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Havens shows grit at nationals
By Vince Vosti - Sports Editor 8/12/04
Amy Havens had her work cut out for her.
Amy Havens holds up the plaque she won for taking third-place in the 2004 Women's Junior National Freestyle tournament in Fargo, N.D. Havens earlier won the state title and has been ranked the top prep female wrestler in California at 152 pounds. |
Havens had arrived in Fargo a few days before the Women's Junior National Freestyle Wrestling Championships needing to cut seven pounds to make weight for the 150-pound tournament.
As if that were not enough of an obstacle for the 16-year-old wrestler, she subsequently added to her list of challenges by getting a strep throat, an ear infection and an upset stomach that Havens is certain was not caused by nerves.
The California women wrestlers in Fargo prepped for the national tournament by practicing for one hour, twice a day. Rather than see her ailments worsen under the stress of intense practices, one by one, they lessened and quietly went away.
When her upset stomach caused her to throw up three days before the start of the draw, Havens hardly surrendered or took her eye off the prize.
"I didn't even lose weight after I puked," Havens said, matter-of-factly. "That's what got me mad."
That never-say-die intensity carried Havens through the tournament in Fargo the last weekend of July.
Against wrestlers from states such as Texas and Michigan, Havens won three matches by fall in Fargo and one by technical fall before losing to the eventual second place finisher from Ohio.
Havens wrestled back and won two matches to take third place in Fargo. The state team from California took first, overall.
Havens' performance was strong enough to earn her All-American honors for the second year in a row. Last year, Havens made her first trip to nationals in Fargo and placed sixth.
"Last year, I was more nervous and not as prepared as I was this time," Havens said.
Havens is not only a pioneer in a growing sector of female athletics, she is a talented one as well. The top-ranked wrestler in California, Havens has been invited to attend an Olympic camp for female wrestlers in Colorado. The junior from Paradise High School has already received athletic scholarship offers to wrestle from Lassen College and Missouri Valley.
"I want to eventually wrestle in the Olympics," Havens said. "But I probably will need a lot more mat time, and a lot of hard work to get there. So many of the girls I have wrestled have had twice as much mat time as I've had."
Havens won the California state tournament in LeMoore, Ca., April 25, to qualify for the national tournament. This fall, she plans to again wrestle for the Paradise High School team, with hopes that she can build on her success and win next year's 2005 national championship and a trip to the world competition in Las Vegas.
"Wrestling is not like basketball, where others can help you win," Havens said. "It is all on you and only you, and that is what I like about it."
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Olympics returns to its native land
By Jeff Faraudo, STAFF WRITER 8/14/04
ATHENS, Greece
THE nation that showed the world how to play nearly 3,000 years ago welcomed home the Olympic Games Friday night with a joyous and peaceful Opening Ceremonies.
Athletes from a record 202 countries marched into Olympic Stadium as the 28th modern Olympics got under way, 108 years after Greece revived an event that was born in 776 B.C. and spanned almost 15 centuries.
For the past several years, it seemed at times Athens might not be up to the assignment, with myriad organizational and security concerns threatening the Games.
But -- on Friday the 13th, no less -- the Greeks entertained more than
75,000 fans and impressed a worldwide TV audience with a performance that
celebrated their ancient culture and showed off their modern know-how.
"You will be moved, you will be awed, inspired and exhilirated watching the best athletes of the world give their best here in Athens," Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, president of the Athens organizating committee, told the audience.
"Greece is going to fire the world's imagination.
"Olympic Games, welcome home."
With that, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, a three-time Greek Olympian in sailing, ran the final leg of the torch relay, climbed a stairway and touched the flame to the tip of a 100-foot steel cauldron that had swiveled downward for the big moment.
A counterweight then tipped the huge torch upright again, and a fireworks display sent the crowd home.
Stanford graduate Patricia Miranda, who will make history when women's freestyle wrestling debuts at the Olympics, called the ceremonies "touching."
"People in the crowd were trying to project their excitement onto us," she said. "For a night, I got to let it all sink in."
Competition begins today, featuring more than 11,000 athletes, including nearly 100 with connections to the Bay Area. Cal's Natalie Coughlin swims in the 400-meter freestyle relay today, while boxer Andre Ward, who hopes to become Oakland's first gold-medalist since sprinter Jim Hines in 1968, received a bye for his anticipated first-round bout today.
