Wrestling Canada Lutte – (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) – Motivated and looking to carry on the 2016 Team Canada trend of strong Canadian women winning medals in Rio, the first three Canadian wrestlers from Canada’s #6Pack; Jasmine Mian (48KG), Michelle Fazzari (58KG) and Dori Yeats (69KG) will hit the mat on Wednesday in Rio for the Women’s Wrestling competition.

With no Canadian entries within the Greco-Roman portion of the Rio 2016 Olympic competition, the Canadian wrestling support network, friends and family have been anxiously waiting for the start of the women’s competition. 2016 will be the first Olympic Games in which women will be competing in six weight categories since Women’s Wrestling made its debut at Athens 2004. In early March 2016 at the Pan Am qualifier in Frisco, Texas, Canada became the first country to qualify entries in all six women’s Olympic weight classes.

Wrestling Canada Lutte’s Women’s National Coach and RIO 2016 Head Coach for the wrestling team, Leigh Vierling has been clear about Wrestling Canada Lutte and the team’s goals in Rio of shooting for the best team performance in the history of the women’s program, and Don Ryan, President of Wrestling Canada Lutte agrees.

“Our six women’s entries here in Rio each have the determination and skill to go all the way here at the Olympics on the 17th and 18th,” says Ryan. “The competition will be outstanding and wrestling fans are in for a tremendous tournament with great performances by our six women’s entries.”

With medical weigh-ins and examinations on Tuesday afternoon, the women’s wrestling light-weight, 2014 FISU World University Champion and 2014 Commonwealth Games Bronze Medalist, Jasmine Mian (48KG) will be looking for a great draw and will be eyeing London 2012 silver medalist and heavy favourite for Gold Mariya Stadnik (AZE) as the Barrie native goes for hardware.

“I love being able to put something on the line. Life can be pretty mundane sometimes (go to work, come home, go to school, come home), but this sport is exciting and a chance to test yourself,” says Mian. “I love the thrill of constantly challenging myself.”

At 58KG, Michelle Fazzari (St. Catharines) will perhaps have to face Kaori Icho (JPN) who is looking to win the gold medal at her fourth consecutive Olympic Games. Fazzari, who trains with the Brock Wrestling team will be looking to build on her 2016 momentum as she won gold at the Frisco event to qualify for these Olympics.

Rounding out the three Canadian competitors for day one of women’s wrestling at the Rio Olympics will be 2010 Youth Olympic Games Champion, two-time Junior World Champion, 2014 FISU World Champion, 2014 Commonwealth Games Champion, and 2015 Pan Am Games Champion Dory Yeats (69KG). Coached by her five-time Olympian father Doug Yeats, Yeats might come up against a favourite for another medal, London 2012 gold medalist Natalia Vorobieva (RUS). But Yeats strives at competition and is looking to prove what she is capable of, having defeated Vorobieva at the Rio test event earlier this year.

“Competing is my opportunity to show my competitors and the world what I’ve been training so hard for,” says Yeats. “I like to take competitions as my time to shine and the feeling of winning makes all the long days of hard training completely worth it.”

Women’s wrestling competition begins on Wednesday with qualification rounds and continues Wednesday evening with the repechage and finals:

10:00-13:00 – Qualification Rounds, FW 48kg, 58kg & 69kg
16:00-19:00 – Repechage, Finals & Awards Ceremonies, 48kg, 58kg & 69kg

Women’s competition will continue August 18, 2016 with men’s freestyle rounding out the Games on August 20-21, 2016.

For additional information on scheduling and results please visit:https://unitedworldwrestling.org/event/olympic-games .

For, live updates visit: (https://twitter.com/WrestlingCanada), photos, Facebook posts (https://www.facebook.com/WrestlingCanada) and updates can be linked to at https://www.wrestling.ca.

 

Wrestling Canada Lutte

7-5370 Canotek Rd.

Ottawa, ON K1J 9E6

 

Canada