WOMEN’S FREESTYLE SPOTLIGHT Golden Girl
Victoria Anthony repeats as Junior World champion
By Gary Abbott It is an amazing feat to win a Junior
World title in wrestling, to be the best 17- 20 year old wrestler in your weight class in the entire world. History shows that Junior World champions regularly move on to claim Senior World and Olympic titles. But how about winning a Junior World
title two years in a row? Now we are talk- ing about a truly elite performance. We are talking about Victoria Anthony
of the United States. In Budapest, Hungary in July, Anthony claimed the 48 kg/105.5 lbs. title in women’s freestyle at the 2010 Junior World Championships. That triumph fol- lowed her 2009 Junior World title at 44 kg/97 lbs. in Ankara, Turkey. She beat Davaasuren Bayarmagnai of Mongolia in the gold-medal match this year, 1-0, 6-0. Anthony claimed the first period with a clinch, then won the second period by technical fall after taking Bayarmagnai down, then turning her mul- tiple times with an ankle lace. “I was excited for the match. I couldn’t
calm down the whole time. I think I brought that to the match, that intensity. And just not holding back. Opening up was the big thing for me,” said Anthony. Anthony’s success was also very excit-
ing for USA Wrestling’s Assistant Women’s National Coach Izzy Izboinikov, who was her coach at both Junior World Championships. “It gives me great pleasure to see her succeed. I have been involved in her career for many years,” said Izboinikov. “I was fortunate enough to see her win a second World title. She joins an exclusive club of multiple Junior World champions. There aren’t too many of them.” The only other U.S. wrestler to win two
Junior World titles was women’s wrestler Ali Bernard, who claimed her gold medals in 2003 and 2005. Bernard went on to
14 USA Wrestler
Victoria Anthony won her second Junior World Championships in July in Hungary. Gary Abbott photo.
earn a spot on the 2008 Olympic team. Anthony did not have an easy road to
the gold medal this year. Her second- round win against Lenka Matajova of Slovakia went three periods, which she scored the deciding points on a protest. In her semifinal win over Jaqueline Schellen of Germany, the U.S. won another protest in the second period when Anthony scored from a clinch. She competed with composure in spite of the pressure to defend her crown. “It was a culmination of all of the train-
ing we put in the last few months. I went to win. I set out to take it all. I tried to separate from last year. It was a different weight class. Everything was different here,” she said. Izboinikov agreed that Anthony’s focus
was on being the absolute best. “It started day one of her preparation,”
he said. “We saw a different Vicky this year. Last year, it was hope, a lot of feisti- ness and aggressiveness. This year, she was on a mission, just to be the best in the world. Not just to win a title, but really to be the absolute best wrestler in the world. And she proved it every day. I can’t think of one day in the last two months when she was off her game.”
U.S. women’s freestyle
Junior World champions Victoria Anthony 2009 and 2010; Adeline Gray 2008; Whitney Conder 2007; Nicole Woody 2006; Ali Bernard 2003 and 2005; Dominique Smalley 2000; Kristie Stenglein 1998
Anthony is taking a bit of a different
road on her quest to be a World and Olympic champion. After completing her outstanding high school career, she decided to attend Simon Fraser Univ. in Canada and compete for their outstand- ing women’s wrestling team. Ironically, this is the same route that Ali Bernard took after high school, competing for the Univ. of Regina and the Univ. of Calgary. “She is a very good athlete. Physically,
she is talented. She works hard at it. She has a good mind for the sport. She is a directed kid. She is a very good student and works at that also,” said Mike Jones, the head coach at Simon Fraser. Anthony has had success on the
Senior level. Included were some very competitive matches against 2008 World champion Clarissa Chun. Anthony has now set her sights on the next level, at the World Championships and Olympics. Jones contends that she will need to continue her improvement. “She believes that she can compete at
that level, and that is very important,” said Jones. “She has a goal of being on World and Olympic teams. It is a legiti- mate goal for her. She was just a fresh- man this year. A year ago, she was all upper body. We got her to work on going to the legs this year. Next year, we hope she puts it all together.” The U.S. coaching staff is excited to
see just how far Anthony can go. “She has proven herself at the Junior
level. That usually leads to Senior suc- cess,” said National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner. “She is in a good training environment.
She is doing what is necessary to win. I see no reason why she won’t continue moving forward.”
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