International Olympics Committee president Dr. Jacques Rogge thanked and praised Greece, and encouraged the athletes to make their contribution to a world "in need of peace, tolerance and brotherhood."
Concerns over terrorism in the post-9/11 era caused the Greeks to spend $1.5 billion on security, and so far Athens has been safe and uneventful.
The Greek team, which concluded the procession of athletes into the stadium, drew 10 minutes of wild cheering and chanting. But the Americans, who fulfilled their promise of restraint, received a strong reception, with very few apparent detractors.
China, which will host the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, was led into the stadium by 7-foot-6 basketball star Yao Ming -- no doubt the tallest flag bearer in history.
The Pacific island nation of Kiribati and East Timor of Africa made their Olympic debuts, and Afghanistan and Iraq returned to the Games. The Iraqis, who shocked Portugal in men's soccer on Thursday night, were greeted only by cheers.
The other cloud over these Games has been the ongoing doping scandal, particularly in American track and field. The Greeks were stunned late Thursday by news that two of its biggest stars, sprinters Konstantinos Kederis and Ekaterini Thanou, face an inquiry by the IOC for failing to be available for drug tests this week.
That didn't chill the crowd at Olympic Stadium, but Rogge seemed to allude to the situation in his remarks.
"Give us reasons to believe in sport that is increasingly credible and pure by refusing doping and respecting fair play," he said.
From their ancient beginnings in Olympia, more than 200 miles west of here, the Games have mushroomed into the world's largest gathering of nations for any purpose.
Over the next 16 days, more than 1 million visitors will view the competition in Athens.
NBC and its network affiliates will show 1,210 hours, more of it live than ever before.
The Opening Ceremonies were preceded by a display of Greek self-deprecation, a fast-motion video showing the last-minute work completed to ready the event.
The country known as the cradle of civilization -- inventors of philosophy, medicine and democracy, birthplace of Socrates, Aristotle and Plato -- then performed tributes to its rich heritage.
Five fiery Olympic rings sprung from a 1 million-gallon pool on the infield, a reference to the Games' origins as an homage to the Greek god Zeus. When the modern Olympics began in 1896, San Francisco-born Thomas P. Curtis was among the first gold-medalists, winning the hurdles race.
Those Games were held at the downtown Panathinaiko Stadium, a marble facility that will host the archery competition and the finish of the marathon this month.
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Women's Freestyle 72kg: Flagbearer HAMAGUCHI (JPN) honoured
ATHENS, 14 August –
Five time world champion wrestler Kyoko HAMAGUCHI (JPN) said she felt honoured to lead Japan's athletes as flagbearer at the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
HAMAGUCHI, 26, led her teammates into the Olympic Stadium packed with 72,000 spectators.
"I felt fantastic. It was something unique, something I’ll never forget. It was a huge honour for me to be chosen, because my country has too many good athletes. It is also important for women’s wrestling to have more promotion," she said.
The Japanese wrestling champion will compete in the Women's Freestyle 72kg class, which begins on Sunday, 22 August at the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall.
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Canada eyes women's wrestling medals
Canadian Press 8/8/2004
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There could be a medal bonanza for Canada when women's freestyle wrestling make its Olympic debut in Athens.
``We have a very strong team,'' said Todd Hinds, the Canadian women's assistant coach. ``We've got four medal hopefuls - four true medal hopefuls.''
Six-time world champion Christine Nordhagen of Valhalla Centre, Alta., the most successful female wrestler in the world, leads a Canadian contingent that also includes Lyndsay Belisle of Hazelton, B.C., Tonya Verbeek of Beamsville, Ont., and Viola Yanik of Saskatoon.
On the men's side, Daniel Igali of Surrey, B.C., returns after winning Canada's first-ever gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the Sydney Olympics four years ago. He's joined by veteran Gia Sissaouri of Montreal, a silver medallist in Atlanta in 1996, and first-time Olympian Evan MacDonald of Ottawa.
In the women's event, Japan, Canada and the United States are dominant at the moment, though some eastern European countries are starting to make inroads.
``The Japanese have set the bar for what to expect,'' said Hinds. ``Their calibre of wrestling is extremely high. We're certainly there and we can compete with them but in their history they have numerous world champions and they have a very strong team for this first Olympics.''
