Tamyra Mensah-Stock Becomes First Black Woman to Win Wrestling Gold at the Tokyo Olympics
Tamyra Mensah-Stock has snagged the title as the first Black woman to win wrestling gold at the Tokyo Olympics. The U.S. wrestler dominated her first Olympics by winning the women’s 68-kilogram freestyle final and also became the second woman to bring home the Olympic medal for the U.S.
It’s safe to say that Tamyra Mensah-Stock has made her presence known by taking home wrestling gold on the first try.
The wrestling gold medal was also long overdue since the big win follows after the Ghanaian-American athlete was unable to compete in 2016’s Rio Olympics. Although Mensah-Stock finished first in the U.S. Olympic trials, she was hindered from competing because the U.S. had not qualified to earn a spot in her weight class.
She has high hopes to uplift young Black girls and encourage them to pursue wrestling while still embracing their femininity. She told USA Today:
“When I first started wrestling, I wanted to be an emblem, a light to younger women and show them that you can be silly, you can have fun and you can be strong. You can be tough, you can be a wrestler and you don’t have to be like this,” she growled, “I’m gonna be mean to you.”
Tamyra Mensah-Stock is the first Black woman to ever win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling for Team USA 🥇https://t.co/WNVB2xalcw pic.twitter.com/tPT8dvI8W8
— ESPN (@espn) August 4, 2021
Mensah-Stock also encourages young girls from Ghana, where her father was from, to embrace their heritage. The wrestling star lost her father while she was in high school to a car accident coming home from a wrestling meet. She reminisced about her late father, “He would have been the loudest one here, he would’ve been so proud.”
In addition, the 28-year-old made history alongside Nigerian athlete, Blessing Oborududu who won second place with the silver medal. Oborududu snagged a title of her own by becoming the first Nigerian athlete to win an Olympic medal in wrestling.
After the victorious win, Mensah-Stock has her eyes set on joining the ring of WWE. She also has big plans to utilize her prize money to help her mother start her dream food truck business. Because not only did she do a good job at making such an inspirational legend, she also does a good job at making good tasting barbecue.
For more on the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics, please visit the official website.
