Brock's Verbeek takes home silver medal
Rob Terpstra
Issue date: 9/2/05 Section: Sports
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Canada's recent appearance at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey, was for most competitors, on the biggest stage they had ever performed. This was not however the case for the Great White North's flag bearer at the Games' Opening Ceremonies, Brock's own, Tonya Verbeek.
"Being able to carry that Canadian flag was just a really cool feeling," Verbeek said. "It was nice to see the sport of women's wrestling represented as well."
Verbeek led the country into the Games, and with it, took home a silver medal to contribute to Canada's highest ever medal count of 12. In just under the span of an hour at the wrestling venue at Yamanlar High School, Verbeek and her teammates took home six medals. This included two gold, two silver and two bronze in the freestyle division.
The venue stood at a standstill when the 28-year-old, who celebrated her birthday just a day before the gold medal match, paired off against Saori Yoshida from Japan. This was the same grappler who had defeated Verbeek in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, handing Verbeek the silver medal and casting her as somewhat of a local and national hero.
Brock's ambassador started off the match defensively, knowing that Yoshida was a clinical tactician and was not going to give away points easily. The score at the end of the first was 1-0 in favour of the Japanese wrestler. Verbeek came out after the break confident that in order to be victorious, she would have to take some calculated risks. Points needed to be scored even if in the process, she would give some away. Unfortunately, Yoshida was too smart on the day, smothering Verbeek and eventually capping a victory via a 2-0 score in the second round.
"With a girl like her, I have to be very defensive," Verbeek said. "I was able to stay in there with her, but I still need to create my offense. I need to be a little bit more confident and know that I can score on her ... I feel a lot better than I did at the Olympics."
Brock's two other competitors, three-time Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) gold medallist, Jamie Macari, and five-time CIS champion, Ryan Weicker, did not fare as well, losing out early in the first day of the wrestling competition.
"I know I didn't wrestle very well," Weicker said. "I got to come and watch the finals, and cheer on the rest of the team and be a spectator for once."
