(Viola) Yanik
News Page
Japanese wrestling queen wins fifth world gold
Sept. 15, 2003 Agence France-Presse
NEW YORK - Japan's Kyoko Hamaguchi earned the fifth world championship gold of her wrestling career here Sunday, solidifying her status as a wrestling superstar.
Hamaguchi defeated American Toccara Montgomery 4-1 to take the title in women's heaviest weight class division, 72kg.
The 25-year-old diva exploded with joy as she shook her head in disbelief while taking a victory lap.
"I always do something to please myself when I win," Hamaguchi said. "My going fast was just showing my emotions, showing how happy I was.
"I still can't believe," she said. "I had been in this position before of course but Toccara was known to be very strong. There was a possibility I could be defeated like everyone else."
But losing is not a word Hamaguchi is accustomed to. Despite only a bronze medal and a fourth place finish at two previous world championships in 2000 and 2001, the indestructible Japanese has looked strong ever since, steamrolling through every international event she entered in 2002 and 2003.
Her victory on Sunday gave her a fifth world title, adding to those she won in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2002. "I love wrestling," she said. "I will go as long as I can fight."
Japanese women all swept the competition on Sunday capturing gold in five of the seven finals.
Chiharu Icho won the 51 kilos division while kid sister Kaori dominated the 63kg weight class. Saori Yoshida captured the 55kg crown and Seiko Yamamoto earned top honors in the 59kg class.
But all eyes were turned on Hamaguchi.
Wrestling has always been a family tradition for her. Her father and coach Heigo "Animal" Hamaguchi was one of the most feared professional wrestlers in the country.
Kyoko, who is an assistant trainer at a sports gym back in Tokyo, said she planned to party all night to celebrate her victory.
"I'm just going to get rid of everything at tonight's party. Its going to be long I can assure you," she said, brushing questions aside about the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens next summer.
"My goal would be to win another gold medal but to be honest, Id like to forget about wrestling a little bit," Hamaguchi confessed, adding, "I'm exhausted mentally and physically."
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Yanik top Canuck at world meet
Huskies wrestler captures bronze in 63-kg division
Canadian Press 9/15/03
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(Viola) Yanik |
NEW YORK (CP) -- Viola Yanik of Saskatoon won bronze in the women's 63-kilogram division at the world wrestling championships Sunday.
Yanik pinned Lydumila Golovchenko of Ukraine at 2:44 of the match, winning 6-0. Yanik executed two ankle picks and a fireman's throw en route to her victory.
Golovchenko was seventh at the 2001 world championships.
"I feel really fantastic," said Yanik, 23, who was in a division with 27 competitors. All four of her wins were by pin.
"It's my first time coming to the championships. It's definitely a big accomplishment."
Yanik lost to American Sara McMann by pin in the semi-finals earlier Sunday. The bout was a rematch of the Pan-American Games final, also won by McMann.
Yanik said her experience in New York has been overwhelming.
"Standing on a mat in Madison Square Garden with thousands of spectators is really overwhelming," said Yanik, who recorded the best result by a Canadian at the championships. "It's a fantastic experience and a chance of a lifetime."
On the basis of Yanik's result, Canada has qualified a wrestler in the women's 63-kg division for the Athens Olympics next summer. Canada's rep will be decided at trials in Edmonton in December.
CBC Sports will broadcasting a one-hour highlight package from worlds on Sept. 27.
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U.S. Women Finally Get a Bite of the Spotlight
By BILL FINLEY 9/15/03
Any doubts regarding the fierceness of women's freestyle wrestling could
have been immediately silenced yesterday with one look at Tina George's
right wrist, which had just served as a snack for Elvira Rasulova-Mursalova
of Kyrgyzstan. But George, a five-time United States champion, was dealing
nicely with the indignity of being bitten.
Apparently, there's no crying in women's wrestling. "At first, I
thought it was an accident," George said. "Sometimes that happens. But when I
realized she was trying to chew my arm off, I got mad."
The best revenge was not retaliation, but a clear-cut victory. George,
already well ahead in the match at the time Rasulova-Mursalova
pretended to be Mike Tyson, finished off her carnivorous opponent to earn a 10-2
decision in Round 3 of the world championships of freestyle wrestling at Madison
Square Garden.
A little extra motivation never hurts, but it's doubtful George needed
it. Like all the members of a dominant United States women's team, she has
been just too tough for her opponents throughout this competition, whether
they have wrestled by the rules or not.
Through the first two days of the three-day event, the United States
women's team is 22-0, and all seven members will compete in today's semifinals
in the day session. The championships will follow in an evening session.
George defeated Mabel Fonseca of Puerto Rico, 7-3, in last night's
evening session.
The United States men's team will have two participants in the
semifinals, Cael Sanderson and Kerry McCoy.
