Cô Carol Huỳnh, 27 tuổi, người Canada gốc Việt
đã thắng huy chương vàng trong giải Đô Vật Tự Do hạng 48kg
tại Beijing 2008 Olympics.Xin mời các bạn xem tiếp:
BEIJING — Carol Huynh didn't just break Canada's medal drought; she broke on through to the top of the podium, handily winning the gold medal in the 48-kilogram weight class in women's wrestling.
With her parents watching inside the China Agricultural University, and adorned in t-shirts saying Go Carol, the 27-year-old Huynh scored a dominant decision over her Japanese opponent Chiharu Icho.
Huynh won the first two rounds and didn't have to wrestle a third. She jumped with joy when she realized she won gold and her coaches carried her on their shoulders while she waved a Canadian flag.
The gold medal was Canada's first of these Games. Prior to the match, Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen won a silver medal in the men's pair rowing event.
Tonya Verbeek, of Beamsville, Ont., capped a successful span for Canada by winning a bronze medal in the 55-kg wrestling class. All three medals — gold, silver, bronze — came within an hour's time Saturday.
Huynh had a strong run to the gold medal final but was facing a formidable foe. Icho is a 26-year-old security guard from Nagoya who was out to improve on her silver medal finish at the Athens Games in 2004. She'd also won three world championships and hails from a wrestling family.
But Huynh was aggressive and confident and scored a three-point takedown in the first round.
"I knew I had to set the pace," she said after her crying her way through the playing of the Canadian national anthem. "I wrestled my way and it worked."
Huynh was a bronze medalist at the 2005 world championships and stayed with the sport after failing to qualify for the Canadian team and the 2004 Olympic debut of women's wrestling. She used that disappointment to fuel her drive for Beijing.
"I made a commitment four years ago to being on this team and I did everything I could to be here," said Huynh.
Huynh was born in Hazelton, B.C., after her parents fled Vietnam in the late 1970s. Her mother, Trinh, was born in Vietnam and the father, Viem Huynh, was born in China but moved to Vietnam when he was three. Trinh and Viem met in Ho Chi Minh City and left the country to pursue a better life for their two children.
The family was sponsored by a church group in Hazelton, B.C., and lived on a native reservation. Huynh said she grew up with close friends and got into wrestling in high school.
"They did everything," Huynh said of her parents, who worked a variety of jobs (waitress, marketer, dock worker, sawmill worker) and just recently sold the Bulkley Valley Motel in Hazelton. "My dad did all kinds of jobs in Vietnam — sold little trinkets. I'm pretty sure I learned my work ethic from them. They had five kids to raise."
Verbeek, 31, was the silver medalist in her weight class in Athens. She had hoped to equal or better than here but was thrilled to have won in what was her last Olympic appearance.
"I heard the national anthem playing (for Huynh) and that was playing with my head," said Verbeek, who wrestled immediately after the 48 kg. medal ceremonies. "I was happy for her but I had to prepare for my match … I used it for motivation
Verbeek defeated Ida-Theres Nerell from Sweden in two rounds.
ALLAN MAKI
Globe and Mail Update
August 16, 2008 at 6:42 AM EDT
