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George carries Army torch into World Freestyle Wrestling Championships

By Tim Hipps
September 10, 2003

ARLINGTON, Va. (Army News Service, Sept. 10, 2003) -- USA Wrestling officials have listed 30 reasons why journalists should be in New York Sept. 12-14 covering the 2003 World Championships of Freestyle Wrestling.

U.S. Army supporters need just one: Pfc. Tina George.

A member of the Army World Class Athlete Program stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., George will take on the world's best wrestlers in the women's 121-pound division at Madison Square Garden.

Last year, she won a silver medal in the Women's World Wrestling Championships at Halikada, Greece, and was named 2002 Army Female Athlete of the Year.

Fresh off a gold-medal performance in the 2003 Pan American Games at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, George will settle for nothing less than gold in the Big Apple.

"That's what I want," said George, 25, a carpentry/masonry specialist from Cleveland Heights, Ohio. "That's what I'm aiming for. That's why I train every day. At the very least, barring some major mishap, I need to place in the top five so that our [U.S.] weight class is qualified for the Olympics. So it's not even just about me as an individual and my medal, it's also about qualifying my weight class for the Olympics."

Regardless of her performance in New York, George still must qualify for the Athens Games in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials next May. Her mission will begin Friday at 9 a.m. in World Championships pool competition, which resumes at 5 p.m. Friday. The schedule is the same for more preliminary rounds on Saturday. The bronze-medal matches are set for 10 a.m. Sunday, followed by gold-medal finals at 4 p.m.

"I'm concentrating on going out and wrestling well, feeling good, keeping relaxed and staying focused," George said. "At this point, there's a tendency to feel the pressure of the Games and the pressure of performing in front of a home crowd and at that point most people start over-training. So I'm trying to fight the urge to over-train."

George will welcome the home crowd at Madison Square Garden as opposed to the raucous fans in Santo Domingo who booed every Americans' moves on the mats.

"I'm so excited because I've never wrestled in the World Championships in the United States," exclaimed George, who has won her weight class five consecutive years in the U.S. World Team Trials. "I'm interested to see what the crowd turnout is like."

In 1998, George failed to medal in the World Championships. A year later, she finished sixth. In 1999 and 2000, she finished off the podium. In 2002, she bounced back to win the silver medal.

"It's time for me to start bringing in more hardware," she said. "I need a medal - another one. There's no time to go empty-handed now; I need to win. I figure if I go out there and wrestle well, enjoy what I'm doing and have a little bit of fun and just stay relaxed, the outcome will take care of itself. I'm pretty happy with myself going into the tournament. I'm more than ready."

(Editor’s note: Tim Hipps writes for the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center.)

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Hawaii photos!!!! Girl's State Wrtestling Championships

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Women's pool pairings released, Miranda and McMann receive toughest draws

9/11/2003
John Fuller/USA Wrestling

While Sept. 11 will stay in the minds of thousands of New Yorkers due to the tragic events of 2001, it will also stay in the minds of the U.S. Women’s Freestyle Team as they weighed in for their first-ever Olympic qualifying event, the 2003 World Championships in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

The U.S. team carries four World medalists in Patricia Miranda (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC) at 48 kg/105.5 lbs., Tina George (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 55 kg/121 lbs., Kristie Marano (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. and Toccara Montgomery (Cleveland, Ohio/Cumberland College) at 72 kg/157.5 lbs.

Two other members of the team, Jenny Wong (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) and Sally Roberts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC), will compete in their first World Championships.

Miranda will once again face Lyndsay Belisle of Canada, an opponent she defeated in the gold-medal finals of the Pan American Games. Miranda won a silver medal at the 2000 World Championships.

Miranda pinned Belisle in four minutes and eight seconds in that August matchup, avenging a 3-1 loss to Belisle in March at the Pan American Championships. Belisle has placed fourth at the last two World Championships, both times at 51 kg/112.25 lbs.

Miranda and Belisle will wrestle in the first match of their pool before facing Maria Del Mar Peralta Osuna of Spain.

At 51 kg/112.25 lbs., Wong will face Yura Gandolgor of Mongolia and Teresa Piotrowski of Canada in pool competition. Gandolgor placed 11th at last year’s World Championships.

