Wrestling for Three Bronze Medals in Denmark

Forgive me if this is a bit of a ramble, we have been running ragged all afternoon!
Where to start... We knew we would be in some tough battles today and our girls here did am amazing job competing hard every point, every match. We won 9 and lost 3 matches this morning. Everyone of our losses was to someone who made the final, and they were all very close.

55kg What can i say about Tonya, she continues to amaze me. She dominated Poland, North Korea, and Kazakstan enroute to her semi final rematch with Saori Yoshida of Japan. Tonya has shown time and again she is probably the best ground wrestler in the womens game right now. Almost everytime she had an opportunity on top she turned her opponents at will in her first three matches. Extremely relaxed and composed she entered the semis on very short recovery after she had finished as the last of the quarter finals. The semi final vs Yoshida was quite close losing 3-0, 3-2, tonya hit a great double late and had Yoshida off the mat but only converted out of bounds for one point. In the Bronze medal match tonya will face old rival from France Anna Gomis who has had a very good tournament here including a win over the russian natalia Golts. It should be a very entertaining and athletic match.

59kg Katie also made the bronze medal match to improve on her performance from last years 7th place. She defeated Nigeria, China, then lost to Poland in the Quarter finals. After Poland made the finals she stepped into a repachage match vs Moldova. Katie showed great poise and focus in her matches this afternoon. She was able to come from behind in a couple of rounds late which is something she has shown great improvement on this year. She will face the Ukrainian athlete for the bronze here. The girl is quite soild defensively and has an excellent front head lock, yet in their previous meeting Katie squeezed out a close three round decision at the World cup.... Should be exciting.

63kg After defeating Dominican republic, Justine lost a razor thin three round decision to last years world Silver medalist from russia. 1-1, 2-1, 1-1 Justine actually out scored her opponent through the match but gave the last point with just seconds on the clock in a great match... She was devistated, yet two matches later the russian had made the finals and new life was blown back into her sails. She did not disappoint teching Kazakstan, and beating the American 5-1, 3-0 in the repachage rounds. Tonight she will face Poland the current European Champion for the bronze medal. These two wrestled in Austria in the semi finals this year and Bouchard won a very close three round decision...

We just finished a little meal and our girls are getting a little recovery work done by our "Team Canada medical staff" Recharging the engines and getting ready to go tonight at 7:30.

If people are not aware, at 67 Kg Martine has drawn Mongolia out of the chutes tomorrow and at 72kg Ohenewa has Greece. I am going to grab a coffee, take my shoes off and kick back for a bit... Will right later!

Go Canada...