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1991 Worlds, where she beat Shoko Yoshimura of Japan, who had beaten her in the finals of the 1990 Worlds. “In Japan, I drew her in the first round. She had always beat me, but I ended up beating her. If I had to say there was one match where all my hard work paid off, upsetting a three-time World champion in her home country was an accomplishment. I ended up facing Xiue Zhong of China in the finals and ended up with a silver. After I beat Shoko, I said ‘man, this gold is mine to have.’ In the finals, I hit a China wall, excuse the pun,” she said. Throughout the journey, she became best friends with Afsoon Roshanzamir, now Afsoon Johnston after getting married. They trained together, supported each other, and have remained close after their wrestling years ended. “She was always like that big sister. She always had my num-
ber. By the time we met, she had wrestled at Independence High School for four years. She was a great mentor for me on the mat, even though I was the older one. We never competed against each other. We tried not to,” said Ziegler. Ziegler was there when women’s wrestling was in its infancy, not yet an Olympic sport. “It progressed rapidly. You watched the numbers grow. As word got out, there were a lot of young girls who all wrestled on the boys team and slowly but surely it started to grow. We made each other better. The big pop in numbers came when the judo girls came over. They heard about wrestling and saw there was good crossover. You saw a big jump then,” she said. Ziegler continued competing a number of years after her first daughter Mia was born. She would take her baby with her to all the wrestling events. By the time her second daughter McKenna came along, Ziegler got out of the sport, and basically stayed away for 16 years. A third child was born, son McCartney, and Ziegler has lived the life of a single mother, working full-time in
The 2015 U.S. Veterans freestyle world champions. Front: Jamey Kasser, Meghan Marchello, Marie Ziegler. Back: Grant Johnson, Antonio Peraza, Shirzad Ahmadi. Mark Goldman photo.
the restaurant business, now working in an upscale restaurant in Belleville, Wash.
“In my life, there were some ups and downs. I credit being a wrestler. When you have adversities, I know I survived those adver- sities because of my fighting spirit on the mat,” she said. Ziegler was brought back into wrestling during a reunion of women’s wrestling pioneers held at the 2013 U.S. Open in Las Vegas. She visited with her past teammates and opponents from the early years and was back in the sport. “We reconnected on Facebook, and we tossed around the idea of the girls getting together. As I got reacquainted with wrestling, I had to pinch myself watching how much it had grown. It was absolutely amazing. Shocking is the right term,” she said.
It was a Facebook message from fellow pioneer Jennifer Ottiano, who asked Ziegler if she was planning on wrestling in the Veterans World Championships. This year was the first time women were in the event. She trained with a number of girls and women in Eastern Washington and got into shape. “I thought, the opportunity to go to the first World Championships twice in your lifetime is pretty hard to pass up. Once I saw they broke it up into age categories, I can stand on my own against another middle age woman. I don’t think I can handle the younger girls, but another 45 year old woman, absolutely. I’ll go. The fact it was in Greece also lured me to go,” she said.
Ziegler was joined by another U.S. woman on the trip, Meghan Marchello. There was nobody in her weight class at the event, so she won a gold medal, but she was able to wrestle some exhibition matches in training with athletes from other countries, including one of Greece’s top young wrestlers. She also had a chance to visit some of the historic sites in Athens, including the Acropolis. It was a great trip which inspired her. “When I went to Veterans Worlds in Greece, it was a lot like (the ’89 Worlds). It was a new idea. There weren’t a lot of women there, but somebody has to show up and be the first and set the stage for those that follow,” she said. Ziegler would like to get even more involved in wrestling, and is looking for the right coaching opportunity. A return trip to the Veterans Worlds is also under consideration. “The alluring factor was to go to the first one. The next one is in Poland. I’m not much of a yoga girl. Wrestling is my sport. It’s a great way to stay in shape. I am seriously entertaining the idea. If I can get a few of my former teammates to attend, even better,” she said.
20 USA Wrestler
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