Sara McMann, silver 2004 Olympic medalist, has admitted she was a pretty stressed-out wrestler when she was winning world medals in the early 2000’s. Since then, she has not given up her passion for werstling, but last year, after having her baby girl, Bella, she has lost the stress and now wrestles for fun.
“After having a baby, chasing my own success is not my complete world,” she said. “Being successful is something that I’m driven to do anyway. I was kind of too close to [wrestling] and I cared too much. Now, being worried about my baby keeps me from getting nervous, it keeps me from overanalyzing things and it keeps things in perspective. In sports, that’s a really good thing.”
In just her second freestyle wrestling competition back, Sara strong-armed her way into the U.S. Open women’s freestyle semifinals. In the quarter final, she dominated against Tessa Piana, 6-0, 6-0.
“I didn’t think after having a baby I wouldn’t want to compete,” she said. “I love being a mom, but I want her to grow up in this culture, too. I really didn’t feel like I’ve missed a beat. Right now, this is just for fun.”
She didn’t enter the U.S. Open with much planning, but if she wins, she’ll be the No. 1 seed at the World Team Trials. Even though she could be the No. 1 seed, she isn’t committing to anything. She doesn’t want to get stressed. It looks like she is a better wrestler when she is relaxed, and time will tell if we see her in another Olympics.
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