Nordhagen's toughest competition in the 72-kilogram category will come from Kyoko Hamaguchi of Japan and American Toccara Montgomery. Hamaguchi is a five-time world champion while Montgomery, who is just 21, is a two-time world silver medallist.
Nordhagen, 33, has battled knee and other injuries since 2002, missing the last two world championships. But she says she's fit now and her confidence has been boosted by some promising results recently - gold medals at the Canada Cup and Austrian Ladies Open.
``Health-wise, I'm great,'' she said.
Japan's Kaori Icho, also a two-time world champion, is expected to challenge for gold in Yanik's 63-kilogram class. Yanik, who at 22 is the youngest member of the women's team, captured bronze at the world championships last year.
In Verbeek's 55-kilogram class, two-time world champion Saori Yoshida is the overwhelming favourite and will be very hard to beat. But Verbeek, who will turn 27 during the Games, is a World Cup and Pan American Games silver medallist.
In Belisle's 48-kilogram division Irina Melnik of Ukraine is a three-time world champion. But the 26-year-old Belisle has posted solid results of late, finishing first in the 2003 World Cup and capturing silver medals at the Canada Cup last month and Austrian Ladies Open in June. She also won a silver medal at the Pan Am Games last summer.
``We have opportunities to win many matches and challenge for medals in every weight,'' Canadian men's head coach Dave McKay said of the women's team. ``That's very exciting that we have the opportunity to go there and be one of the top countries.''
On the men's side, McKay says he's ``cautiously optimistic.''
``We're not getting ahead of ourselves,'' he said. ``We've had some hurdles to jump recently with injuries. But that's part of the sport.''
Sissaouri is coming off a knee injury while MacDonald dropped out of the Canada Cup tournament last month with a rib injury. Both have since recovered. The Vancouver Province reported recently that Igali suffered an undisclosed injury during a training session but is expected to compete in Athens.
Igali, 30, won't get the chance to defend his 69-kilogram medal since he's had to move up to 74 kilograms after his class was eliminated to make room for the women's program. He's also had several setbacks due to injuries over the past four years, preventing him from facing some of the top wrestlers in the new division.
``I'm not too distressed about my weight class anymore,'' Igali said. ``I just have to wrestle as best as I can and I'm positive.''
Capturing another gold medal will be a challenge in Athens, but he's known for studying his opponents carefully. There will be no surprises.
``We know exactly what each one of them does in situations,'' said McKay. ``But the best way to prepare is to actually compete against them.''
One wrestler Igali hasn't faced is Bouvaisa Saitiev of Russia. One of the best freestyle wrestlers in the world, Saitiev has won every major international tournament since 1995 - except the Sydney Olympics where he finished an uncharacteristic ninth.
While Sissaouri finished 12th at the 2003 world championships in New York, he is a former world champion at 58 kilograms. In Sydney, Sissaouri finished 13th after losing his first bout to eventual gold medallist Ali Reza Dabir of Iran.
While the 33-year-old calls himself an Olympic underdog, Sissaouri is confident he can do well at his third career Games.
``It's a high level there,'' he said. ``Anybody's capable of anything.''
Sissaouri's expecting his toughest competition in the 60-kilogram class to come from gold-medal favourite Yandro Quintana Ribalta of Cuba.
In McDonald's 66-kilogram category, defending world champion Irbek Farniev of Russia and world and Olympic silver medallist Serafim Barzakov of Bulgaria are among the favourites. McDonald, 23, has potential to finish in the top eight.
One of the key factors in the Olympic wrestling tournament is the draw. In each weight class, the athletes are separated into groups of three or four for the preliminary round with the winner of each group advancing. There are no seedings, however, meaning two of the top-ranked wrestlers could face off in the early rounds.
McKay would like to see the system changed.
``You could have the top three people in the weight class and two of them will not advance,'' he said. ``For example, a world bronze medallist from two years ago from Ukraine did not advance in the qualification tournament.
``I think there should be some sort of seeding.''
The wrestling tournament isn't until the final week of the Games. The Canadian team will enjoy the experience of the opening ceremonies before moving to Thessaloniki in northern Greece for a training camp. The team leaves for Greece on Tuesday.
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Female Olympians Break More Gender Barriers
Run Date: 08/12/04
By Robin Hindery
WeNews correspondent
From female Afghan athletes to the debut of women's wrestling, women are poised to make some notable contributions to sports history when the summer Olympics opens tomorrow in Athens.
