Olympics
Female wrestlers taking it to the mat

By M.R. Kropko
The Associated Press

Toccara Montgomery

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CLEVELAND — Toccara Montgomery first became intrigued with wrestling as a sophomore in high school, and her goal was to eventually be good enough to start winning matches against boys.

Now the senior from Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Ky., doesn't mind admitting she often visualizes herself at a medals ceremony in Athens.

"It's been playing back in my head, me standing on the podium, with my medal on, maybe holding flowers and just the anthem playing with the flag over my head," she said recently while in her hometown of Cleveland.

Montgomery, 21, one of four members of the first U.S. Olympic women's wrestling team, is widely considered to be a strong contender for gold. She won a championship in the 2003 Pan American Games. She has lost some matches but also has won at least once over each of her main competitors in international events for her weight class, up to 158.5 pounds.

"It's really a tough weight class, but I feel confident," she said.

Terry Steiner, USA Wrestling's national women's coach, responsible for training America's best women freestyle wrestlers, has no doubt that Montgomery will be focused and ready.

"Toccara has proven herself as a definite gold-medal contender," Steiner said. "She was second in the world championships last year. She just beat a six-time world champ from Canada. I don't know if she is a gold-medal favorite, but she is definitely highly regarded."

Graphic  Women's wrestling

This Olympics is the first to include women's wrestling.

"If you don't follow women's wrestling at all, there would be a lot of people who don't know it exists," Steiner said. "There have been world championships for about 20 years. So the Olympics was bound to happen sooner or later."

The opportunity has inspired Montgomery.

"It was about two years ago women's wrestling was accepted to the 2004 Olympic Games, and I thought, 'Wow, I might have an opportunity to compete!' So I started to get my training centered on Athens as my primary goal," she said.

Her mother said she was worried about Montgomery's safety when she started wrestling.

"I've always been proud of her, no matter what she has done," Mrs. Montgomery said. "I'm glad she is blessed to have gotten as far as she has gotten in this sport."

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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