News Page

By Laura Prevatt
Independent Tribune
Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Olivia Burgos CARRIE SHOPE / INDEPENDENT TRIBUNE

MIDLAND - Olivia Burgos, a 16-year-old Midland girl, wants to be on her high school wrestling team.

Her mother, Martha Carroll, is not so sure. She’s worried her daughter could get hurt and face ridicule from her classmates at Central Cabarrus High School.

Now, the two are going to hash it out on the Dr. Phil show.

Two weeks ago, Burgos sent an e-mail to Dr. Phil McGraw, the gruff daytime talk-show host and psychologist who specializes in human behavior.

“No matter how much I tried to persuade my mom, she was still not happy with me wrestling,” Burgos said. “I wanted to see if I could put her at ease.”

Burgos said she e-mailed the sage doctor initially just seeking advice. She figured someone would write back with a few words of wisdom and that would be it.

Four days after sending the e-mail, Burgos received a phone call from one of the show’s producers.

They talked for several hours and made arrangements to tape at Central Cabarrus High School last week.

Then, they got the invitation to Los Angeles - an all-expense paid trip to the heart of Hollywood - to meet face-to-face with Dr. Phil.

And Midland is just about as far from Hollywood as you can get. The town landscape is mostly farmland, green pastures in all directions.

“Things like this just don’t happen to somebody from Midland,” Burgos said.

Burgos and her family live on a isolated road sparsely populated with nice farm houses and brick ranches.

It’s a quiet neighborhood, so when she and her mom found out they had been invited to the show, it was a shock.

“Olivia had asked me if I would be willing to go on the Dr. Phil show,” Carroll said. “I said yes without even thinking. I never expected it to happen.”

The two were flown to L.A. and put up in the swank Renaissance Hotel.

“There was a mall attached,” Burgos said. “And they put that fancy stuff on all your food.”

At the hotel, Burgos said they made her and her mother feel like royalty.

“I asked for a toothbrush and they handed it to me on a velvet tray,” Burgos said. “I opened the door and the guy was like, ‘Your toothbrush, ma’am.’ ”

On the show, Burgos broke it down for Dr. Phil.

For a long time, Burgos has wanted to be a wrestler.

Originally, it started as a fascination with “entertainment wrestling” and the World Wrestling Federation. But Burgos realized she would be happy for a spot on her school team.

“It was a male dominated sport, I never saw any females,” she said. “But I’ve wanted to wrestle since I was in fifth grade.”

For the past few years, Burgos has asked her mother every season if she could join the wrestling team.

“This is the first year I asked her what her motivation was,” Carroll said. “She said she just wanted to prove that girls can do what guys can do.”

Carroll was concerned for her daughter’s safety and the possible ridicule she faced from the kids at school.

“I will go and support her in anything she does because she’s my daughter,” she said. “I’ve always told my kids to pursue their dreams.

“Well, uh oh. This is her dream. I forgot to tell her that I had to like her dream.”

Carroll explained her concerns.

“I don’t want her to get hurt,” Carroll said. “I know she’s going to be up against a lot of opposition from her friends, from teasing. But if she is OK with it, then I am, too.”

Burgos is regular teenage girl. She’s got a least two piercings in each ear and her nails are painted a pale pink, though she does shy away from make-up.

But Burgos likes to dress up every now and then and even competed in her school’s Miss Central Cabarrus pageant recently.

“I first I decided to compete in the beauty pageant to make fun of it,” she said. “Then I realized that it was really hard work.”

Her room is decorated with posters of Orlando Bloom. A pink pillow that says “punk princess” hangs beside her dresser.

Dr. Phil warned Burgos that wrestling with boys could land you in some compromising positions.

“He asked me if I was aware that these things happen,” she said. “I told him I was and that it was all a part of the game.”

In the end, Dr. Phil told Burgos to go for it.

He even arranged for Patricia Miranda, this year’s Olympic bronze medalist in women’s wrestling, to call Burgos while she was on the show.

Carroll has accepted everything too and says she is quite proud of her daughter for taking her stand.

Burgos has already begun practicing with the team, though she says many of the boys are reluctant to wrestle her.

“All the girls think it’s excellent. They tell me to go for it,” Burgos said. “The guys aren’t so happy about it. They don’t want me to do it. It’s like I’m threatening their masculinity if I come out on top.”

Burgos will wear the same uniforms as her male teammates but with a T-shirt underneath.

Her first home meet will be Nov. 17 against Mooresville High School. Burgos says she is not even sure if she will be starting.

But with all the attention she’s getting, Burgos is also afraid she will take the limelight off her team.

“I don’t want to take away any of their glory. I don’t want to hog the spotlight,” she said. “I’m just really excited. I hope they come to realize that I am not threatening their manhood. If they can beat me then what are they afraid of?”

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Olympic gold winners, researchers to receive gov't medals

Tuesday, November 2, 2004 at 06:25 JST

TOKYO — Twenty Japanese gold medalists in the Athens Olympics this summer, a former sumo grand champion and prominent scientists are among the 817 people and 14 organizations who will receive governmental medals Wednesday for their contributions to society, the Cabinet Office said Tuesday.