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WOMENSENEWS)--The summer Olympics opening tomorrow in Athens promise to make some notable contributions to women's sports history.
While women's wrestling and women's saber fencing make their Olympic debut, a 47-year-old female tennis legend will become the oldest player--male or female--to compete for the U.S. Olympic team. Meanwhile, two Afghan women have broken down their country's Olympic gender barrier and will be part of Afghanistan's reentry into the games after an eight-year hiatus.
"In terms of (women's) participation, we are very close to parity, about 44 percent women this year," said F. Patrick Escobar, vice president of grants and programs at the Los Angeles-based Amateur Athletic Foundation, an organization dedicated to youth sports programming and education.
Though women are still far behind when it comes to sports management, coaching and administrative positions, Escobar said that women's athletic achievements "send a clear message that they are major stakeholders in the world of sports."
Saber Makes Introduction
For fencing fans, the addition of the saber sword--the modern version of the slashing cavalry sword--will add a new spark to the female side of the sport. Men have traditionally competed in foil, epee and saber, while women competed in only foil and epee.
Three of the five women on the 17-person U.S. team will compete in the saber category. Sada Jacobson, 21, of Dunwoody, Ga., is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, the first American woman to hold that title. Her sister Emily, 18, is No. 10 and Mariel Zagunis, 19, from Beaverton, Ore., is No. 11.
Many in the sport say the say the new saber event is long overdue. "Fencing has really been a bastion of European male dominance," said Cindy Bent-Findlay, media relations representative for U.S. Fencing. "Women's foil has been part of the games since 1924, but (the other styles) have been pretty slow in coming."
Bent-Findlay said that while the International Olympic Committee has been pressing for gender equity, it has also been trying to prevent the games from getting much larger. Despite the inclusion of women's saber, the committee set a strict limit at 10 overall fencing events, at the expense of two fencing team events: women's saber and women's foil. Women athletes in those two categories will only compete individually.
The committee's decision divided the fencing community. Supporters of women's fencing argued that if cuts must occur, they should affect men and women equally, such as the elimination of one men's event and one women's event. But men far outnumber women in fencing, and influential decision makers within fencing organizations around the world were unwilling to agree to the removal of any men's events, said Carla-Mae Richards, director of technical programs for the U.S. Fencing Association. The compromise that resulted was bittersweet for female fencers: women's individual saber was in, but at the expense of women's team foil. In the future, Richards said, a less controversial solution might lie in some sort of co-ed combination of team events.
Women's Wrestling Breaks New Ground
While women's saber fencing enhances an already well-recognized Olympic sport, women's wrestling breaks altogether new ground and has stirred as much controversy as it has curiosity. Among the oldest of all sports, wrestling has long been regarded as exclusively male. This is especially true in the United States, where only two states--Hawaii and Texas--have made it a high school sport for females and only six colleges offer women's varsity wrestling.
The four members of the women's Olympic team have had to deal with skepticism not only from the general public, but also from those within their own sport, said Terry Steiner, the women's freestyle head coach. He said there are still strong divisions among members of the National Wrestling Coaches Association, who filed an unsuccessful lawsuit in 2002 alleging that Title IX was harming male college athletes by cutting men's sports instead of seeking gender equity by adding women's sports. The organization continues to petition for legal review of Title IX.
There is also a fair amount of opposition from many high school male wrestlers and their families, who don't like the forced male-female competition resulting from the scarcity of high school girls teams. Steiner argued that that controversy would end if enough young women joined the sport to fill their own teams.
Steiner himself hesitated when he was first offered the coaching position in April 2002. Normally women wrestlers were always second in line, he said.
"I was told I'd have to be not only their coach, but also their advocate," Steiner added, "and I didn't know if I was willing or able to do that."
He told Women's eNews that he accepted the offer after his wife reminded him that she grew up at a time when girls' basketball was viewed as a similarly "crazy" idea.
"I realized this is very real," he said of his team's pioneering role in the sport. "I'm fully committed."
From a group of 60 young women nationwide who participated in the Olympic trials in Indianapolis in May, four were chosen: Patricia Miranda, Tela O'Donnell, Sara McMann and Toccara Montgomery.
Steiner and other supporters hope that the high-profile debut of the women's team will have a trickle-down effect within the sport.
