Summer Olympics to Include Women's Wrestling

 

By Kerry Sheridan
 
The United States' wrestling team is sending four female athletes to compete in the first-ever Olympic wrestling competition between women.
The sport of wrestling is among the oldest in history, but has long been considered a men's sport. Women have been wrestling at national and world championship matches for almost two decades, but never at the Olympic games, until now.
This year, a team of four American women will break that barrier, along with about 40 of their counterparts¹ from around the world.
The achievement has been a long time coming. Coach Tricia Saunders has been fighting for years to get women's wrestling into the Olympic games. She began wrestling when she was eight years old, but was banned from the sport when she turned 12.
"It was real disappointing because it was the team my brothers wrestled³ on, my teammate wrestled on who I had beaten. I was a four-time state champ and regional national champ. And my town had a meeting and said, 'We are not letting her on this team. No way, no how.' And it held, and I didn't wrestle² anymore."
She began wrestling again when she turned 23 and has since earned eight national titles and three gold medals at World Championship matches, but those memories remain.
"Why can you sit and teach history to both girls and boys and then walk into the wrestling room and kick your students out of the room and not teach them this? Why are they allowed to learn history and math, or you can teach them how to run and swim, but you can't teach them how to wrestle? I still don't really get that."
Many of the women on the Olympic team spent years developing their skills by wrestling against boys, because women's teams were non-existent. A communications representative for the women's Olympic wrestling team, Gary Abbott, says now the number of women wrestlers in the United States is on the rise.
"We have probably about 5000-6000 females wrestling, in comparison to maybe three quarters of a million men, so it's a much smaller part of the wrestling community but it's something that's growing very quickly. But there are still parts of the United States and the world where the idea of women wrestling is still new and something that people are still learning about."
The opportunity to figure so prominently in an historic⁵ moment is not lost on 25-year-old Olympic wrestler⁴ Patricia Miranda. At 48 kilograms she will be among the first female wrestlers to compete for the United States because she is in the lightest weight category.
"I feel so honored for this chance. I know a lot of men and women have been working for decades really to get us included in the games I feel I'm one of the lucky ones that gets to step out on the stage for the first time. But I owe a lot to them. I feel very indebted."
She says she has grown accustomed to hearing people make jokes about women wrestlers. Now, she says, she has a chance to win over anyone who doesn't believe women's wrestling is a serious sport.
"We get a lot of that, you know, mud-wrestling comments, but I think my attitude has devolved. I don't really mind what brings them to watch, whether or not it is that they know women can be tough and love their sport or if it's that they look sexy in a singlet. Whatever reason they come to watch, I believe if they watch for more than two or three minutes they are really going to be won over by the tragedy and the triumph that they see in the middle of our matches."
Her teammate, 21-year-old Toccara Montgomery, weighs 72 kilograms and competes in the heaviest weight category. Her coach calls her a "powerhouse." Ms. Montgomery says she is ready to go.
"I may not be as fast as other girls but like, pound-for-pound and strength-wise I think I'm a really, really powerful wrestler. I hit things hard. Not as fast, but definitely harder than anybody else."
She exudes⁶ calm and confidence, but her enthusiasm is contagious⁷ and she says wrestling has made her the person she is today.
"It really, it teaches you a lot about yourself, a lot of self-confidence, self-respect and things like that. And it is something you don't really find in team sports, like you can always blame somebody else for not making the basket or catching⁸ the ball or something like that. But in wrestling if you don't step up it is solely⁹ your responsibility."
The Olympic women's wrestling competition is scheduled for the second week of the Olympic Games, which begin August 14 in Athens.
I am Kerry Sheridan for Voice Of America in New York.
注释：
wrestling 摔跤
community 团体，会馆
prominently 显著的
category 级别
accustom to 习惯于
powerhouse 发电站
contagious 容易感染人的

1 counterparts   

与对方地位相当的人，与另一方作用相当的物( counterpart的名词复数 )； 同仁

参考例句：

• Deep-sea valleys are the counterparts of the mountain chains. 深海里的峡谷相当于陆地上的山脉。
• Many states have enacted their own counterparts to RCRA and CERCLA. 许多州都已经针对《资源保护和恢复法》和《综合性环境反应、赔偿与责任法案》制定了他们各自的实施细则。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

2 wrestle   

vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付

参考例句：

• He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
• We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。

3 wrestled   

v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤

参考例句：

• As a boy he had boxed and wrestled. 他小的时候又是打拳又是摔跤。
• Armed guards wrestled with the intruder. 武装警卫和闯入者扭打起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 wrestler   

n.摔角选手，扭

参考例句：

• The wrestler tripped up his opponent.那个摔跤运动员把对手绊倒在地。
• The stronger wrestler won the first throw.较壮的那个摔跤手第一跤就赢了。

5 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

6 exudes   

v.缓慢流出，渗出，分泌出( exude的第三人称单数 )；流露出对（某物）的神态或感情

参考例句：

• The plant exudes a sticky fluid. 这种植物分泌出一种黏液。
• She exudes sexual magnetism. 她洋溢着女性的魅力。

7 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

8 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

9 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。