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World Championship wrestler Katie Downing

By Kelli McFarland // USOC Media Services // September 7, 2005

A pioneer in women's wrestling, Katie Downing (Pendleton, Ind.) proves that the male-dominated sport isn't just for the boys.
"In the beginning, my coaches tried to work me hard enough to make me quit," said Downing. "I grew up in judo; all the boys I had trained with in judo went out for wrestling, so I decided to try it too. It was natural to me. To everyone else, it wasn't so normal. There were concerns about the close physical contact, many parents were concerned because their sons weren't raised to hurt girls and others had concerns that I was there just to be around the boys."

If only they could see her now.

Downing overcame two major shoulder surgeries to defeat her nemesis and longtime U.S. wrestler Kristie Marano at the 2005 World Team Trials in Ames, Iowa, earning her a spot on the U.S. World Team that will compete at the 2005 World Wrestling Championships Sept. 24-Oct. 3 in Budapest, Hungary.

Marano, a two-time World champion and 10-year national team member, has been Downing's roadblock on her path to major international competitions for the past three years.

"Kristie was already a veteran when I was just getting on the scene," Downing said. "She was always someone to look up to. At the same time, she and I are good friends. Every time I'd ever lose to her, there was always something that I would come back and work on-tweak my technique a little bit, fix something here or there-but I always kept falling short. And this year, I didn't work on anything. I just did everything I always do-a little bit harder. And that seems to work for me."

Downing earned a history degree from the University of Minnesota-Morris where she competed in one of the few college varsity women's wrestling programs in the country. As a senior, Downing was selected to represent the U.S. in the first annual 2001 Women's World Cup in Levallois, France.

Downing returned from Europe undefeated, with a gold medal dangling from her neck.

"Minnesota-Morris is in the middle of nowhere-45 minutes away from the nearest Wal-Mart. The snow comes in October, and it doesn't leave until May," she said with a laugh. "A lot of us on the team were coming from far away. So, there's an instant team connection-an understanding. When you instantly have a family and you go through the same experiences, it's a cool thing."

Downing's passion for women's wrestling and her success is an inspiration to young female wrestlers looking to prove the critics wrong. Downing's list of accomplishments includes 2001 U.S. World Cup Champion, 2003 U.S. Nationals Champion, second place in the 2000 Canada Cup, 1999 and 2003 University Nationals Champion, and 2002-03 and 2005 U.S. World Team Trials Champion.

"There are still a lot of people that don't know that women wrestle," said Downing. "But the exposure triples every year. Certainly once we got into the Olympics last year-I mean, that was instant legitimacy for the sport. So, it's a whole new ballgame. There are so many new opportunities. When I was fresh out of high school, I had to make it at the senior level. Now they have cadet teams, university teams and junior teams."

Despite her athletic appearance, Downing credits her secret to success not to her strength, but to her consistent hard work and dedication to the sport of wrestling.

"I'm not the fastest, the strongest or the most technical," Downing said. "I think I'm just a slow grinder. I'll slowly progress and eventually it pays off. It's consistency, and it's working hard all the time. I'm the one that's always there."

Inspired by Terry Steiner, the first full-time USA Wrestling's National Women's Team coach, Downing prepares for her debut appearance in the 67 kg/147.5 lbs. weight class at the World Championships.

"Terry Steiner is my hero," Downing said. "I'm actually lucky because Terry and I are pretty close to the same size, so he has literally helped me in the wrestling room. The things he has helped me most with are a lot of the basics and positioning-things that will transfer over to all my moves."

Breaking barriers seems to be Downing's mission throughout her athletic career.

Women's wrestling made its first appearance at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Team USA took home a silver and a bronze. Downing plans to make history and become the first American female to capture a gold in women's wrestling at the 2008 Olympic Games in Bejing, China.

"You know, I'm just gonna grind it out for the next four years and continuously improve," said Downing. "I feel good about where I've been and where I'm coming along as far as improvement goes. If I can continue this for the next four years, I'm going to feel really good about Bejing."

