE PRESIDENT, SHELL ALASKA: We do recognize we'll be working in ice. Our assets are developed to work in ice.
MARQUEZ: Drilling the exploratory wells in the Boford (ph) and Chuksea Seas will be two drilling rigs that have operated in ice before. Each will be anchored to the sea floor by eight massive cables. The cable array can be severed. The rigs can float free in the event of an emergency.
(on camera): This is America's last frontier and one of the most pristine and fragile wilderness areas left in the world. If Shell finds what it thinks it will under the ocean this summer, it will cause a gold rush for oil for decades to come.
(voice-over): That will mean permanent production wells. They will be heavy and very big, fully enclosed cement-and-steel structures, so workers can survive year round.
Hovercraft would allow escape over ice. It would be concave as tons of ice crushes in, it would run up the side and then curl back on itself.
But it's --
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PHILLIPS: Well, three years after being released on dog fighting charges, Michael Vick is considering getting a dog. Up until now, he has not been able to under a court dog-ownership ban but that's set to expire this month. Last night, the NFL quarterback told CNN's Piers Morgan which breed he'll probably avoid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, PIERS MORGAN: You were banned for owning a dog for three years. And I realized that as I walk into the studio, and that expires now, this month. MICHAEL VICK, NFL QUARTERBACK: Right.
MORGAN: Do you have a dog?
VICK: No, I don't have one.
MORGAN: Are you going to get one?
VICK: Maybe so. And just being honest and candid, and I still deal with my kids each and every day, you know, and for the last three years, not being able to have a dog because of my acts, and I don't think it is fair. You know, it may be something that is therapeutic in that for them. I can't take that dream away from them. That is selfish on my behalf. You know, I have to find a way to make it right. You know, I put everything in God's hands to make it right.
MORGAN: What type of dog would you get, do you know?
VICK: I mean, I would let them pick it out. It certainly would not be a pit bull.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, Vick has a book coming out in September titled "Michael Vick Finally Free." It is an autobiography that he hopes will give people a look at who he is.
And be sure to watch Piers' show tonight with his special guest, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.
In Hungary, police have arrested a 97-year-old man, who a Jewish right rights group lists as the most-wanted criminal. He was in Budapest. He apparently returned to Hungary after his citizenship was revoked in Canada, where he fled to after the war. The Simon Wiesenthal Center says the 97-year-old served as a senior Hungarian police officer in this town, now in Slovakia, in World War II. The center accuses him of sending nearly 16,000 Jews to Auschwitz to be killed.
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DR. LASZLO CSOSZ, HISTORIAN, HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER: According to the survivors' testimonies, he was a notoriously ruthless and cruel commander and very often it happened that he tortured and beat the victims.
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PHILLIPS: Well, the 97-year-old denies allegations to a reporter from are the British tabloid "The Sun."
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PHILLIPS: Mitt Romney just can't shake all of the calls to release more tax returns. And not just the Democrats on the case. The latest call comes from Texas Governor Rick Perry.
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RICK PERRY, (R), GOVERNOR OF TEXAS: I am a big believer that no matter who you are or what office you are running for, you should be as transparent as you can be with your tax returns and other aspects of your life so that people have the appropriate ability to judge your background.
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PHILLIPS: And Governor Romney remains firm, two years' of tax returns are enough.
And there is another unconventional Olympian who is showing us that nothing is impossible. You have to meet Nur Suryani Mohammed Taibbi. She is competing in the 10-meter air rifle event in the London Olympics. Not only is she the first female shooter from Malaysia to compete in Olympic history, you can't tell by these pictures, but she is eight months pregnant. She is currently ranked 47th in the world and will compete in the rifle event on July 29th.
Suzanne Malveaux needs to interview her for CNN INTERNATIONAL.
(LAUGHTER)
You can continue the conversation with me on Twitter, @KyraCNN, or on Facebook.
NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL starts right now with Suzanne Malveaux.
