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More than sex symbols

AFP, Athens
Olympic acceptance gives women wrestlers the opportunity to show that they are not 'toothless ogres' or Baywatch wannabes.
A quartet of bright-eyed, educated American grapplers talked on Wednesday about their struggle for acceptance, even among family members and male wrestlers, and the racy jokes they have endured throughout their careers.
Women's wrestling will be contested for the first time at the Athens Olympics with four medals up for grabs.
"When you tell guys that you wrestle they expect you to be bigger, with just two-teeth, an ogre with a hunchback," said Sara McMann, a silver medallist at the 2003 world championships.
"We can help change that. I won a gold medal at an Olympic test event here in Athens earlier this year. I got a little teary when they raised the
American flag - it made me want to win again (at the Olympics)."
Patricia Miranda, who delayed entry to Yale Law School for a year to prepare for the Athens Games, added that the Olympics was an opportunity to silence the doubters and inspire a new generation of women wrestlers.
"This is our stage - we can show that women's wrestling is not a side joke or something that makes people think about mud wrestling," she said.
"They will see our sweat, tears and triumphs and that it is as intense as any male sport.
"People can turn on the television back home and see our pain and happiness. And other girls will say to themselves 'why can't women wrestle'?
"If men think it is sexy to watch girls wrestling, fine. I do not hold that against them. We realise there is a long way to go, even within the sport, for us to gain respect."
Miranda added that she was sensitive to the resistance that still existed within the sport.
"There is a bit of resistance from male wrestlers," added the feisty 25-year-old, who was forced to join the men's team at school as there was no
women's squad.
"Some of them do not want things to change. They ask 'why do women want to wrestle."
Baby-faced Tela O'Donnell, who will be making her international debut in Athens, has heard all the jokes about women wrestlers.
"Sometimes people are not too classy with their comments," she said. "Somebody recently said some pretty unnecessary things and I thought 'Why would you say that'?"
Twenty-one-year Toccara Montgomery, who has a realistic chance of a gold medal in the 72kg division, has risen to the top despite a huge upheaval in her personal life when father Paul was jailed for double murder.
In 1998 when she was just 15, and before she turned to the sport, her dad was sent to prison for 30 years.
"I talked to him four days before I flew to Athens," she said. "He was very positive and supportive. He told me to 'do what you can' and reminded me that I still could not
beat him at wrestling.
"I talk to him as much as possible - I was always a daddy's girl and still am. Him being in prison has not changed things a lot. He is as involved in my life as some people who see their dad every day.
"He did not tell me not to wrestle -just said 'if you are going to do it, do it hard.' He has never seen me wrestle before - I think he will get a chance to see me on television (in the prison). That makes me happy."