Victorious Verbeek returns home
Rob Terpstra
Issue date: 9/3/04 Section: Sports
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Facing Swede Ida-Theres Karlsson and tied 1-1 with less than a minute to go in the match, Verbeek delivered in the clutch, recording two points for a 3-1 advantage, which she held onto for an inspiring win.
In the gold medal match, it was not to be. Saori Yoshida, the winner of 15 international events, would soon add another.
Taking Verbeek down twice in the first two minutes of the opening round put Yoshida up 2-0. She was not to relinquish the lead, as the Beamsville native could not score any points heading into the break. Quickly down three points ten seconds into the second period, Yoshida would score three more points before the match was over. The heavily favoured Japanese seemingly controlled the tempo and defeated the Canadian by a score of 6-0.
By a vast understatement, Verbeek was embraced by an entourage of her Canadian supporters, along the trip paying her dues to the sport she loves.
"She is quite determined to do the very best that she could. This is a sport," DesChatelets says, "that's got to be the most demanding sport there is in the world."
Appearing on several nationally televised interviews, and coming home to a hero's welcome, the Brock graduate and wrestling club member acknowledged and emphasized the amount of individuals that had placed her at this point in her wrestling career. DesChatelets echoed Verbeek's statements.
"It gives credit to our program, a lot of credit has to go to Marty Calder, he's the one that devoted his time as a coach to work with her and to make sure that she was well prepared, and he did a very good job."
DesChatelets says that although too early to speculate, her success at the Olympics will perhaps jump start funding for women's wrestling at the school and in the area.
"We're having a hard time, so hopefully this is going to help us, and people will wake up and say 'maybe we can help.'"
It seems only fitting that as the pioneer in her sport, she will perhaps ring in a new era of grappling success and awareness at both Brock and across the country. As the accolades pile up and the limelight fades, she will head off the wrestling mat ... for now.
Beijing 2008 is but four years away. The cause - the Olympic Games. The effect - a gold medal.