"We're taking almost a backwards approach," Steiner said. "We hope after the Olympics women's wrestling influences down to the smaller, local levels."
"But wrestling fights for survival at every level," he added, speaking of the sport's diminishing viewership and participation over the years. With the novelty and appeal that women might bring to the sport, he said, "it could be that women's wrestling ultimately helps save men's wrestling."
Navratilova Makes Olympic Debut
Young blood isn't the only way to invigorate attention to the games and the U.S. women's tennis team may fire up sporty older women.
Joining a group of five tennis all-stars, Martina Navratilova will be making her Olympic debut at age 47 to play doubles with Lisa Raymond, 30, also an Olympic first-timer. The other team members, all in their 20s, are Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati and Chanda Rubin.
Navratilova has been playing professionally since 1973, and her victory tally includes 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 39 Grand Slams doubles titles and a perfect 40-0 record as a member of the U.S. Fed Cup team. On June 21, when she beat 24-year-old Catalina Castano, she became the oldest woman since 1922 to win a singles match at Wimbledon.
"Martina goes about everything at 100 miles an hour," said Zina Garrison, the U.S. Olympic women's tennis coach, at the U.S. Olympic Committee media summit in New York City in May. "Her body looks like a 25-year-old, easily."
Afghan Women Compete for First Time
Perhaps even more daunting than age and sexual stereotypes are the obstacles facing the women on Afghanistan's Olympic team. The country last sent athletes to the games in 1996, just weeks before the Taliban took the capital city of Kabul. The international Olympic Committee suspended Afghanistan from the Olympics in 1999, citing a list of grievances, including the country's ban on female competitors.
This year marks the first time that Afghan women will compete for their country, and the weight of that responsibility falls on the shoulders of just two women: Friba Razayee, 18, who will compete in judo, and Robina Muqimyar, 17, who will run the 100-meter sprint. Razayee and Muqimyar will compete alongside a wrestler, another sprinter and a boxer, who was the only member of the Afghan team to qualify for the games. The rest were invited by the International Olympic Committee.
Years of war have robbed Afghan athletes of most training facilities and the Olympic team lacks sufficient funding. Since June 26, the team has been training on the Greek island of Lesvos, thanks to the efforts of the Greek Rescue Team, an aid group. The sportswear company, Adidas, has provided them with clothes and equipment.
The country has never won an Olympic medal, and few expect that to happen this summer, given the team's limited time to train and lack of competitive experience.
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Women Wrestlers Have “Gold” On Their Mind
nutzworld.com 7/25/04
Continuing with our Olympic hopefuls, this week The Back Page gives you the very first ever Women’s Wrestling team… that’s right – Women’s wrestling.
Wrestling has been a part of the Olympics for hundreds of years, but never before has there been an Olympic Wrestling Event for women, let alone probably none of us even knew that there were women wrestlers. We’ve seen plenty of women boxers over the years, and that sport has grown tremendously… now, the wrestlers will get their chance in a sport that is likely to take off in the United States no sooner the Olympic Games end.
It’s not often that the Olympic Games add venues… but in the era of gender equality, the Olympic Committee found it necessary to add additional women’s events. In 2000, weightlifting and water polo were added for the women – this year, Women’s wrestling is the lone newcomer. Each competitor is a first-time Olympian, and already the United States and Japan has established dominance in the sport.
Patricia Miranda, Tela O'Donnell, Sara McMann, and Toccara Montgomery are the four women that make-up the Women’s wrestling team. Each of them has their own story for their quest for the Gold Medal… each of them overcame adversity throughout their careers.
Patricia Miranda decided to take up wrestling while in junior high school, but her father strongly opposed it. He said, “No daughter of mine is going to get mixed up in an aggressive male-dominated activity, when academics should be her sole focus.” Going one step further, he found out she was entering tournaments at school and proceeded to scratch her name off official entry sheets at meets, and threatened to sue the school for allowing her to wrestle.
Patricia Miranda was never able to wrestle in meets during junior high, but when she got to high school, she and her dad came to an agreement - She could wrestle as long her grade-point average never dipped below 4.0. Her grade-point average never went below a 4.0, and she eventually went onto Stanford University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a 3.84 GPA, a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's in international policy… all while wrestling on the men's varsity team. A week after the Olympics, she begins law school at Yale.
