George, McMann and Montgomery remain in medal contention at Olympic Testing Event in Athens, Greece

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
01/23/2004


Three of the four U.S. women wrestlers entered in the Olympic Testing Event in Athens, Greece have won their matches and advanced into medal contention in the competition, which began on Friday, January 23.    The event is being held to test the wrestling venue which will house the Olympic wrestling competition this summer at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games. The event features many of the greatest women wrestlers in the world, the athletes who are medal hopefuls for the first women's wrestling event in Olympic history this summer.    Moving out of their pool competitions for the United States are Tina George (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 55 kg/121 lbs., Sara McMann (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) at 63 kg/138.75 lbs., and Toccara Montgomery (Cleveland, Ohio/New York AC) at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. All three were World silver medalists in 2003 at their respective weight  classes.    George won two matches in her pool, defeating Olga Krygina of Ukraine, 4-2 and Briget Stern of Austria, 4-0. George advances to the quarterfinal round, where she will wrestle Dilleta Giampiccolo of Italy.     Giampiccola defeated George in the semifinals of the 2003 New York Athletic Club Christmas International in December. George has won a silver medal at the World Championships for two straight years.    McMann advanced from a pool of four athletes. She pinned 2003 World silver medallist Ewelina Pruszko of Poland in the opening match, then scored a 10-0 technical fall over Nadia Valkova of Bulgaria. The score of her match with Eri Sakamoto of Japan was not available at press time.    McMann will face Aurora Fajardo of Spain in the semifinals on Saturday.    Montgomery was also dominant in her pool competition, winning three matches handily. She pinned Stanka Zlateva of Bulgaria and Kataryna Juzczak of Italy, and scored a technical fall over Dan Li of China.    Montgomery will face five-time World Champion Kyoko Hamaguchi of Japan in the semifinals. Hamaguchi defeated Montgomery in the finals of the 2003 World Championships in New York City. Montgomery avenged that loss with a victory over Hamaguchi in the World Cup in Tokyo, Japan in October. Montgomery is a two-time World silver medalist (2001, 2003).    The only U.S. wrestler defeated in the pool competition and out of medal contention is two-time World silver medalist Patricia Miranda (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC) at 48 kg/105.5 lbs.    Miranda was in a pool of four athletes, and won her first two bouts. She edged Yuliya Voitova of Ukraine, 5-3 and pinned Sara Sanchez of Spain. She was defeated by 2003 World Champion Chiharu Icho of Japan, 3-1, and Icho advanced to the medal rounds. Icho won her World title at 51 kg/112.25 lbs., and has dropped down to this division to compete at a weight class in the Olympic Games. Miranda is a two-time World silver medalist, winning her medals in 2000 and 2003.