It was the second medal ever for a Canadian woman wrestler, the only other was a gold for Carol Huynh in Beijing in 2008. Erica Wiebe , a training partner in London who climbed onto the mat there just to feel it, won a gold medal in the women’s 75-kilogram class at the Rio Games, the lone Canadian wrestler to mount the podium. RIO DE JANEIRO—Four years ago she snuck onto the wrestling mat at the London Olympics to soak in the feeling and to dream. “I was like, ‘okay, these mats are just like any other mats and I’m going to be here one day,” Wiebe told the Star’s Kerry Gillespie after being named to the Olympic team. Wiebe was left off Canada’s Pan Am Games team in 2015 and re-dedicated herself to her sport right after.

Source: thestar August 18, 2016 22:30 UTC