Being from Alaska isn’t easy… the winters are long, the summers are short and at times you experience almost 24-hours of daylight. But for Tela O’Donnell, the path wasn’t any easier to wrestle. As a junior high student, she wrote letter after letter to her school board, pleading for its approval to let her wrestle… Eventually, the board determined that she could practice with the boys' team but not compete in any tournaments. But in high school, she was not only allowed to wrestle on the boys' team, she played football too. Though she says she was never very good, O'Donnell played safety, cornerback, wide receiver and guard for the school's “C” Team.
North Carolina is known for its men’s college basketball programs – certainly not it’s wrestling. But for Sara McMann it was wrestling. As a 14-year old she was a member of the McDowell High School boys’ team, becoming the one and only female wrestler in the state.
In 1994 as a freshman, she approached McDowell’s wrestling coach about trying out for the team… but, Tim Hutchins was very skeptical. “No girl had ever wanted to wrestle with the guys, and I was hesitant to let her try,” said Hutchins.
Hutchins, along with McMann and others knew that she would face hard times… but McMann was determined to learn the sports and to compete, she was extremely dedicated right from the start. Once she got started and everyone all around her knew she was competing, that this wasn’t just a gimmick, she was accepted with open arms by her teammates.
There were times that McMann almost called it quits – the practices were long, and hard… lasting 3-hours or longer sometimes… but her stubbornness prevailed and before long her stamina and wrestling technique improved – as did her attitude. By her sophomore year, she decided that she wanted to continue with wrestling and was set to go the distance… McMann focused on wrestling during the off-season, and by her senior year she developed into an honorable mention All-Conference performer who posted a 15-13 mark against all-male competition. She went to the High School Nationals in her senior year, and nobody scored a point against her.
McMann started college at the University of Minnesota-Morris, where she was a member of the first women’s wrestling team… she eventually transferred to Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, where she would wrestle on the men’s team. After college she concentrated on wrestling full time and now earns income from being part of the Olympic training program and placing well in tournaments
Her mother wasn’t keen on the idea of her only daughter wrestling, but she realized and understood that Toccara Montgomery had her mind set on wrestling… her only request to her daughter – “Please try not to break anything.”
Growing up in Cleveland, Toccara Montgomery faced many obstacles along the way… but through each and every road block, she came through with flying colors… including wrestling.
Montgomery started wrestling with coach Kip Flanik as a sophomore at East Technical High in Cleveland in the fall of 1998. Flanik immediately recognized the talent. While in high school Montgomery competed in her first world championship in 2001.
The two became close, and although Flanik had little money himself, he began paying for Montgomery to attend meets and training camps.
After graduating from High School, Montgomery earned a scholarship to Cumberland College and Flanik took a job there as a graduate assistant and later as the coach of the women's wrestling team.
Montgomery is a two-time world championship medalist and owns three U.S. national championship titles. Toccara defeated two-time world champion Kristie Marano, wrestling up a weight, twice to win at the trials.
Mini-Bios:
Patricia Miranda
Event(s) Freestyle 48kg (105.5lbs)
Birthdate June 11, 1979
Birthplace Monteca, California
Height 5'0" / 152 cm
Residence Colorado Springs, Colorado
A two-time world championship silver medalist and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford, Patricia Miranda will be a contender for gold in the women's 48kg (105.5 pounds) division in Athens.
Tela O'Donnell
Event(s) Freestyle 55kg (121lbs)
Birthdate July 16, 1982
Birthplace Homer, Alaska
Height 5'4" / 163 cm
College University of Colorado-Colorado Springs
Residence Colorado Springs, Colorado
Stunned National Champion Tina George by pinning her in consecutive matches to win the best-of-three championship final and qualify for the first Olympics in which women will compete. In the second period of the second match, O'Donnell trailed 6-2 in technical points when she pinned George to earn her berth to Athens.
Sara McMann
Event(s) Freestyle 63kg (138.5lbs)
Birthdate September 24, 1980
Birthplace Tacoma Park, Maryland
Height 5'6" / 168 cm
College Lock Haven University
Residence Colorado Springs, Colorado
At the 2003 World Championships, U.S. women claimed silver medals in all four Olympic weight classes. Sara McMann earned one of them. She lost in the final to 19-year-old Kaori Icho of Japan, the defending champion.
