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Adeline Gray: People Tell Me You’re Too Pretty To Wrestle

Adeline Gray: People Tell Me You’re Too Pretty To Wrestle

 

 

Adeline Gray is a 3x World Champion wrestler (once in upto 67kg, twice in upto 75kg category). She began wrestling when she was just 6 years old (she is now 25). His father’s passion for wrestling engulfed her and she won 3 Boys State Championship titles as a child.

In 2009, she achieved her goal of making it to both Junior and Senior World Team. Back in 2012 she shed about 30lbs (a little over 13kg) to try to qualify for the Olympics but due to less weight classes in women’s division she couldn’t quite cut it – she was the runner up. Now she was looking forward to competing in the upto 75kg division in Rio when ESPN caught up with her and asked her to be a part of the body issue, the same issue that featured Conor McGregor among others.

 On women wrestling being a sport that great many of people are unaware of:

I still get that sideways tilt of the head, like a puppy is looking at me: “Women wrestle?” It’s almost disheartening, because I work very hard and it’s a very competitive field internationally, and people in our country just don’t really know about it.

On hating being told “You’re too Pretty to Wrestle”:

I think people used to view female athletes as very butch, masculine — you kind of had to disregard your femininity to excel at an elite sport. Now it’s just a different world.

On Guys being afraid of her in high school:

Why? I’m nice! I just don’t understand where that came from. It’s like saying a boxer just goes around hitting people all the time. I’ve never been in a fight, I’ve never hit anybody. I never challenged anyone at a party. So I don’t know why that fear exists: “Oh, she can beat me up if she wanted to!” Yeah, but … I don’t really fight people.

 

A photo posted by Adeline Gray (@adelinegray) on

 

On possible transition into MMA:

My mom says she likes my nose, so she doesn’t really want me to fight! But if the price is right, I can see it happening. I just don’t know … I don’t have a killer instinct. I’m more like, “Oh no! Are you OK? Oh, wait, I have to win, OK, keep going.”

On cutting close to 30 lbs in 2012 for the Olympic Trials:

Before the matches, I was eating dinner with my mom and I just stopped and was holding my jaw. She was like, “Oh, did you get hit in one of your matches?” “No, my jaw is sore from not chewing food for the last three weeks before this event.” I was just eating protein shakes for every meal. The realization that I hadn’t chewed and used those muscles in so long that they would cramp up and get sore halfway through a meal … it was almost heartbreaking, because why would somebody do that to their body?

 

A photo posted by Adeline Gray (@adelinegray) on

 

On the lack of a wrestling tell-tale sign cauliflower ear:

My dad was adamant that I wear my headgear growing up. That’s because I was born with a dysfunctional eustachian tube, which connects your throat to your ear canal. Most people have a certain degree of tilt, but mine doesn’t have enough tilt to drain properly. I’ve had 15 ear surgeries, and I’m partially deaf on my left side just because I have so much scar tissue buildup.

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