George, the reigning World silver medalist, will compete in a pool of four at 55 kg/121 lbs. She will match up against Ludmila Christea of Moldova, Elvira Rasulova-Mursalova of Krygyzstan and Julieta Okot of Bulgaria.

Okot lives and trains in New York City and competes for the New York Athletic Club.

Roberts is also in a pool of four, competing against Aikaterina-ko Tsimpanakou of Greece, Seba Jimenez Valderrama of Spain and Stefanie Stueber of Germany at 59 kg/130 lbs.

Tsimpanakou placed fourth at last year’s World Championships at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Stueber captured a silver medal at the 2003 European Championships.

Sara McMann (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) will face off with 2002 World silver medalist Sara Eriksson of Sweden in her first match at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. and close with Kristine Odrina of Latvia, who competed at the World Championships last year at 59 kg/130 lbs.

McMann has defeated both opponents this season, dropping Eriksson 3-2 at the Dave Schultz Memorial International in February and pinning Odrina in the second period at the Ivan Yarygin Memorial International in January.

Marano, a native of Albany, N.Y., will match up with Martina Zykolva of the Czech Republic, Jodeen Marie MacGregor of New Zealand and Saito Nori of Japan.

Marano holds the U.S. women’s record for most World medals with six, including a bronze medal in 2002. Nori, who Marano defeated 4-0 at the Kilppan Lady’s Open in March, placed seventh at least year’s World Championships.

Montgomery, a 2001 World silver medalist, will compete against Zarife Yildrim of Turkey and Marie Nicole Diedhiou of Senegal in pool competition at 72 kg/158.5 lbs.

Yildrim placed fourth at the 2002 World Championships.

The first round of pool competition will begin on Friday, Sept. 12 at 9:00 a.m. (EST) in Madison Square Garden.

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Women's Pool Pairings

9/11/2003
Meredith Wilson/TheMat.com

48 kg/105.5 lbs.
Pool 1
Flor Quispe Cordova, Peru
Iwona Sadowska, Poland
Angelique Michele Berthenet, France

Pool 2
Sigrun Dobner, Germany
Ji-Young Park, Korea
Kamelia Nikolaeva Tzekova, Bulgaria

Pool 3
Lyndsay Belisle, Canada
Patricia Miranda, United States
Maria Del Mar Peralta Osuna, Spain

Pool 4
Lila Ristevska, Australia
Fani Psatha, Greece
Kamini Yadav, India

Pool 5
Ying-Chi Wang, Chinese Taipei
Zhanar Amangaliyeva, Kazakhstan
Alfia Zaynulina, Krygyzstan

Pool 6
Inga Karamchakova, Russia
Gudrun Hoie, Norway
Ida Hellstrom, Sweden

Pool 7
Susana Santos, Brazil
Francine De Paola, Italy
Li Hui, China

Pool 8Nicoleta Badea, Romania
Lidiya Karamchakova, Tajakhstan
Sakamoto Makiko, Japan
Mayeril Karipa, Venezuela

Pool 9
N. Ugurun Percin, Turkey
Livanis Rivera, Puerto Rico
Karin Wild, Switzerland
Irini Merleni, Ukraine

51 kg/112.25 lbs.
Pool 1
Li-Chuan Wu, Chinese Taipei
Anne Catherine Deluntsch, France
Elzbieta Stryczek, Poland

Pool 2
Yura Gandolgor, Mongolia
Jenny Wong, United States
Teresa Piotrowski, Canada

Pool 3
Wen Juling, China
Mersini Koloni, Greece
Joanna Mills, Great Britain

Pool 4
Evelyne Diatta, Senegal
Natalia Karamchakova, Russia
Nadine Tokar, Switzerland

Pool 5
Emese Szabo, Hungary
Alexandra Demmel, Germany
Chiharu Icho, Japan

Pool 6
Alena Kareisha, Belarus
Inessa Rebar, Ukraine
Alexandra Hinterbauer, Austria

55 kg/121 lbs.
Pool 1
Ida-Theres Karlsson, Sweden
Monika Michalik, Poland
Sofia Pounpouridou, Greece

Pool 2
Olga Serbina, Belarus
Kitti Godo, Hungary
Saori Yoshida, Japan

Pool 3
Shu-Fang Chuang, Chinese Taipei
Jennifer Ryz, Canada
Diletta Giampiccolo, Italy