A perfect ending to a successful Olympic career.

"No matter what, Bejing is going to be my last hurrah. It makes it easier to deal with," Downing said. "After that, I want to coach. I'm built for it."

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FILA makes rule modification to the clinch for men's and women's freestyle wrestling effective immediately

9/13/2005
John Fuller/USA Wrestling

FILA, the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling, has announced a rule modification for men’s freestyle and women’s freestyle competition effective immediately.

Beginning with the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in late September, there may only be one clinch per match. Previously, the clinch was held at the end of each period if neither wrestler was able to score. The wrestler that clinched first was decided by a coin toss.

Now, if the first period is scoreless, the clinch is required. However, the clinch may only occur in the second or third period if there was not a clinch in the previous period(s).

If a clinch has been held in a previously completed period, and the score is 0-0 following the first minute of competition in the second and/or third period, international officials have been instructed to not allow the period to end without a point being scored.

A score may be the result of either one of the competitors being penalized with a caution and a point for fleeing the hold or the official may make an inactivity call within the last one minute of the second and/or third period to eliminate the possibility of no score.

“I think these new rules are good for our guys,” USA Wrestling National Freestyle Coach Kevin Jackson stated. “I think we will all be curious to see how the officials implement the rule of making sure a point is scored before the end of the period. But this rule change forces an aggressive style of wrestling, which is what American wrestlers are known for.”

Following the Olympic Games in Athens last year, FILA instituted new rules for freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. Wrestlers compete in three, two-minute periods in a best-of-three format. The first wrestler to win two individual periods wins the match.

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Complete team standings from the five divisions at the ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet Nationals, along with unofficial overall standings

9/13/2005
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

JUNIOR NATIONAL WOMEN’S FREESTYLE STANDINGS

Place/State/Points/AAs/Champs
1. California, 52 pts., 14 AA –1 champ
2. Texas, 31, 11-0
3. New York, 26, 6-1
4. Hawaii, 24, 5-1
5. Washington, 23, 4-1
6. Wisconsin, 19, 3-0
7. Michigan, 18, 5-0
8. Minnesota, 16, 4-0
9. Connecticut, 15, 3-0
9. Ohio ,15, 3-1
11. Illinois, 14, 2-1
11. Oklahoma, 14, 2-1
13. Florida, 9, 3-1
13. Iowa, 9 , 2-0
15. Maine, 8, 1-1
15. Oregon , 8, 1-1
15. Maryland, 8, 1-1
18. Alaska, 7, 1-0
19. Pennsylvania, 4, 2-0
20. Georgia, 3, 1-0
20. South Carolina, 3, 1-0
20. Virginia, 3, 1-0
23. Kansas , 1, 1-0

California had a strong performance in winning the team title in Junior women’s freestyle, with 52 points, including champion Tatiana Padilla (119) and 14 individual All-Americans. Texas placed second with 31 points, led by 11 All-Americans but no champions. New York, with six All-Americans and champion Juanita Russell (195), were third with 26 points. Hawaii placed fourth with 24 points, led by champion Desiree Memea (175) and five All-Americans. Washington captured fifth place with 23 points, with four All-Americans and champion Melissa Simmons (160).

Rounding out the top 10 teams in the Junior women’s freestyle were Wisconsin in sixth, Michigan in seventh, Minnesota in eighth and Connecticut and Ohio tied in ninth.

In an unofficial review of all five tournaments during the week, by combining the team scores from each division. Pennsylvania won the overall team title, with 208 points. California was in second with 182 points, followed by Minnesota in third with 164 points, Ohio in fourth with 148 points and Washington in fifth with 146 points.

Rounding out the top 10 teams in the overall team standings was Missouri in sixth, Illinois in seventh, Florida in eighth, New York in ninth and Oregon in 10th.

Special thanks to Rob Sherrill of Center Mat Press for his work on this project.