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Women wrestlers look ahead to Olympic debut at key warm-up event
Sun Nov 3, 1:22 PM ET
By LISA ORKIN, Associated Press Writer
HALKIDA, Greece - Olympic wrestling is no longer a man's world.
The athletes at the 2002 Women's World Wrestling Championships hope to keep it that way.
Two years before the debut of women's wrestling on the Olympic program, the latest championships served as an important stepping stone toward the 2004 Games and the efforts to give the women's sport a permanent Olympic spot after Athens.
"I want that Olympic gold," said American wrestler Tina George from Cleveland who competes in the 55 kilogram (121 pound) category. George has already moved to the Olympic wrestling training center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
But there is no guarantee that women's wrestling will remain in the Olympics for the 2008 Games in Beijing, said organizers at the championships in Halkida, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) northeast of Athens. The tournament ended Sunday.
The International Olympic Committee (news - web sites) is under pressure to pare down the number of sports and Athens will be a key test of the future of women's wrestling.
"The IOC decided to have women participate in (wrestling) in the Olympics and today ... we are trying for something better," said Raphael Martinetti, president of the World Wrestling Organization. "The first priority for us is to preserve these categories."
For the athletes, however, the priority is their new Olympic stature nearly two decades after women began to wrestle in international competition.
"I think that it's really awesome that some countries that we have never even seen before are really putting a conscious effort into their women's wrestling and develop it," said Sara McMann from Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, who competes for the U.S. team in the 63 kilogram (138.75 pound) category.
Japan's Saori Yoshida, who won the gold medal in the freestyle wrestling 55 kilogram (121 pound) category at this year's Asian Games, has been waiting for years to make the Olympics.
"Before we always wanted that it would be a major sport. Now that is included. Everything is forgotten and I am happy," said Yoshida, who defeated George, the American wrestler, in the finals in Halkida.
Although the crowds were small, the enthusiasm was high at times. Two men dressed in traditional Japanese costumes banged drums as the Japanese team entered the arena.
Terry Steiner, the U.S. national women's coach, believes the women athletes still haven't earned "total respect" in a traditionally male sport.
"In the U.S. I think the coaches there think it should be a man's sport forever because its been a man's sport from the beginning of time," Steiner said. "We have a lot of attitude to change."
Although only four weight events will be held during the Olympics, the international federation is using seven at the world championships. The next women's world championship — the last before the Olympics — is scheduled for September 2003 in New York.
Australia's Kyla Bremner, who competes in the 51 kilogram (112.25 pounds) class, said she thinks the promotion of the sport is because of IOC President Jacques Rogge.
"The time has come, I guess," Bremner said.
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News Photo's....Wrestling Matches
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State report rise in sports participation
According to a survey by the Florida High School Activities
Association, sports participation was up among high-schoolers last year.
During the 2001-02 school year, 213,498 high school students
participated in 20 sports. During the 2000-01 season, 211,723 youngsters participated
in 21 sports. The 2000-01 survey includes slow pitch softball. It wasn’t
included in last year’s survey.
The survey includes some non-traditional sports such as badminton,
crew, gymnastics, lacrosse and water polo (which the state does recognize as
an official sport).
The breakdown for the 2000-01 school year showed 88,291 girls and
123,432 boys were involved in state high school sports.
For the girls, that included seven all-girls wrestling teams with 75
girls, but another 108 girls were on boys teams. There were also 77 flag
football teams with 3,109 girls; 25 girls on football teams; and 11 girls
gymnastics teams with 181 girls. There were more girls lacrosse teams than boys
(26-25), and there were still 41 slow pitch softball teams in Florida
with 787 players.
The biggest girls sport in 2000-01 was track and field with 13,096
participants.
For the boys, football was the biggest sport with 422 teams and 34,581
players.
There were 16 boys and 17 girls badminton teams with 172 and 228
participants respectively. There were nine boys crew teams with 329
rowers, and eight girls teams with 356 rowers.
In last year’s survey, surprisingly, there were less girls flag
football teams — 75 (down two) with 3,075 girls. Flag football becomes an
official FHSAA sport this spring, and they already have 92 teams signed up.
Boys volleyball also is official this year, and 98 teams will play.
Last year there were 75 boys teams (1,263), down one from the previous year.
Again in 2001-02, track was the most popular girls sport with 13,295
girls, and football was top on the list for the boys, 25,730.
In 2000-01, two girls were playing high school baseball. None played
last year. There were 25 girls playing football in 2000-01; last year there
were 29.
During the 2000-01 school year, the state counted up 694,409 high
school students in 562 schools. Last year that was up to 711,510 at 577
schools.
The survey didn’t take into account multi-sport athletes. It also
didn’t survey sports such as roller hockey or surfing, and some schools do
field "unofficial’ teams in those sports.
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