Women's freestyle Olympic Games Session 1 quotes
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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
08/22/2004
48 kg/105.5 lbs. - Patricia Miranda, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Dave Schultz WC) Did you need to loosen up during that first match? "I don't care if you can beat me half the time, but you're not going to beat me today. With me, personally, I am that type of wrestler. Once a tournament starts and I get my first match out of the way, then I'll be fine, so I am actually pretty happy with how it did go." Is this similar to a World Championships? "It feels a lot like a World Championships. It just has that added weight and honor of having USA on your back, instead of just your club. You have fans cheering for you simply because they support your country, so it's an added benefit. I know when I shake hands and I bow my head, I know that I'm doing a service to my country and not just myself." Talk about your opponents. "China and Russia are good contenders. I knew they were going to be solid matches. They would probably go the whole distance, but I was going to keep a very aggressive mindset and try and attack anyway. It just helps my wrestling when I'm more offensive. It keeps me on my toes. It didn't go perfectly, obviously, as I was down in both my matches. But it definitely made it exciting. And at every given moment I was thinking 'I'm going to give you hell. You might score another point, but it's going to wear you out and I'm going to come back tomorrow.'" How much have you worked on coming back from behind? "Being down in both my matches, that isn't something that I think is something I expected, but it's something that we have trained so much on for the past three months." Is your style of wrestling helpful in those types of matches? "One way I would describe my wrestling is pressure, pressure, pressure and it's a faith that they are going to break at some point. I knew that my top wrestling was very strong. I'm not above taking the opportunities that are given to me." 55 kg/121 lbs. - Tela O'Donnell, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Dave Schultz WC) Is that the way you draw it up,? I don't really plan on getting behind so I can try to come back and win. I really like to be able to be strong from the beginning. Were you panicking at all down 5-0? If you panic, then you'll make a big mistake and you'll end up just giving it away. You just got to take it from where you are and figure out what's there. Are you starting to become known as a pinner? I don't think of myself as winning by pin, but it's happened recently - a couple of times. How important is this moment for women's wrestling? It's huge. Just how far wrestling goes back, it's really neat. And now we can be a part of it. We get to show what we do to the world. It's so much bigger than just me. Were you nervous before the match? There's always nerves for any match. They all seem big to me because you put your heart into every match, no matter if it's in the room or in the Olympics. I think there's a little different nerves. It's just exciting. 63 kg/138.75 lbs. - Sara McMann, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids) How prepared were you for this first match? "We knew what her style was so I was ready. I anticipated her double-leg. It's really strong, but I kept good position and I trusted in what my coaches told me. The last part was just scrambling. I didn't know that I would catch her for the fall, but I knew that I wouldn't get scored on. I was just trying to get out of what she was doing, honestly." Is all the hard work worth competing in the Olympics? "Back then I was crying about it, but now I think that maybe (Coach Terry Steiner) had a point for all those sprints." Where do you feel that women's wrestling is at? "It feels like to me that we're gaining a lot more respect among all of the wrestling world. It took a lot of hard work to get there and a lot of girls putting in a lot of hours to get there." 72 kg/158.5 lbs. - Toccara Montgomery, Cleveland, Ohio (New York AC) Did you panic when you got down in the match? "I'm always down, so I didn't freak out about it. I just didn't get it back, so what can you do?" Did the draw change your mindset? "I had no reaction. The draw to me didn't matter. I felt confident going in. It just didn't matter."