WOMEN’S FREESTYLE SPOTLIGHT Padilla sets sights on gold


The talented women’s wrestler, who turns 20 this month, already owns two World bronze medals


By Craig Sesker COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –


Tatiana Padilla is a competitor. She earned three top-five finishes in


the Senior World Championships while still in her teens, but the multi-talented women’s freestyle wrestler from the United States is anything but content. “I want to win a World title and I want


to win an Olympic gold medal,” Padilla said. “I haven’t reached my potential yet in wrestling. Not even close. I want to be standing on top of the podium.” Padilla captured a bronze medal with a


gutsy performance at the 2010 World Championships in Moscow, Russia. She lost to Japanese legend Saori


Yoshida in the quarterfinals, but fought back to place third. Padilla won her second bronze medal,


after placing third in the World as a 17- year-old in 2008. She was fifth in the 2009 Worlds at 55 kg/121 lbs. “Tatiana’s a scrapper,” U.S. National


Coach Terry Steiner said. “She’s a fighter and she’s hard-nosed. She gets after it. She’s exactly what you want in a com- petitor. She’s won World medals at age 17 and 19, and there is still a lot of room for improvement. She obviously has great potential. She has the talent and ability to be the best in the World.” Padilla ran into one of the best wrestlers in the history of the sport when she fell to Yoshida 3-0, 6-0 in the quarter- finals at the Worlds in September. Yoshida has won two Olympic gold medals and eight World titles. “She’s obviously a good wrestler, but


she’s very beatable,” Padilla said. “I have to prepare better and use a different game plan the next time. I need to be more patient. She got me out of position, and got me frustrated.”


14 USA Wrestler


Tatiana Padilla (in red) looks for points in her bronze-medal win over Russia’s Maria Gurova. At right, she poses with her medal. Tony Rotundo photos.


Padilla pinned Russia’s Maria Gurova


in the bronze-medal match. “I didn’t want to go home with nothing,


like I did last year,” she said. “I didn’t wrestle my best, but I used a lot of will and determination to come back.” Padilla relied on an effective gut-


wrench maneuver to excel at the Worlds. “I’ve always had a good gut-wrench, I


just haven’t used it that much in the past,” she said. “Coach Steiner told me to go to it more at the Worlds. My first match, I was losing 4-0 in the second period and came back to win 7-4 by turn- ing the girl (Zalina Sidakova of Belarus).” Steiner said Padilla has areas she can improve in on the mat. “Defensively, she needs to improve on


her feet,” he said. “And she needs to improve on the mat in par terre. She’s very coachable and I think she will keep getting better. She’s not afraid to work and not afraid to push herself.” Padilla, who turns 20 this month, said


she is dedicating the upcoming season to friend and teammate Jesse Cruz.


Cruz died after collapsing while com-


peting in a match for Rio Hondo College in California. Padilla and Cruz were team- mates for Northview High School. “Jesse was a really hard-working kid


who would help anybody,” Padilla said. “He would light up a room with his smile and his laugh. He brought a lot of positive energy. He was an amazing kid.” Even with all her of accomplishments,


it is easy to forget how young Padilla is. “She needs 100 percent focus off the


mat to take it to the next level,” Steiner said.


Padilla is eager to have another shot at winning a World title in 2011 before turn- ing her focus to the 2012 Olympics. Padilla placed third in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials as a 17-year-old. “Wrestling in the Olympics, it’s been my


goal since I was 12 years old,” she said. “I’m real excited about having that oppor- tunity. I think about the Olympics a lot. I want to make it to the Olympics and win a gold medal. That’s what I’m shooting for. I want to be the best in the World.”


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