Toccara Montgomery
Event(s) Freestyle 72kg (158.5lbs)
Birthdate December 30, 1982
Birthplace Cleveland, Ohio
Height 5'6" / 168 cm
Residence Cleveland, Ohio
Toccara Montgomery makes her Olympic debut as a gold-medal contender in the 72kg/158.5 lbs weight class. Montgomery is a two-time world championship medalist and owns three U.S. national championship titles.
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Woman wrestler no joke
Stanford's Patricia Miranda wouldn't be pinned down by pain, ridicule, obscurity
By BOB PADECKY Thursday, August 12, 2004
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
ATHENS
How much can we endure?
It's a universal question. Is the job worth it despite the commute? Is the elite college we want to send our kid worth that $30,000 annual tuition? Is that green and purple spiked hair that shows our individuality worth all the snickers and sideways glances?
Reward vs. risk. We all work the lever on that balance. Patricia Miranda should have pulled that lever long ago, ejecting herself from misery. She should have mailed it in. Called it a day and a good effort. And as she began to explain her story Wednesday, detail by detail, I kept waiting for the punch line that never came.
"I'd be on the road, competing," said the U.S. Olympic wrestler, "and I'd call up my dad after my match, but we would never talk about it. The subject never came up."
Even if you had just injured yourself?
"No," she said.
Even if you were in pain and wanted to talk to him about it?
"Never."
It was too uncomfortable for him. His daughter a wrestler? Please. Stop wasting your time.
"He would leave work, drive to my high school, take me out of practice and drive me home," she said. "Finally, I said, 'Dad, you can't keep leaving work at 3 every afternoon to take me out of practice.'"
Her dad is a physician, a family practioner in San Jose. His daughter was bound for greater glory than wrestling. Jose Miranda even threatened to sue Saratoga High School if it continued to let her wrestle on the boys' team.
"It was more of a ploy on his part," she said. "Just to see how much I wanted it."
Jose Miranda should have known what happened to his daughter the first day she showed up at wrestling practice.
"A boy called me a joke," she said, "and I ran into the bathroom and I cried like a baby. It wasn't that he hurt my feelings. Rather I was wondering that maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe I was delusional. Maybe I was a joke."
She was a female wrestler. In popular American culture, a sleazy image is conjured. Mud wrestling. Of course there was an alternative.
"A lot of people think we have two teeth and are ogres, hunchbacks," said Sara McMann, an Olympic teammate.
Sexual exploitation or physical deformities? Hard to choose which is the most defeating and disgusting. The athletic option was not and, in many ways, still not explored.
"We have a long ways to go," USA women's wrestling coach Terry Steiner said on the condescending nature of many men wrestlers.
"If I happened not to get a date," Miranda said, "because a guy found out I was wrestler, oh well."
Miranda kept wrestling "to find out the truth." If she was a joke, it would be revealed. For nine years, Miranda wrestled only boys. She ended up being voted captain by her teammates in her junior and senior years. Yet no women wrestling programs in the NCAA DivisionI existed when she wanted to go to college. So she went to Stanford for an education ... and to wrestle.
And for four years she wrestled Stanford's men in practice. And for four years she didn't win a single practice match.
"Try going four years without a victory," Miranda said. "That's a real downer. I knew going into every practice I didn't have a chance to win. All I wanted to do is get one point during the match. If I happened to get like three points, well, I patted myself on the back for a job well done."
Taking scraps from the table, that's the kind of endurance course Miranda chose. Wrestling limited her social life, subjected her to injury, ridicule and constant defeat while keeping distance between her and her father. And she endured all this while performing in obscurity.
"I can be quite stubborn," said Miranda, stating what has long been obvious.
In the fall of 2001, a carrot was placed in front of Miranda. The International Olympic Committee recognized women's wrestling as an Olympic sport. Now she could emerge from the shadows. Now there was something pushing her beside the love of her sport. These Athens Olympic Games offer only one new sport, and the significance is not lost on Miranda.
"I don't care if people turn on the TV because they are curious to see if it is sexy," Miranda said. "I won't hold that against them. I just want to get them watching. Once they do, they'll see it's as intense as men's wrestling. They'll see it isn't a side joke. They'll see pain and happiness. That's sports."
That's the Olympics. Fact is, it's more than the Olympics. The Olympics is working four years to win a medal. Miranda, 25, worked 12 years in isolation and ostracization, not to win a medal, but to prove she wasn't delusional.