"We talked about taking it one match at a time and performing," the
United States women's coach, Terry Steiner, said. "If we do that, we feel we
have a legitimate shot of medaling in every weight. To medal at every weight,
you have to perform, and we've been doing that so far."
George, a private in the Army and the 2002 Army female athlete of the
year, is one of the brighter stars of the American wrestling program, which
has made admirable strides in a few short years. The first recognized
women's wrestling championship took place in 1987, and two years later, the
United States sent its first women's team to a world championships, with the
members having to pay their way.
The sport has been gaining momentum ever since, with 20 women training
under Steiner's watch at a facility in Colorado Springs. The sport's biggest
break came in 2001, when it was announced that women's wrestling would be
part of the 2004 Olympics.
For athletes like George, the growth of the sport has meant a welcome
change of lifestyles. No longer are they competing in obscurity or having to
take odd jobs to scrape by. Kristie Marano, who is single and has a
5-year-old daughter, had supported herself by working as a waitress at a
Friendly's restaurant in Colonie, N.Y. "I waitressed and did all the other stuff
after work," she said. "I made it work."
With more experience and better training opportunities, the women's
team appears to be improving with each competition. Sara McMann was an 11-0
winner over Kristine Odrina of Latvia in the day session. Afterward,
she was beaming, aware that she is on the cusp of becoming one of the best in
the world in her weight class and perhaps good enough to earn an Olympic
medal.
"My confidence has been raised a lot," said McMann, who wrestled on the
men's team at Loch Haven University in Pennsylvania. "I've gone and
I've wrestled all these girls and I know their styles. I've practiced
against some really outstanding wrestlers at our training center."
Though none of the American women's wrestlers were taking their success
at this competition for granted, most were eagerly awaiting the Olympics.
An Olympic gold medal would make anyone forget about those days when she
was serving malts at Friendly's.
"There used to be maybe four or fives girls at a tournament; it's nice
for people to see how far we've come," Marano said. "We're not just out
there goofing around."
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World wrestling: Women grapple to get attention
Sunday, September 14, 2003
BY STEVE POLITI
Star-Ledger Staff
NEW YORK -- Tina George removed the ice bag from her forearm, revealing the latest evidence of how serious her sport has become. It was a nasty bite mark, one deep enough that she could point out the incisors and bicuspids of her opponent.
"I've been bitten before, but not like this," said George, letting out a big laugh. "It was like my whole wrist was in her mouth, and she was just going to town. I tried to pull it away but she wouldn't let go!"
This moment, one that would make Mike Tyson proud, happened during the freestyle wrestling World Championships at Madison Square Garden yesterday, an event where female wrestlers -- for the first time in the history of their sport -- are getting as much attention as their male counterparts.
That trend should continue next summer, when women's wrestling becomes the only new sport at the 2004 Summer Games. There are 178 women competing this weekend for spots in Athens, and the seven representing USA Wrestling were a perfect 17-0 to start the tournament.
Not bad for a sport still struggling to gain acceptance in this country, where the athletes are often seen as a curiosity -- or, worse yet, chased away by insensitive coaches and limited opportunities.
"A lot of people don't even know there is women's wrestling, so right away they're shocked," said Terry Steiner, the national team coach. "I think it's coming around, and the Olympics definitely will help. We need some Olympic heroes, some world champions, to open people's eyes."
The U.S. team will have several candidates to fill that role, all with a unique story of how they started in the sport.
Sally Roberts (130 pounds) started in seventh grade because "two of my friends wrestled, and they were both boys, and I didn't want to be left out." Jenny Wong (112.25 pounds) tried other sports like soccer -- "I'd be like picking flowers and a ball would roll by," she said -- but none captivated her like wrestling.
George (121 pounds) wrestled at her Cleveland high school before becoming a U.S. team member, but she missed the 2001 World Championships for one of the few events more grueling: Army basic training. She is a private first class.
Few stories, however, are as interesting as Kristie Marano. The 24-year-old has won medals in six straight World Championships -- four silvers, one gold and one bronze -- and after pinning reigning silver medalist Nori Saito of Japan yesterday, she is likely to make it seven in a row today.
She also has a 5-year-old daughter, and when asked how much time she took off during her pregnancy, she gives a wry smile.
"I didn't," she said.
She simply moved up to the heavyweight class, continuing a competitive schedule well into her eighth month. And two weeks after she gave birth to Kayla, she won her third U.S. title.
Marano, wrestling at 147.5 pounds this weekend, gave up judo to take up the sport when she was 19. Like most of her teammates, she had to train with men. Even as the sport gains popularity, women are often discouraged from joining their high school teams because many boys say they do not want to wrestle them.
"I hope it trickles down, but it still depends on the community," said Tricia Saunders, one of the most successful U.S. female wrestlers. "If you have one guy in a little tiny town in Arkansas who says, 'Hey, I think it's a good idea to have girls,' you might have 20 or 30 girls turn out. And then you can go to the town right next door, where the guy who is coaching the high school team has never had a girl and will never have one.
