# Canada's olympic wrestling team qualifiers



## JDenz (Dec 17, 2003)

Although the 2004 Athens Olympics are still eight months away, to be held in August, the 2004 Canadian Olympic Wrestling Trials were held this past weekend, Dec. 12-14, at the Millennium Place in Sherwood Park, Alberta, near Edmonton. 

Here are the winners, as reported by the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association web page: 

2004 Olympic Trials Winners - 

Women's Freestyle 

48 kilograms - Lindsay Belisle (Burnaby Mountain W.C.) 
* 55 kilograms - Jennifer Ryz (Burnaby Mountain W.C.) 
63 kilograms - Viola Yanik (Saskatoon W.C.) 
72 kilograms - Christine Nordhagen (U of Calgary W.C.) 


Men's Freestyle 

55 kilograms - Mikheil Japaridze (Montreal W.C.) 
60 kilograms - Gia Sissaouri (Montreal W.C.) 
66 kilograms - Evan MacDonald (Brock W.C.) 
* 74 kilograms - Zoltan Hunyady (Guelph W.C.) 
84 kilograms - Nick Ugoalah (Burnaby Mountain W.C.) 
96 kilograms - Dean Schmeichel (U of Calgary W.C.) 
120 kilograms - Wayne Weathers (Team Impact) 

* Injury petitions will result in these weight divisions being formally finalized at a time to be determined in 2004. 


Greco-Roman 

55 kilograms - Andy Hutchinson (U of Calgary W.C.) 
60 kilograms - Saeed Azarbayjani (Brock W.C.) 
66 kilograms - Ainsley Robinson (Team Impact) 
74 kilograms - Andy Mitton (Black Bears W.C. / Armed Forces) 
84 kilograms - Scott Seeley (Black Bears W.C. / Armed Forces) 
96 kilograms - Peter Guterson (Independent) 
120 kilograms - Ari Taub (U of Calgary W.C.) 


As noted above, there will be additional wrestle-offs at 74 kg in men's and 55 kg in women's freestyle because of injuries to the top-rated wrestlers in those weights. At 74 kg, 1999 World Champion and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Daniel Igali was unable to wrestle at the Olympic Trials due to another in a series of injuries that have plagued him over the past few years. At 55 kg in women's freestyle, Tonya Verbeek also was unable to wrestle due to injury. 

Even though winners were crowned in the 18 Olympic wrestling weights, so far only two of them are guaranteed spots in Athens. Canada has only so far qualified 63 kg in women's freestyle and 66 kg in men's freestyle. The rest of the wrestlers will have to compete in a series of Olympic qualifiers to be held in early 2004 to earn spots for Canada at the other weights. 

The two Canadian wrestlers who are qualified for the 2004 Olympics are 2003 World bronze medalist Viola Yanik at 63 kg in women's freestyle, and Evan MacDonald, who had finished eighth at the 2003 World Championships at 66 kg. The top ten finishers in men's freestyle and Greco and the top five in women's freestyle at the 2003 World Championships qualified their countries. Yanik and MacDonald also both won their weights divisions at these Olympic Trials to earn them their spots. 

Among those winning at these Olympic Trials were six-time World Champion Christine Nordhagen at 72 kg in women's freestyle, and 2001 World Champion Gia Sissaouri at 60 kg in men's freestyle. Nordhagen did not wrestle at the 2003 World Championships, while Sissaouri finished in 12th place. 

Also of particular note is the victory at 120 kg in men's freestyle by Wayne Weathers. He is also a lineman for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Juggling his commitments to football with his need to represent Canada in the Olympic qualifying tournaments as well as other international tournaments may be a challenge to him. The CFL preseason games usually start in late May, with the regular season starting in June and running through late October, with the playoffs in November. That will directly overlap with the Olympics in August. If Weathers is able to qualify Canada at heavyweight, he then has a big choice to make between the Olympics and the CFL. He also could possibly have to give up his spot to another wrestler on the Canadian team. 


For complete results, go to the web page of the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association at: 

http://www.wrestling.ca/index.php


----------



## arnisador (Dec 17, 2003)

How about their Judo team?


----------



## JDenz (Dec 17, 2003)

Umm not sure i will look into it.


----------