Kaori Icho, 20, who won a gold medal in women's wrestling in the Athens Olympics, became the youngest recipient ever to be decorated by the government after the age criteria for awards expanded to cover those 50 years old or younger in the fall of 2003. (Kyodo News)

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TheMat.com U.S. Senior Women's Rankings

Released 11/1/2004
Ranked by TheMat.com

48 kg (105.5 lbs.) *
1. Patricia Miranda, New Haven, Conn. (Dave Schultz WC)
2. Clarissa Chun, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
3. Sara Fulp-Allen, El Granada, Calif. (Menlo College)
4. Mary Kelly, Mahomet, Ill. (Dave Schultz WC)
5. Katie Kunimoto, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Gator WC)
6. Caitlyn Chase, Hanover Park, Ill. (Gator WC)
7. Julie Gonzalez, Vallejo, Calif. (Dave Schultz WC)
8. Laura Felix, Bakersfield, Calif. (Dave Schultz WC)
9. Liz Short, Lombard, Ill. (USOEC)
10. Hana Askren, Los Angeles, Calif. (Santa Monica WC)

51 kg (112 lbs.)
1. Stephanie Murata, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
2. Malinda Ripley, Colorado Springs, Colo.(Sunkist Kids)
3. Jenny Wong, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
4. Debbi Sakai, Miliani, Hawaii (New York AC)
5. Cheryl Wong, Croton, N.Y. (Dave Schultz WC)
6. Desi Lockhart, Port Townsend, Wash. (Oregon WC)
7. Kapua Torres, Kahuku, Hawaii (Pacific)
8. Tabithia Ramsey, Austin, Texas (unattached)
9. Jillian Yost, Manchester, Conn. (New York AC)
10. Maika Watanabe, Napa, Calif. (Missouri Valley)

55 kg (121 lbs.) *
1. Tela O'Donnell, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Dave Schultz WC)
2. Tina George, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)
3. Marcie Van Dusen, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
4. Sharon Jacobsen, El Cajon, Calif. (USOEC)
5. Danyelle Hedin, Honolulu, Hawaii (USOEC)
6. Othella Lucas, San Diego, Calif. (New York AC)
7. Tina Pihl, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)
8. Amy Borgnini, Terre Haute, Ind. (USOEC)
9. Chelsea Roundtree, Crestwood, Ky. (Cumberland College)
10. Grace Magnussen, Walnut Creek, Calif. (Dave Schultz WC)

59 kg (130 lbs.)
1. Brandy Rosenbrock, Harrison, Mich. (USOEC)
2. Lauren Lamb, Farmington, N.Y. (Michigan WC)
3. Sally Roberts, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Gator WC)
4. Erin Tomeo, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
5. Suekoiyla Shelly, Hurst, Texas (New York AC)
6. Iris Mucha, Anchorage, Alaska (unattached)
7. Brooke Bogren, Carbondale, Kan. (Missouri Valley)
8. Kelsey Campbell, Oregon City, Ore. (unattached)
9. Leigh Jaynes, Burlington, N.J. (New York AC)
10. Lindsey Owens, Ripon, Calif. (unattached)

63 kg (138.5 lbs.) *
1. Sara McMann, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
2. Tori Adams, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
3. Alaina Berube, Escanaba,Mich. (Cumberland College)
4. Kaci Lyle, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
5. N’Tasha Umemoto, Portland, Ore. (Sunkist Kids)
6. Stefanie Shaw, Waterford, Conn. (New England Elite)
7. Vanessa Oswalt, Mount Vernon, Ohio (SW Force)
8. Shelly Ruberg, Ueras, Ohio (Cumberland College)
9. Mollie Keith, Aurelia, Iowa (Missouri Valley)
10. Ranae Faaborg, Radcliffe, Iowa (unattached)

67 kg (147.5 lbs.)
1. Katie Downing, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
2. Ali Bernard, New Ulm, Minn. (Minnesota Storm)
3. Heather Martin, Wellington, Ohio (All-American WC)
4. Cindy Herceg, Los Angeles, Calif. (Spartak)
5. Kelly Branham, Apache Junction, Ariz. (Missouri Valley)
6. K’uu Johnson, Honolulu, Hawaii (USOEC)
7. Ashley Sword, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)
8. Andrea Hale, Chicago, Ill. (Lassen College)
9. Nikia Jensen, Eden Prairie, Minn. (unattached)
10. Brandy Golt, Chesapeake, Va. (Missouri Valley)

72 kg (158.5 lbs.) *
1. Toccara Montgomery, Cleveland, Ohio (New York AC)
2. Kristie Marano, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)
3. Stephany Lee, Honolulu, Hawaii (Missouri Valley)
4. Iris Smith, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)
5. Samantha Lang, Tualatin, Ore. (Sunkist Kids)
6. Donell Bradley, Aiea, Hawaii (USOEC)
7. Randi Miller, Arlington, Texas (USOEC)
8. Elena Mena, St. Paul, Minn. (USOEC)
9. Juanita Russell, Galway, N.Y. (TNT)
10. Misty Stalley, San Mateo, Calif. (Menlo College)

* - Olympic weight class

Media outlets may reproduce these rankings only if they identify them as TheMat.com U.S. Senior Women’s rankings