News Page

Wrestler maps battle plan for success in '04 Olympics

10/30/01, Susan Vinella
Plain Dealer Reporter

Tina George did an about-face this month and temporarily traded in her wrestling shoes for a pair of combat boots.

George, a 1997 graduate of Cleveland Heights High School and a member of the United States women's world championship wrestling team, left the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Oct. 15 to enroll in Army basic training.

The decision means George, America's top-ranked female wrestler at 123 pounds, will miss the World Championships in Bulgaria Nov. 22-25. The World Championships were originally scheduled for New York in late September but were rescheduled after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

George, 22, said the sacrifice should pay off in the future.

"It was a hard decision for me," she said in a phone interview from Fort Jackson, S.C. "At the same time, you have to look at the big picture."

The big picture is an opportunity for George to compete at the 2004 Olympics, when women's wrestling is expected to be included in the Summer Games for the first time. By enlisting in the Army, George will have her expenses paid for the next few years through the military's World Class Athlete program. She recently signed a three-year contract to become a participant in the program, which is open to women wrestlers for the first time.

After she completes basic training in March, she will return to Colorado Springs and wrestle full time to prepare for the U.S. Championships and next year's World Championships. Her room, board and training will be paid and she will have medical benefits.

Also, the Army will pay back her student loans. George, a dual chemistry and biology major, was enrolled at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs the past few years. She has about a year to go to earn a degree.

"This is a humongous opportunity," she said of the World Class program. "When I get back, I'll be able to focus on wrestling and not on paying my bills. My job will be to wrestle."

She will be stationed with an Army unit in Colorado Springs.

In the meantime, George says she is learning to be a soldier. She is part of the engineering battalion and her specialty will be carpentry.

Her duties, if the Army calls on her, will be to build bridges, buildings and homes. There is a possibility that she might be tapped to help rebuild the Pentagon, which was damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks.

With the events of Sept. 11, she feels good about serving her country.

"If I didn't have wrestling, I'd want to be a solider," she said.

George began her wrestling career at Cleveland Heights High School, where she competed on the boys team. She was one of a few female wrestlers in the area in the mid-1990s.

She went on to attend and wrestle for the University of Minnesota-Morris, one of a handful of colleges that offer women's wrestling as a varsity sport. She left there in 1998 to train at the Olympic Training Center.

This year, she won her first national championship at 123 pounds and earned a spot on the world championship team with a victory at the World Team Trials in Cincinnati in June.

Her parents, Rosie and Gregory, live in South Euclid. Rosie is a financial analyst for Lincoln Electric. Gregory is an engineer for ICG Telecommunications.