"Hopefully, we can change a lot of minds here, and those doors can get opened one at a time. I'm hoping."
Marano already can see the changes.
"I went from having four or five girls in an entire tournament to having 15 or 16 girls in my weight class," she said. "It's come so far."
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Two area women reach wrestling semifinals
09/14/03
From wire reports
New York-Nine United States wrestlers, including two Cleveland-area natives, qualified yesterday for the semifinals of the World Freestyle Championships.
The U.S. women won their first 22 matches of the three-day event and all seven U.S. women qualified for the semifinals.
Cleveland Heights native Tina George won, 10-2, over Kyrgyzstan's Elvira Rasulova-Mursalova at 121 pounds in the third round and reached the semifinals with a 7-3 decision over Mabel Fonsoca of Puerto Rico. She will face China's Sun Dongmei in the semifinals.
Cleveland native Toccara Montgomery, who pinned Marie Nicole Diedhiou of Senegal at 1:37 in the third round at 158½ pounds and Marina Gastl of Austria at 4:40 in the quarterfinals, will meet Wang Xu of China in the semis.
Four women's weight classes will be featured at the 2004 Olympics Games. The U.S. women are qualified in all four weight classes. The top 10 men and five women of each division qualify their nation for the Athens Games.
Five U.S. men lost, but the U.S. still has two wrestlers able to qualify for medals and qualified for five weight classes in the 2004 Olympics.
Jamill Kelly lost a technical fall to Cuba's Serguei Rondon Pedrosa at 145, Joe Williams fell to Iran's Hadi Habibi at 163, Stephen Abas lost to Moldova's Ghenadie Tulbea at 121, Eric Guerrero fell to Uzbekistan's Damir Zakhartdinov in the 132 quarterfinals and Daniel Cormier lost to Iran's Ali Reza Heidari at 211.
Only Williams and Kelly failed to qualify the U.S. for the Olympics.
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Marano wins gold in world wrestling
But Japan takes
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK, Sept. 14 — Kristie Marano won a gold and the U.S. women won six other medals, but Japan won five golds to take the women’s team title and Georgia took the men’s at the World Freestyle Championships on Sunday.
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For U.S. Women, Gold Is Hard to Come By
By BILL FINLEY 9/15/03
Despite having made major and rapid strides, the United States women's wrestling team departed Madison Square Garden and the world championships of freestyle wrestling last night with a gnawing realization that it has a long way to go to achieve the goal of being best in the world. Five members of the team made it to the championship round, but only one, Kristie Marano, was victorious.
The United States women had the same problem that most countries have in this sport: they were no match for the Japanese.
The Japanese women's team took home five of the seven gold medals while going undefeated in the championship round. The United States settled for one gold medal, four silvers and two bronzes as all seven members of the team earned medals. The women's team was 28-6 during the three days of competition.
"We got five people in the finals and won a lot of medals," the United States women's coach, Terry Steiner, said. "We just didn't close it out. There was an opportunity lost, but we'll learn from it and move forward. It ended on a sour note, but if you had said beforehand that we'd have five people in the finals and two bronze medalists, I would have said that's quite an accomplishment. We're second in the world, and right now there aren't a lot of happy faces in the locker room. That's a plus."
After Patricia Miranda, Tina George and Sara McMann, who lost in overtime, were defeated, Marano, a former waitress at a Friendly's Restaurant in Colonie, N.Y., said she had felt compelled to win not just for herself but for her team. Facing Ewelina Pruszko of Poland, she won easily, 7-1.
"In a way, it made me feel good," she said of collecting a gold medal for her team. "My heart goes out to the other girls. We're all together in the practice room, and they work so hard and they push me. They deserved this as much as I did."
For Marano, a five-time United States nationals champion and the single mother of a 5-year-old girl, it was her second victory at the world championships. She is also a former United States national judo champion.
"I don't think it's that the others don't have something that Kristie does," Steiner said. "We just made some mistakes in some of the matches. Kristie is a competitor and she has a huge heart. When the lights come on, she is ready to put on a show."
After Marano's match, the United States women had one last chance, but a Japanese competitor again proved to be too tough as Toccara Montgomery lost, 4-1, to Kyoko Hamaguchi.
"I still think we have a very strong team in the U.S.," Montgomery said. "We've worked very hard, and I think next year we will give the Japanese more of a run for their money. I think you'll see the same finals, but with different outcomes."
For Montgomery and the rest, the main focus now shifts to 2004, when the Olympics will offer women's wrestling for the first time. Unlike last night's competition, which offered seven weight classes, the women will compete in four weight classes at the Olympics.
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Photos: USA Semifinals and Bronze
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