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Olympic medalist gives pointers while training at the USOEC

By KURT MENSCHING, Journal Sports Writer5/24/07

MARQUETTE — Outside the ring, Patricia Miranda wants to be a negotiator who helps bring people together.

Inside the ring, the 2004 Olympic women’s freestyle wrestling bronze medalist also prefers to make things collide.

As a guest at the United States Olympic Education Center this week, she has played both roles.

“I wrestle a style with a lot of pressure,” she said Wednesday afternoon at the USOEC training facility in the Superior Dome. “On our feet, I’ll have a very active match, a lot of trying to force my position and impose my style and positions on my opponent, sort of aggressive on the feet and I tend to score a lot of my points on top.”

Miranda, a 27-year-old native of San Jose, Calif., chose to visit the USOEC to seek fresh training partners. Normally, she has to fly to the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colo., or fly opponents to visit her in Connecticut while she studies law at Yale University. She will graduate next week.

“I’m surprised I haven’t done it sooner,” she said of visiting Marquette. “The girls program (here) is doing very well. It’s one of the few places in the United States that actually has a lot of female wrestling training partners all in one place, that are serious, dedicated, working every day toward a goal.”

Her husband, Levi Weikel-Magden, is also her coach and traveled with her, as he also helps keep Miranda’s life organized as she pursues both degree and a berth in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Training in Marquette has been a two-way street, as Miranda has practiced and listened to the notes of USOEC coaches, and she has given back by sharing her experiences with the girls.

“I love being her drill partner, even if I’m just an extra body to her,” USOEC resident Shyla Iokia said. “You pick up a lot, wrestling someone so experienced and (who) has been up in the high levels. It helps you for your next competition.”

Tuesday, Miranda answered questions from the girls.

“I think it’s sort of a mutual working,” Miranda said. “They have a lot of expertise, great wrestlers themselves. I think there’s a lot of things that I do that can help their girls with. So it was sort of a mutual, real fun exchange.”

Mainly, setups to shots were shared by Miranda, but she also gave feedback to her opponents following matches.

“I learned how to keep my head down, how to keep digging, to push and pull to use the other person’s momentum against them,” Iokia said.

Miranda was disappointed after finishing third at the 2004 games and retired, but within months got back on the mat to finish the job she started.

“I am proud that I medaled in the last Olympics,” she said. “And I think it was beneficial to work through that loss and win another match. I didn’t expect it to be emotionally that much of a hurdle. But it’s amazing how much they train you to visualize, dream of and expect that goal.

“I’m looking forward to it again, getting it this time.”

That attitude has not been lost no Iokia.

“She’s a good person inside and out (of the wrestling room),” Iokia said. “I think a person reflects a lot when they’re outside instead of always on the mat, because a lot of people look up to them. She’s a good example.”

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