Pool 4
Alka Tomar, India
Sabrina Lotz, Germany
Natalia Golts, Russia

Pool 5
Birgit Stern, Austria
Marzi Andrade, Venezuela
Madeleine Schultz, Australia

Pool 6
Janet Sovero Nino, Peru
Sun Dongmei, China
Na-Lae Lee, Korea

Pool 7
Minerva Montero Perez, Spain
Zeynep Yildirim, Turkey
Anna Gomis, France

Pool 8Ludmila Christea, Moldova
Elvira Rasulova-Mursalova, Krygyzstan
Tina George, United States
Julieta Okot, Bulgaria

Pool 9
Mabel Fonseca, Puerto Rico
Tatyana Lazareya, Ukraine
Roza Sagintayeva, Kazakhstan
Isabelle Sambou, Senegal

59 kg/130 lbs.
Pool 1
Helena Allandi, Sweden
Liudmila Siomkjna, Belarus
Marianna Sastin, Hungary

Pool 2
Yu-Ning Huang, Chinese Taipei
Seiko Yamamoto, Japan
Emily Richardson, Canada

Pool 3
Aikaterina-ko Tsimpanakou, Greece
Sally Roberts, United States
Seba Jimenez Valderrama, Spain
Stefanie Stueber, Germany

Pool 4
Natalia Ivanova, Tajakhstan
Oksana Shalikova, Ukraine
Angelique Agnes Paul Vaissie, France
Natalia Ivashko, Russia

63 kg/138.75 lbs.
Pool 1
Lene Anes, Norway
Lil Azucena Canales, El Salvador
Aurora Fajardo Prieto, Spain

Pool 2
Geetika Jakhar, India
Stephanie Gross, Germany
Safiye Eroglu, Turkey

Pool 3
Lyudmila Golovchenko
Malgorzata Bassa, Poland
Ziomara Guevara, Venezuela

Pool 4
Agoro Papavasileiou, Greece
Christiana Renee LeGrand, France
Kaori Icho, Japan

Pool 5
Nikola Harman-Dunser, Austria
Galina Ivanva, Bulgaria
Volha Khilko, Belarus

Pool 6
Sabrina Esposito, Italy
Juliana Borges, Brazil
Jin-Young Hang, Korea

Pool 7
Adrienn Szabovik, Hungary
Viola Yanik, Canada
Hsiao-Wei Hung, Chinese Taipei

Pool 8Sara Eriksson, Sweden
Sara McMann, United States
Kristine Odrina, Latvia

Pool 9
Xu Haiyan, China
Michala Krizkova, Czech Republic
Alena Kartacheva, Russia

67 kg/147.5 lbs.
Pool 1
Katerina Burmistrova, Ukraine
Svetlana Martynenko, Russia
Nina Englich, Germany

Pool 2
Monika Szerencse, Hungary
Ewelina Pruszko, Poland
Stavroula Zygouri, Greece

Pool 3
Shannon Samler, Canada
Wang Jiao, China
Ling-Li Sha, Chinese Taipei

Pool 4
Nori Saito, Japan
Martina Zyklova, Czech Republic
Jodeen Marie MacGregor, New Zealand
Kristie Marano, United States

72 kg/158.5 lbs.
Pool 1
Aikaterini Siavou, Greece
Marina Gastl, Austria
Katarzyna Juszczak, Italy

Pool 2
Toccara Montgomery, United States
Zarife Yildirim, Turkey
Marie Nicole Diedhiou, Senegal

Pool 3
Anita Schaetzle, Germany
Yamily Ramos, Venezuela
Katerina Halova, Czech Republic

Pool 4
Wang Xu, China
Aline Ferreira, Brazil
Ohenewa Akuffo, Canada

Pool 5
Kyoko Hamaguchi, Japan
Svitlana Sayenko, Ukraine
Sonika Kalirman, India

Pool 6
Edyta Witkowska, Poland
Gouzel Maniourova, Russia
Min-Jeong Kang, Korea
Phillipa Katonivualiku, Australia

Pool 7
Stanka Zlateva Hristova, Bulgaria
Svetlana Yaroshevich, Kazakhstan
Fanny Paula Juliette Gai, France
Yana Panova, Krygyzstan