Going to the mat to compete
Women wrestlers take their place
ATHENS -- Tricia Saunders, one of the coaches of the US women's wrestling team, is a good bit of evidence for the four American entries here of just how far the sport has come as it makes its Olympic debut.
"I started wrestling in the fourth grade in 1975 but by the time I got to junior high, that was it. It was over. I couldn't compete anymore," Saunders said last week. "There was no place to compete in schools or clubs. I had no one to wrestle. I couldn't compete against the boys. I had to give the sport up until 1989.
"It's great for these athletes to get the chance. We thought [women's wrestling] might make it to the Olympics in 1992, then 1996, then 2000. It didn't happen in time for me. That's OK. I'm honored to be here as a coach. These four have taken the torch and carried it."
The four -- Patricia Miranda, Tela O'Donnell, Sara McMann, and Toccara Montgomery -- have had their own obstacles to overcome. While there is a growing number of club competitions for women, and many can compete on boys' teams in high school, the avenues to wrestle decrease as they get older. Only four colleges in the US have varsity women's teams, none in Division 1. Miranda, one of the favorites in the 48-kilogram class, had to compete on the men's team at Stanford, where she was a starter as a senior. McMann competed on the men's team at Lock Haven. (She also spent time on the women's team at Minnesota-Morris.)
"When I was in the eighth grade, they wouldn't let me wrestle with the boys," said O'Donnell, who grew up in Alaska. "We had to write letters to the school board to let me compete on the boys' team in high school."
The four know there are stereotypes about the sport. "I know that some like to talk about mud wrestling or wonder why we all don't look like big ogres with just two teeth, but I've gotten a lot of positive support," McCann said.
The male wrestlers have been among the most difficult to win over. "I've seen a few indications that the men are starting to accept them," said Townsend Saunders, one of the women's coaches and a silver medalist in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. "There's a group of people who didn't think they belonged in the sport, or the Olympics."
"A lot of the attitudes are changing," said Terry Steiner, who was named the first US national women's coach in 2002. "The Olympics gives us a chance to reach a lot of people. It would mean a lot to have a few medals strapped around our necks. But real change has to come at the grass-roots level for the sport to grow."
"We have a long way to go to get respect for our sport," Miranda said. "We want people to look at us like athletes and not a side joke about mud wrestling. We want people to see our sweat, see our tears, see our skills.
"Maybe there will be somebody who will turn on the TV and watch for more than two minutes and see what we are all about and know that as a girl you can compete in anything that you want."
But the main focus is on these Games and the competition that begins Aug. 22. "They are all focused on their opponent and winning," Saunders said. "They understand they are pioneers and what it would mean for women."
Miranda, 25, is the oldest member of the team and knows this is likely her last shot (she is scheduled to start Yale Law School after the Games).
"That punctuates the idea that I have one dream and one shot," she said. "This is it."
For now, and perhaps the future of the sport. 