To some, that goal appears modest. It's not. It's pure. She is unadulterated, free of commercial perfumes. She chased, not a medal, but herself. Because of that, she can be paid the highest of compliments.
Patricia Miranda is the Olympic ideal.
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Miranda finally has women's team
California's Patricia Miranda wrestled with the boys growing up and in
college but now she leads a group of women to wrestle at the Games.
BY CAMMY CLARK
cclark@herald.com 8/13/04
At 5 feet, 105 pounds, Patricia Miranda could fit right in with the
pixies on the U.S. gymnastics team.
Only Miranda doesn't tumble in a sequined leotard. She wrestles in a
singlet.
After being the only female wrestler on her middle school, high school
and collegiate teams in California, the 25-year-old Stanford graduate will
represent the United States on the inaugural women's Olympic wrestling
team.
It's the only sport to debut at the Summer Games in Athens.
Joining Miranda on the squad is Tela O'Donnell of Homer, Alaska, at 121
pounds; Sara McMann of Tacoma Park, Md., at 138.75 pounds; and Toccara
Montgomery of Cleveland at 158.5 pounds.
''They all are survivors and could do great things for this sport in
this country,'' said Steiner, a former NCAA champion at Iowa who became the
first full-time women's national wrestling coach in 2002.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations,
only 3,769 girls wrestled at that level last year. Most were on boys' teams,
since only Hawaii and Texas sanction girls' wrestling.
''We need a few Olympic heroes,'' said Terry Steiner, who expects his
foursome will provide great role models.
Last year the United States won medals in all seven weight classes at
the world championships in New York. In the four Olympic weight classes,
the Americans had four silvers.
Three of the four made the Olympic team. O'Donnell upset the other
silver medalist at the trials.
''They all weren't happy with silver at the worlds,'' Steiner said.
``They're going over to Athens with something else on their minds.''
Miranda heads the group.
''To witness her is to watch greatness,'' Steiner said.
She began wrestling at 12, shortly after her mom died at age 40 of an
aneurysm. Her father, Jose Miranda, who brought his family to
California to escape political tyranny in his native Brazil, had real doubts. He
threatened to sue school officials if they let his daughter on the
boys' wrestling team because he was concerned her academics would suffer.
But Patricia won him over with excellent grades. and went on to
participate on Stanford men's varsity team for four years.
She only competed her senior year, winning one match against a man whom
she romised anonymity.
She's ranked No. 2 in the world, behind the Ukraine's Irini Merlini.
But no matter how the Americans fare in Athens, Steiner said, ``They
already have made history.''
TOP EVENTS
• Women's wrestling: The sport makes its Olympic debut and Patricia
Miranda
is a trailblazer for the U.S.
el,3
• Tennis: The men's final will be held and Andy Roddick is the U.S.'s
best
hope of taking gold. The women's doubles final could possibly have
Martina
Navratilova competing.
el,3
• Women's volleyball: It's a grudge match as the U.S. takes on Cuba.
ON TELEVISION
NBC (CHANNELS 6, 5)
• 10 a.m.-6 p.m: Track & field -- women's marathon, wheelchair gold
medal
finals; women's volleyball; rowing -- gold medal finals; beach
volleyball.
• 7 p.m.-midnight: Gymnastics -- individual event gold medal finals;
track &
field gold medal finals: men's 100, men's high jump, men's triple jump;
Diving -- women's platform gold medal final; beach volleyball.
• 12:35 a.m.-2 a.m.: Track & field gold medal finals -- men's hammer
throw;
women's water polo; cycling: track gold medal finals.
CNBC
• 2 a.m.-4 a.m.: Women's basketball; rowing -- gold medal finals;
softball;
wrestling; women's volleyball; table tennis -- women's singles gold
medal
match; women's water polo.
BRAVO
• 4 a.m.-10 a.m.: Equestrian; table tennis; men's handball.
• Midnight-1 a.m.: Sailing -- gold medal finals; shooting -- men's
skeet
gold medal final.
USA
• 10 a.m.-3 p.m.: Tennis -- men's singles and women's doubles gold
medal
matches.
MSNBC
• T4 p.m.-7 p.m.: Boxing.
TELEMUNDO (CHANNEL 51)
• Noon-7 p.m.: Boxing; beach volleyball.
• 1:30 a.m.-3:30 a.m.: Boxing.
