Thursday August 1st 2024

With less than a week till wrestling begins on August the 5th, Linda Morais will be the first of our Quebec athletes to step on the mats in WW 68 kg. Alex Moore will begin his quest to medal on the the 8th. They will be joined by Coach David Zilberman, who is participating in his third Olympic Games (one as an athlete and two as a coach). The format is different from that of the World Championships in that the divisons will be mixed. In other words, it’s not like all Greco-Roman matches will be wrestled on one day, followed by the Women’s Wrestling and then the Freestyle. Instead, each day will have a bit of everything. I assume this is done to provide a variety to the type of wrestling that we will seen by the general public. As this is often the highlight of a wrestler’s career, they should be exposed to the world on one of its biggest stages. We wish both our Quebec athletes the best of luck at the event.

Our athletes will be in good hands with Coach David Zilberman

This field promises to be wide open as there will be no Russian athletes participating in the event. This is very similar to when the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Forty years to the day, history repeats itself. This will not mean an easier time for our athletes. Linda is a World Bronze Medalist at this category in 2022 but the weight itself is stacked. Featuring World Champion Buse Tosun of Turkiye as well as the 65 kg World Champion Nonoka Osaki from Japan and Amit Elor , the 72 kg World Champion from the United States, this weight is populated by some of the best of the best from past, present and future. Linda is a World Class athlete that has always risen to the occasion so counting her out would be a mistake.

Good Luck Linda!

At the Freestyle 86 kg, division, Alex Moore will also have a stiff challenge ahead. Though World and Olympic Champion Dave Taylor of the United States was beaten in his country’s qualifier by Aaron Brooks, Hassan Yasdani Chirati of Iran, the World and Olympic Silver Medalist will be present as well as Azamat Dauletbekov, of Kazakhstan, a Bronze Medalist from 2023. Dauletbekov has the distinction of having the Number One Seed for the tournament at that weight. Alex however has always had the capacity in himself to pull off great things and I expect that he do very well at the competition.

Good Luck Alex!

This will also mark the first time that Quebec has had more than one representative at the Olympic Games since 2012 when Martine Dugrenier and David Tremblay were our representatives from Quebec. The Canadian Olympic Team itself qualified only six athletes this year, so the Quebec presence has to be considered significant since we don’t have one of the largest wrestling populations in the country as we trail Ontario, British Columbia and even Alberta in terms of athletes.

An Olympic themed treat

Myself, I’ve always enjoyed the Olympics. For many athletes, this is often culmination of career and the realization of a dream that may have begun when they were just children. This is also one of the only times that wrestling gets the spectacle of other sports as oftentimes, we toil in obscurity. Because of this, we’re not on the same level of popularity as Basketball or Soccer on the World Stage and we often don’t seem to promote ourselves that well when we do get the chance. And yet, if you want to talk about proliferation, wrestling can be seen in nearly every corner of the world, whether it’s as the recognized international style, or if that country has its own cultural form. You would think that with that level of saturation, we would be more of a presence in the global sports scene. But this isn’t the case.

The team which has contributed in their way to our athletes success, gather to wish them luck in Paris

I have had the pleasure to see Alex and Dave grow up from when they were very young. Though the challenges were extremely tough, and the desire to quit might have always been present in the backs of their minds, they persevered. And while I haven’t known Linda as long, I will always remember her appreciation for the contribution of all the coaches to her success, whether it was directly or indirectly. Even though I was a small contributor to their success, I feel privileged to be have been there. Good luck Dave, Alex and Linda and let’s go!