Wrestling in Canada

Last updated
Wrestling Canada Lutte
Wrestling pictogram.svg
Sport Wrestling (Amateur)
AbbreviationWCL
Founded1969
Affiliation United World Wrestling (UWW)
ReplacedCanadian Amateur Wrestling Association
Official website
wrestling.ca
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg

The sport of wrestling has been practiced in Canada for more than a century, with the first amateur wrestling championships being held at Toronto's Argonaut Rowing Club in 1901. The sport continued to grow during the 20th century and by 1969, the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association was formed. Today the same organization is called Wrestling Canada Lutte, [1] and is the national governing body for Olympic style wrestling in Canada. The organization's purpose is to encourage and develop the widest participation and highest proficiency in Olympic wrestling in Canada. [2] [3]

Contents

Canada Summer Games

Wrestling is a sport officially included in the Canada Summer Games program. Initially the program considered wrestling a winter sport and was featured at the first Canada Games in 1967. In 2005, women's freestyle wrestling was added to the program.

Wrestling will be a part of the 2022 Canada Summer Games, [4] [5] a.k.a. 'Niagara Games', August 6-21, 2022, which will be hosted in the Niagara Region of Ontario, Canada. The wrestling events will take place at the new Canada Games Park.

The following Canadian wrestlers have competed in the Canada Summer Games:

Notables in Canadian wrestling

In 2012, a 45 minute TV movie/documentary was released by Vanwestfilm Productions about the development of women's wrestling in Canada called, Wrestling with Attitude. [9] [10] The film focused on two female Canadian wrestlers in particular – former Simon Fraser University wrestler Carol Huynh, who begins training with the Calgary Dinos at the University of Calgary, and Junior World wrestling champion Danielle Lappage, originally from Alberta and was then training at Simon Fraser University in her first year as a senior wrestler.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tonya Verbeek</span> Canadian freestyle wrestler, University of Iowa Womens Wrestling Assistant Coach

Tonya Lynn Verbeek is a Canadian freestyle wrestler. Verbeek was the first woman to win a wrestling medal for Canada when she took silver in 2004, she added to that with a bronze at the 2008 Summer Olympics and a second silver at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She has also won two bronze and a silver at the world championships and has a bronze and silver from the Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada at the Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Canada has competed at 23 Summer Olympic Games, missing only the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics and the boycotted 1980 Summer Olympics. The nation made its debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics. Canada competes under the IOC country code CAN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol Huynh</span> Canadian freestyle wrestler (b. 1980)

Carol Huynh is a retired Canadian freestyle wrestler. Huynh was the first gold medalist for Canada in women's wrestling and was the first gold medallist for Canada at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She is also the 2010 Commonwealth Games and two time Pan American Games champion. She has also achieved success at the world championships where Huynh has totaled one silver and three bronze medals. Huynh is also an eleven time national champion. Following the 2012 Olympics, Huynh retired from competition and started coaching the University of Calgary Dinos wrestling team. Huynh was elected to the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2013. In early 2015 she was selected as a United World Wrestling Super 8 Ambassador for the global campaign focusing on the development of women in wrestling and has also served as the Chair of the United World Wrestling Athletes Commission from 2013 to 2017. As of 2020 she is the current coach of Wrestling Canada's Next Gen team based in Calgary.

Dorothy Yeats is a Canadian wrestler and Commonwealth Games champion. She won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She also wrestled at Vanier College in Montreal, where she is on the school's Wall of Fame. She once said about Vanier College, "I never even considered going anywhere else. I’m glad I came here. I don’t think I could have excelled at my sport anywhere else."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanesa Kaladzinskaya</span> Belarusian freestyle wrestler

Vanesa Kaladzinskaya is a Belarusian freestyle wrestler. She competed in the freestyle 48 kg event at the 2012 Summer Olympics; after defeating Zhuldyz Eshimova in the 1/8 finals, she was eliminated by Carol Huynh in the quarterfinals.

Yuliya Anatoliyivna Tkach, née Ostapchuk, is a Ukrainian freestyle wrestler. She is a member of Dynamo sports club. World champion in 2014, she competed for Ukraine at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blessing Oborududu</span> Nigerian Olympic wrestler

Blessing Oborududu is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler. She is currently ranked as the world number two woman wrestler and also the first wrestler to win an Olympic medal representing Nigeria at the Olympics. She is also a twelve-time African champion from 2010 to 2023.

Tatyana Akhmetova-Amanzhol is an amateur Kazakh freestyle wrestler, who played for the women's flyweight category. In 2009, Bakatyuk won a gold medal for the 51 kg class at the Asian Wrestling Championships in Pattaya, Thailand, and at the FILA Golden Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Olga Vladimirovna Smirnova is an amateur Russian-born Kazakhstani freestyle wrestler, who played for the women's lightweight category. She is a two-time Olympian, a three-time medalist at the European Senior Championships, and a gold medalist for the 50 kg class at the 1996 World Wrestling Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Smirnova also added a silver medal from the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, and bronze from the 2007 World Wrestling Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, representing her adopted nation Kazakhstan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Dosho</span> Japanese wrestler

Sara Dosho is a wrestler from Japan. She won the gold medal in the women's 69 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She also won the gold medal in her event at the 2017 World Wrestling Championships held in Paris, France.

Erica Elizabeth Wiebe is a wrestler competing for Canada. She is an Olympic champion in women's 75 kg freestyle, winning gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She was the third Canadian champion ever in wrestling at the Olympics, and second Canadian woman to win gold after Carol Huynh. Wiebe is also the current Commonwealth Games champion in the same weight class, having won the gold medal at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Gold Coast, respectively.

Danielle Suzanne Lappage is a wrestler competing for Canada. She won a gold medal in the 63 kg freestyle at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She finished in 5th place at the 2014 World Wrestling Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justina Di Stasio</span> Canadian wrestler

Justina Di Stasio is a Canadian wrestler of Italian and Cree descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Morais</span> Canadian wrestler

Linda Morais is a wrestler competing for Canada. She won a gold medal in the 59 kg freestyle at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships and a bronze medal in the 60 kg freestyle at the 2016 World Wrestling Championships. She won one of the bronze medals in the 68 kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She is also a two-time World University Championship gold medallist.

Martina Kuenz is an Austrian freestyle wrestler. At the 2018 World Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary, she won one of the bronze medals in the women's 72 kg event. She is also a three-time medalist at the European Wrestling Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khanum Velieva</span> Russian freestyle wrestler

Khanum Elshad-Kysy Velieva is a Russian freestyle wrestler. She is a bronze medalist at the World Wrestling Championships and a two-time medalist, including gold, at the European Wrestling Championships. In 2021, she competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Hannah Fay Taylor is a Canadian freestyle wrestler. Taylor competed for Canada at the 2019 Pan American Games, and at the Pan American Wrestling Championships she won the silver medal in 2019 and 2020. She won one of the bronze medals in the women's 57 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England. She is a member of the women's wrestling team at Brock University.

Alexander Robert Moore is a Canadian freestyle wrestler competing in the 86 kg freestyle event.

Nishan Randhawa is a Canadian freestyle wrestler. He participated in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the wrestling competition, being awarded the gold medal in the men's freestyle 97 kg event.

References

  1. "Wrestling Canada Lutte". Wrestling Canada Lutte. Canada Games Council.
  2. "Wrestling". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  3. "Wrestling Canada Lutte". Wrestling Canada Lutte. Canada Games Council.
  4. "Niagara 2022 Games, Sports, Wrestling". Niagara 2022 Games. Canada Games Council.
  5. "Niagara 2022 Games". Niagara 2022 Games. Canada Games Council.
  6. Glasgow 2014 profile
  7. "Canada wins 2 more wrestling golds at Commonwealth Games". CBC Sports . 31 July 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  8. "Wrestling". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  9. "Wrestling With Attitude Trailer". Youtube. Vanwestfilm Productions.
  10. "Wrestling with Attitude (2012 TV Movie)". IMDb.com. IMDb.com.